DIRK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dirk mean? 

• DIRK (noun)
  The noun DIRK has 1 sense:

1. a relatively long dagger with a straight blade

  Familiarity information: DIRK used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIRK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A relatively long dagger with a straight blade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dirk" is a kind of...):

dagger; sticker (a short knife with a pointed blade used for piercing or stabbing)

Domain region:

Scotland (one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts)

 Context examples 

Dirk was a fool and a coward from the first—you wouldn't mind him.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The dirk mentioned by Wolf Larsen rested in its sheath on my hip.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Roddy, lad,” said he, after supper was over, “you’re getting a man now, and I suppose you will go afloat like the rest of us. You’re old enough to strap a dirk to your thigh.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In half a minute he had reached the port scuppers and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather a short dirk, discoloured to the hilt with blood.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Still calmly, though my heart was going pitapat, I pulled out Louis’s dirk and began to whet it on the stone.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Once so caught, and nine or ten inches of the blood-stained dirk would be my last experience on this side of eternity.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You will observe, Miss Brewster, that he carries a dirk in his belt, a—ahem—a most unusual thing for a ship’s officer to do.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody dirk he had hidden in his pocket and designed, in his ill thoughts, to end me with.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Also I carried the dirk in a sheath at my hip, sailor-fashion, and maintained toward Thomas Mugridge a constant attitude which was composed of equal parts of domineering, insult, and contempt.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk, but either it stuck too hard or my nerve failed me, and I desisted with a violent shudder.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)