stiletto

Borrowed from Italian stiletto. Doublet of stylet.

• (US) IPA^(key): /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/, [stɪˈlɛɾoʊ]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stɪˈlɛtəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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stiletto (plural stilettos or stilettoes or stiletti)

1. A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing.
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC, section 1; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     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.

2. A rapier.
3. An awl.
4. A woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel (called a stiletto heel).
5. (obsolete, historical) A beard trimmed into a pointed form. [16th–17th c.]

   Synonyms: bodkin beard, pique-devant

   • c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act III, page 32:

     The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne.

• stiletto fly
• stiletto heel
• stiletto snake

stiletto (third-person singular simple present stilettos, present participle stilettoing, simple past and past participle stilettoed)

1. (transitive) To attack or kill with a stiletto (dagger).
   • 1834, Henry Tudor, Narrative of a Tour in North America:

     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.

From Italian stiletto.

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stiletto f (plural stiletto's, diminutive stilettootje n or stilettoke n)

1. stiletto

• hoge hakken (both for shoe and heel itself)

From stilo (“needle, stylus”) +‎ -etto.

stiletto m (plural stiletti)

1. (weaponry) stiletto, dagger

• stilettata

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

stiletto

1. first-person singular present indicative of stilettare

Unadapted borrowing from Italian stiletto.

• IPA^(key): /estiˈleto/ [es.t̪iˈle.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -eto

stiletto m (plural stilettos)

1. stiletto

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.