trench knife

American

noun

a short knife for stabbing, sometimes equipped with brass knuckles as a guard, used in modern warfare in hand-to-hand combat.

trench knife British

noun

a double-edged steel knife, often with a guard in the form of a knuckle-duster, designed for close combat

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of trench knife

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The battlefield debris includes a German camouflaged helmet and trench knife, rifle and pistol shell casings, “shrapnel” and scrap iron debris, burnt and/or broken wood, a wine bottle and a broken door from a 75mm caisson.

From Washington Times

The two chutes, rifle, two bandoliers, cartridge belt, first-aid kit, shovel, canteen kit, jump knife, trench knife, bayonet, gas mask, land mine, rations, billfold, clean socks and underwear, toothbrush, New Testament and message book, plus other odds and ends--I must have weighed well over 300 lbs.

From Time Magazine Archive

What a cheer went up from the black stevedores of the far South when there landed in their midst a mighty band of black infantry, nearly 100,000 strong who, in a few short months had learned the use of powder and shot, of sword and broadsword, of bayonet and bludgeon, of trench knife and battle-ax.

From Project Gutenberg

In a grove of saplings there were a few ferns; and here McKay dug with his trench knife; but the soil proved to be very shallow; everywhere rock lay close to the surface; there was no water there under the black mould.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023