razor

 

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razor

Wikipedia

 

• razour (obsolete)

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat.

Displaced native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪzə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪzɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ra‧zor
• Rhymes: -eɪzə(ɹ)

razor (plural razors)

1. A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.
2. Any tool or instrument designed for shaving.
   • 2007 July 1, Jake Mooney, “For Aficionados of Shaving, la Crème de la Crème”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     These are fellows who shun the three-, four- and five-blade contraptions and canned goops for an older mode of shaving that they insist remains the ideal: a straight razor or a safety razor with a double-edged blade, and a fine English cream lathered and applied with a badger-hair brush.

   • 2013, Robert L. Buyer, Ursula T. Coute, Following the North Star, page 26:

     The box was jam packed full o' gifts for each manjack of us: razors, aftershave, toothbrushes, an' books.

3. The sharp tusk of a wild boar.
4. (philosophy) A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.

   Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

razor (third-person singular simple present razors, present participle razoring, simple past and past participle razored)

1. (transitive) To shave with a razor.
   • 1868, George MacDonald, chapter 6, in Guild Court‎^[2], volume 3, London: Hurst & Blackett, page 137:

     He thought likewise, that what with razoring and tanning, and the change of his clothes, he was not likely to be recognised.

   • 1996, George R. R. Martin, “Tyrion”, in A Game of Thrones‎^[3], New York: Bantam, published 2016, page 641:

     Lord Tywin did not believe in half measures. He razored his lip and chin as well, but kept his side-whiskers, two great thickets of wiry golden hair that covered most of his cheeks from ear to jaw.

   • 2008 April 13, Sara Corbett, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?”, in New York Times‎^[4]:

     He might be busy examining the advertisements for prostitutes stuck up in a São Paulo phone booth, or maybe getting his ear hairs razored off at a barber shop in Vietnam.

• razorable (obsolete)

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “razor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.