sharpener
noun/ˈʃɑː(ɹ)pənə(ɹ)/
Etymology From sharpen + -er.
1
A device for making things sharp.
- There was a pencil sharpener at the front of the classroom.
2
Figuratively That which makes something sharp.
- “Sir,” said the shepherd, “poverty is a great sharpener of the wits. […]1795, Hannah More, The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain:
- The snuff-box, knife, and chicken-bones were again in requisition, and a pen was successfully formed. The ink, or at least its substitute, was rather more difficult, but necessity is always a sharpener of intellect, and even this was accomplished.1872, Chambers's miscellany of instructive & entertaining tracts:
3
Informal An alcoholic drink taken at the start of the day, or just before a meal.
- The summery G&T somehow loses its clink-clink-fizz perfection as an after-work sharpener and just seems to rub our noses in the dank gloom ahead.2015 October 22, Kate Hawkings, “Drink: make mine a gin, but hold the tonic”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- And the new daycap has little in common with the stiff gin of the old-fashioned sharpener. Instead, it revolves around “spritz culture, mood-based cocktails, and small serves that tap into the sweet treat economy”.2026 February 23, “Rise of the ‘daycap’: is this the end of late-night drinking?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Derived terms
- pencil sharpener
- Related terms
- sharp