"under the knife" meaning in English

See under the knife in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

IPA: /ˌʌndə ðə ˈnaɪf/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌʌndəɹ ðə ˈnaɪf/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-under the knife.oga
Rhymes: -aɪf Etymology: A reference to the situation of a patient lying on an operating table while a surgeon stands over them and operates using a surgical cutting tool (typically a scalpel). Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} under the knife, {{en-PP}} under the knife
  1. (informal) Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical procedure; into surgery. Wikipedia link: Puerto Cortés, United States Army Tags: informal Categories (topical): Surgery Translations (undergoing a surgical procedure): 開刀 (Chinese Mandarin), 开刀 (kāidāo) (Chinese Mandarin), under kniven (Danish), onder het mes (Dutch), leikkaukseen (Finnish), passer sur le billard (French), sur le billard (French), unters Messer (German), unter dem Messer (note: depending on the verb used) (German), faoi scian (Irish), sotto i ferri (Italian), under kniven (Norwegian), bajo el cuchillo (Spanish), under kniven (Swedish), dan y gyllell (Welsh)
{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to the situation of a patient lying on an operating table while a surgeon stands over them and operates using a surgical cutting tool (typically a scalpel).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "under the knife",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "under the knife",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "un‧der"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "other",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Finnish links with redundant wikilinks",
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            "Links with redundant wikilinks",
            "Entry maintenance"
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
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          "kind": "other",
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian translations",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Welsh translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Surgery",
          "orig": "en:Surgery",
          "parents": [
            "Medicine",
            "Biology",
            "Healthcare",
            "Sciences",
            "Health",
            "All topics",
            "Body",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1964 April 24, “France: Operation Royal”, in Roy Alexander, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2009-08-26:",
          "text": "Rumor that De Gaulle [i.e., Charles de Gaulle] was under the knife sped through Paris and the world the next morning. The staff at the Elysee Palace, De Gaulle's official residence, refused for hours either to confirm or deny the story; […] Finally, at 7:15 p.m., a bulletin signed by three doctors said that De Gaulle had been operated on that morning for \"a disease of the prostate\"— […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 August 19, Michael S. Schmidt, “After Shea, life diverges for two Mets”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-01-26:",
          "text": "\"I don't want to go under the knife again. I had 10 surgeries as a player and many more since,\" [Lenny] Dykstra said, speaking as though he still had his trademark wad of tobacco in his mouth.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical procedure; into surgery."
      ],
      "id": "en-under_the_knife-en-prep_phrase-EFeGozj9",
      "links": [
        [
          "go",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "undergo",
          "undergo"
        ],
        [
          "surgical procedure",
          "surgical procedure"
        ],
        [
          "surgery",
          "surgery"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical procedure; into surgery."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "開刀"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "kāidāo",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "开刀"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "under kniven"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "onder het mes"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "leikkaukseen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "passer sur le billard"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "sur le billard"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "unters Messer"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "note": "depending on the verb used",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "unter dem Messer"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "faoi scian"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "sotto i ferri"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "under kniven"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "bajo el cuchillo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "under kniven"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
          "word": "dan y gyllell"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Puerto Cortés",
        "United States Army"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌndə ðə ˈnaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌndəɹ ðə ˈnaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-under the knife.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0f/En-us-under_the_knife.oga/En-us-under_the_knife.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/En-us-under_the_knife.oga"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪf"
    }
  ],
  "word": "under the knife"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to the situation of a patient lying on an operating table while a surgeon stands over them and operates using a surgical cutting tool (typically a scalpel).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "under the knife",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "under the knife",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "un‧der"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
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        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/aɪf",
        "Rhymes:English/aɪf/4 syllables",
        "Terms with Danish translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Irish translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Norwegian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "Terms with Welsh translations",
        "en:Surgery"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1964 April 24, “France: Operation Royal”, in Roy Alexander, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2009-08-26:",
          "text": "Rumor that De Gaulle [i.e., Charles de Gaulle] was under the knife sped through Paris and the world the next morning. The staff at the Elysee Palace, De Gaulle's official residence, refused for hours either to confirm or deny the story; […] Finally, at 7:15 p.m., a bulletin signed by three doctors said that De Gaulle had been operated on that morning for \"a disease of the prostate\"— […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 August 19, Michael S. Schmidt, “After Shea, life diverges for two Mets”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-01-26:",
          "text": "\"I don't want to go under the knife again. I had 10 surgeries as a player and many more since,\" [Lenny] Dykstra said, speaking as though he still had his trademark wad of tobacco in his mouth.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical procedure; into surgery."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "go",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "undergo",
          "undergo"
        ],
        [
          "surgical procedure",
          "surgical procedure"
        ],
        [
          "surgery",
          "surgery"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical procedure; into surgery."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Puerto Cortés",
        "United States Army"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌndə ðə ˈnaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌndəɹ ðə ˈnaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-under the knife.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0f/En-us-under_the_knife.oga/En-us-under_the_knife.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/En-us-under_the_knife.oga"
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    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪf"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "開刀"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "kāidāo",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "开刀"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "under kniven"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "onder het mes"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "leikkaukseen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "passer sur le billard"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "sur le billard"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "unters Messer"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "note": "depending on the verb used",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "unter dem Messer"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "faoi scian"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "sotto i ferri"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "under kniven"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "bajo el cuchillo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "under kniven"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "undergoing a surgical procedure",
      "word": "dan y gyllell"
    }
  ],
  "word": "under the knife"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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