bowie knife

noun

bow·​ie knife ˈbü-ē-  ˈbō- 

: a stout single-edged hunting knife with part of the back edge curved concavely to a point and sharpened

Examples of bowie knife in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The speaker that February night was Cassius Marcellus Clay, a bold and brawling Kentucky abolitionist, equally skilled with a stump speech and a bowie knife. —Jon Grinspan, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2024

There’s a reason bowie knives were developed to be fighting knives. —Jace Bauserman, Field & Stream, 19 July 2023

Aside from their build, bowie knives serve multiple outdoor purposes. —Jace Bauserman, Field & Stream, 19 July 2023

Adams recklessly tossed aside his rifle and jumped down a bank to chase the wolf with his bowie knife. —Gary Kamiya, SFChronicle.com, 7 July 2018

During a mob scene, Thumbelina stabs one of the movie’s villains with a bowie knife before jumping on a table and mowing down the police with a machine gun. —Matthew Sedacca, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2018

Word History

Etymology

James Bowie

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bowie knife

noun

bow·​ie knife ˈbü-ē-  ˈbō-ē- 

: a large hunting knife with a single-edged blade

Etymology

named for James Bowie