knifes

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of knife.

   The cook knifes the fish along its spine to lift the fillet.

   A speedboat knifes through the bay toward the open water.

   Note

   The verb keeps its f in every form: a cook knifes a fillet, and a speedboat knifes through the bay, with the f left in place, unlike in the noun's plural. Beyond cutting and stabbing, the verb has two figurative uses worth knowing. It can mean to betray someone, especially a candidate on one's own political slate. It can also mean to snub someone pointedly, much as cut does.

2. 2
   nounnonstandard

   Plural of knife. Nonstandard; the standard plural is knives.

   The chef lined up his knifes by size before the dinner rush.

   Several rusty knifes turned up at the bottom of the old toolbox.

   Note

   A regularized plural that treats knife like any noun taking a plain -s. Standard English writes knives, where the f shifts to v before the ending. Because knifes is already correct as the verb form, the noun use reads as a slip in edited prose rather than a variant. Keep it for reproducing someone's speech, and write knives for utensils, weapons or machine blades.

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