shoemaker's knife

[¦shü‚māk·ərz ′nīf]

(mathematics)

Mentioned in ?

arbilos

References in classic literature ?

It happened, at length, that he had occasion to change the instrument in his hand, for his shoemaker's knife. It lay on that side of him which was not the side on which she stood.

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There was an English thief, who had been there but a few days out of seven years: a villainous, low-browed, thin-lipped fellow, with a white face; who had as yet no relish for visitors, and who, but for the additional penalty, would have gladly stabbed me with his shoemaker's knife. There was another German who had entered the jail but yesterday, and who started from his bed when we looked in, and pleaded, in his broken English, very hard for work.

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He thought that the figure of two semi-circles on a straight line enclosed by a larger semi-circle resembled a shoemaker's knife. Archimedes called this figure an arbelos since arbelos is the Greek word for a shoemaker's knife.