A knife is a metal tool with a sharpened metal blade that is used to cut all sorts of things.
The plural form of "knife" is "knives." Knives can serve various purposes. Hunters use a hunting knife, soldiers use the combat knife, scouts, campers, and hikers carry a pocketknife; there are kitchen knives for preparing foods, table knives, weapons, knives for throwing or juggling, and knives for religious ceremony or display.
Archaeologists have discovered sharp-edged tools as ancient as 2.6 million years old. Sharp stone tools became more advanced in design during the late Lithic periods, and a variety of techniques was used to produce such ‘knives’ in the Neolithic era. The copper and bronze ages followed, and of course brought tremendous changes to the ‘sharp-edge’ technology. These new metal tools were much more durable than stone ones, and hence mining and metal-processing became an important activity.
There are many kinds of knives, depending on what is to be cut. With the right knife, the cuts you want to make will happen faster and more easily. With the wrong kind of knife, it will take more effort to perform the same amount of work. When a knife is too small to cut something, a saw, axe, or power tool may be needed.
Carrying knives is illegal in many countries, especially if the blade is longer than several inches. Another type of knife which is illegal in many places is the "switchblade," a knife that has a button which when pressed activates a spring to open the knife.
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