Noun

dagger (plural: daggers )

1. (Weapon) A stabbing weapon, similar to a sword but with a short blade.

   Quotations

   • 1600: I bruis'd my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence... — William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I, Scene I, line 282.
   • 1786: The dagger, under the title cultellum and misericorde, has been the constant companion of the sword, at least from the days of Edward I. and is mentioned in the statute of Winchester. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34.

2. A text character (†) that is used for footnotes and also signifies death.
3. Anything that causes pain like a dagger.

   Quotations

   • 1596: Tubal: Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night fourscore ducats. Shylock: You stick'st a dagger in me. I shall never see my gold again. Fourscore ducats at a sitting, fourscore ducats! — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene II, line 108.

Synonyms

obelisk (2), obelus (2)

Translations

• Bulgarian: кама f (1)
• CJK Characters: 鋏, 铗
• Chinese: 匕首
• Dutch: dolk m
• Finnish: tikari
• French: poignard m (1); croix f (2)
• German: Dolch m (1); (Toten- ) Kreuz n (2)
• Greek: στιλέτο n (stiléto)
• Interlingua: daga
• Italian: pugnale m, stiletto m (1), croce f (2)
• Japanese: 短刀 (たんとう, tanto) (1), 短剣
• Korean: 회검
• Lithuanian: durklas m
• Polish: sztylet m (1)
• Portuguese: adaga f
• Romanian: pumnal n
• Russian: кинжал m (kinzhal)
• Spanish: puñal m, daga f