sickle

Etymology

From Middle English sikel (also assibilated in sichel), from Old English sicol, siċel, from Proto-West Germanic *sikilu, itself borrowed from Latin sēcula (“sickle”) or sīcīlis (“sickle”). Cognate with Dutch sikkel, German Sichel. Remotely related with English scythe and saw.

noun

1. (agriculture) An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.
2. Any of the sickle-shaped middle feathers of the domestic cock.

verb

1. (agriculture, transitive) To cut with a sickle.
2. (transitive) To deform (as with a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape.
3. (intransitive) Of red blood cells: to assume an abnormal crescent shape.

adj

1. Shaped like the blade of a sickle; crescent-shaped.
   a sickle moon