razor

• 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)

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

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.
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, 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, 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:

     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.