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Definition of "jack-knife" [jack-knife]

  • A compact folding knife. (noun)
  • The front-dive pike, in which the body folds and unfolds. (noun)
  • A semi-trailer truck accident in which the vehicle mimics the closing of a jack-knife. (noun)
  • Alternative spelling of jackknife. (noun)
  • To fold in the middle, as a jackknife does. (verb)

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Use "jack-knife" in a sentence
  • "Quirk: "Keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece.""
  • "A centauroid body atop seven sharp-jointed legs, with a pair of jack-knife arms held curled and ready."
  • "Wriggling close to the hawser, he opened his jack-knife and went to work."