stiletto means A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
stiletto is pronounced /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/.
Why “stiletto” is a great word
STILETTO — [Noun] A slender, pointed dagger, or a high, thin heel on a shoe. From the Italian stiletto, a diminutive of stilo ("dagger"), from the Latin stilus ("pointed instrument, stake, stylus"). First attested in English c. 1610. Unlike "dagger" (a more general, often double-edged weapon) or "stylet" (a surgical probe sharing the same root but devoid of martial or sartorial force), a stiletto is the purest expression of the point. It is the cold, needle-like blade slipping between ribs; the architectural audacity of a heel that marries elegance to peril; and the stark, vertical line that transforms a silhouette from pedestrian to perilous—a form where danger and beauty share a single, sharp point.
noun
- A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing.“There the cause of death was soon ascertained; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which, I may tell you, was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom.”
- A rapier.
- An awl.
- A woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel (called a stiletto heel).
- A beard trimmed into a pointed form.“The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne.”
verb
- To attack or kill with a stiletto (dagger).“The recollection of former atrocities by the populace in plundering the city and stilettoing the inhabitants, is sufficiently fresh in the remembrance of the government to serve as an additional stimulus to prevent similar disorders.”