blade (blād)
n.

1. The flat cutting part of a sharpened weapon or tool.
2. 1. A sword.
   2. A swordsman.
3. Archaeology. A slender, sharp-edged flake that is at least twice as long as it is wide.
4. A dashing youth.
5. 1. A flat thin part or section, especially one that makes contact to perform a desired action: the blade of an oar; the blade of a hockey stick.
   2. An arm of a rotating mechanism: the blade of a propeller; the blade of food processor.
   3. A long, thin, often curved piece, as of metal or rubber, used for plowing, clearing, or wiping.
6. The metal runner of an ice skate.
7. A wide flat bone or bony part.
8. The flat upper surface of the tongue just behind the tip.
9. Botany.
   1. The expanded part of a leaf or petal.
   2. The leaf of grasses or similar plants.

intr.v., blad·ed, blad·ing, blades.
To skate on in-line skates.

[Middle English, from Old English blæd.]

bladed blad'ed adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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