bodkin

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bodkin Icke also occasionally cues up some Bob Dylan songs, chosen for their on-the-bodkin lyrics. Helen Shaw, Vulture, 30 June 2022 Punishment for cursing or disparaging a clergyman was having a bodkin — a large needle — driven through the tongue. Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bodkin
Noun
  • The final dagger came from forward Alyssa Thompson in front of a crowd of 18,504 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
    Meg Linehan, New York Times, 26 June 2025
  • Those are the choices facing America: Cutting benefits is a dagger pointed directly at the neediest Americans.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2025
Noun
  • Each foot soldier carried a ten-pound musket, a sixteen-inch bayonet, a tin canteen, a linen haversack, and his own blanket—a battlefield luxury, since in peacetime five men typically shared two blankets.
    / CBS News, CBS News, 13 June 2025
  • Baca, who has been leading these workshops since 2011, recalled a moment from one: Everett Cox, a Vietnam War veteran who had kept away from everything military for decades, responded to a prompt of action verbs by expertly stabbing and slashing with an invisible bayonet.
    Dina Litovsky, New York Times, 19 May 2025
Noun
  • Miley Cyrus marked her arrival in Paris on Tuesday with a subtle nod to the city’s fashion history, wearing an archival dress from late designer Patrick Kelly paired with classic black stilettos.
    Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 18 June 2025
  • Now the room, decorated with giant lamps resembling drooping wildflowers, is a temple to a different kind of currency: designer stilettos (from the likes of Manolo Blahnik and Jacquemus).
    Marina Harss, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
Noun
  • Besides allowing for rapid, efficient construction, a modular approach turns data centers into a Swiss Army knife for ever-changing customer needs.
    Andrew Schaap, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025
  • In August 1900, white civilians and white cops rioted as one, unleashing two days of indiscriminate attacks against dozens of Black Hell’s Kitchen residents using lead pipes, guns, knives, fists, and billy clubs in what remains one of the largest explosions of racist violence in city history.
    Erin Quinlan, Architectural Digest, 30 June 2025
Noun
  • After investigating, police learned a man, later identified as Robert Dean, of New Mexico, came up behind the victim and stabbed him with a pocketknife in an unprovoked attack, officers said.
    Paloma Chavez, Sacbee.com, 25 June 2025
  • Gann had twice previously tested the chemicals, the documents said, each time creating a small explosion, the second one blinding the veteran for about 20 seconds, Inside the bag was a homemade explosive device, binoculars, a pocketknife and a torch lighter.
    Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 13 June 2025
Noun
  • Misdemeanor carry concealed dirk or dagger, 3000 block Ocean Front Walk, 1:18 p.m.
    Elizabeth Marie Himchak, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Apr. 2025
  • Carry concealed dirk or dagger – 400 block of Santa Fe Drive, 11:12 a.m. DUI – 0 block of La Costa Avenue, 3:32 a.m.
    Luke Harold, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The workers blamed Landi — who was still in charge — for their troubles, and an image of Landi posing, pirate-style, with a cartoon-villain expression and a cutlass between his teeth became a symbol for Eutelia’s misdeeds.
    Atossa Araxia Abrahamian Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2025
  • The ultimate prop was the pirate flag, which could be decorated with a skull and crossbones (as in the classic Jolly Roger design), bleeding hearts, hourglasses, spears, cutlasses and skeletons.
    Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2024
Noun
  • The team explains how scientists can examine an octopus’ beak, stylets, and growth rings in the lab to determine how old the animal is.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 11 Apr. 2024
  • Then, the mosquito uses one stylet—the labrum—to prod around, seeking a blood vessel to pierce.
    John Sass, Field & Stream, 11 Apr. 2023

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bodkin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bodkin. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!