sharpen, v.
(ʃɑːp(ə)n)
Also 5 scharpen.
[f. sharp a. + -en5.]
1. a. trans. To put a sharp edge or point upon, to whet; to furnish (a weapon, implement, etc.) with a cutting edge or fine point.
| 1530 Palsgr. 701/1, I sharpen a knyfe or an edge toole to cutte the better, je aguyse. 1535 Coverdale Eccles. x. 10 When an yron is blont, and y⊇ poynt not sharpened, it must be whett againe. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 357 Let him..sharpen Stakes, or head the Forks. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 59 The biggest End being..sharpen'd on the Top. 1880 G. W. Cable Grandissimes liv. (1898) 352 He sat and sharpened a small pen knife. 1890 S. R. Gardiner Student's Hist. Eng. (1896) I. 1 Flints sharpened by chipping. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 75 Cres. I prythee Diomed visite me no more. Ther. Now she sharpens; well said Whetstone. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 44 ¶3 He was only sharpening Darts for his own Destruction. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam iv. xxxi. 8 When the cold moon sharpens her silver horn Under the sea. 1876 J. Parker Paraclete i. xi. 169 When life is sharpened into a crisis, and the whole world seems to have become our assailant. |
c. In fig. phr. to sharpen one's pencil: to prepare to work; to revise or improve one's work.
| 1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Nov. 689/3 This is where the post-historic Ph.D. men will sharpen their pencils. 1965 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 17 June 33/5 He suggested that Stahr and Hovde go home and suggest to local power officials that they ‘sharpen their pencils’ and figure out lower rates. 1969 Listener 2 Jan. 10/2 We..published our findings. Radio telescopes all over the world were trained on the sources, while theoreticians sharpened their pencils. |
2. To make sharp or sharper (in various transferred and figurative senses of the adj.). Now freq. const. up. a. To render more acute (a person's wits, sight, appetite, zeal, etc.); to intensify (hostile feeling).
| c 1450 Mirk's Festial 173 Þen forto scharpen ȝoure beleue þe better, I telle ȝou þis example. c 1570 W. Wager The Longer thou livest 1417 (Brandl) You shall neuer want a witty page, To sharpen your intelligence. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. i. 25 Epicurean Cookes, Sharpen with cloylesse sawce his Appetite. 1779 Mirror No. 59 The military genius is sharpened by exercise. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xix, My hearing..has been sharpened by my blindness. 1835 Lytton Rienzi x. vi, He had never confided but he had been betrayed; he had never forgiven but to sharpen enmity. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Art Wks. (Bohn) III. 21 A study of admirable works of art sharpens our perceptions of the beauty of Nature. 1947 ‘L. Starr’ Corrie xii. 161 Just a little cocktail..to sharpen up our appetites for lunch. 1953 S. Plath Let. 15 May (1978) i. 114 Sharpening up writing again, once it's rusty, is very painful. |
b. To give an acid flavour or quality to, to make (a liquid) sour or bitter.
| 1675 E. W[ilson] Spadacrene Dunelm. 55 Spring-water, sharpened with Spirit of Sulphur. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 90 Drink very largely of Water sharpened with Spirit of Vitriol. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 203/1 s.v. Soap, Potash lyes are, however, principally sharpened or causticized by the soap boiler himself from potash carbonate. |
c. To increase the severity of (a law, a punishment, etc.). Cf. G. schärfen.
| 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxvi. 278 A Law was past for sharpening Laws against Papists. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. viii. 111 It was found necessary to sharpen and strengthen these laws. 1888 Times 6 Sept. 3/2 [Referring to Austria.] He will be lucky if he escapes with six months, ‘sharpened’ by one fast day a month. 1962 Listener 2 Aug. 160/1 French anti-cartel policy was sharpened up by the act of 1958. |
† d. To embitter, exacerbate (persons, their temper). Obs.
| a 1715 Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 381 He was much sharpened against Popery. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 5 (Calais) What is there in this world's goods which should sharpen our spirits. 1792 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 35 Their enemies will be more and more sharpened against them by frequent conflicts. |
e. To render more painful, to aggravate (pain or suffering).
| 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 196 (Dwarf) An injury sharpened by an insult. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xvi. 305 Her grief is..sharpened by the peculiar horror of the Hebrew women at a childless death. |
f. To make (the features) sharp or thin.
| 1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies iii. 22 His features were..not unlike those of Napoleon, but sharpened up, with high Indian cheek-bones. 1849 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady, My Lady in Death xvi, Her beauty by degrees Sank, sharpened from disease. |
g. refl. To improve one's appearance; to smarten oneself up.
| 1952 S. Selvon Brighter Sun ii. 24 Since the Americans came the girls sharpened themselves up and wouldn't be had for less than five Yankee dollars. |
† 3. To render eager for attack; to goad on. Obs.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 333/2 To scharpyn, jnstigare. 1587 Hughes, etc. Misfort. Arthur iii. Chorus 27 The name of peace doth edge our mindes, And sharpeneth on our furie till we fight. 1733 Neal Hist. Purit. II. 555 Whereby..the spirits of people [were] sharpened for war. |
4. Mus. To raise the pitch of a note sounded upon a musical instrument. In quot. 1824 absol.
| 1824 Mirror III. 105/2 Flattening and sharpening and rosining bows. 1881 Nature 18 Aug. 358/2 If two stopped organ-pipes are brought to unison, and then one of them is sharpened by gradually pushing in its stopper [etc.]. |
5. = rough v.1 1 d, sharp v. 5 d.
| 1897 Leeds Mercury Suppl. 15 May (E.D.D.), Hes ta getten t'horse sharpened this morning? |
6. Naut. To brace sharp up.
| 1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. ix. 47 When the tack is well down, sharpen the yard up again by the brace. |
† 7. intr. a. To become sharp, to taper to a point; to grow thin. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Cone, a Cone..or any figure, that is broad, and round below, and sharpens toward the top. 1693 Dryden Ovid's Met., Acis, Pol. & Gal. 48 A Promontory, sharp'ning by degrees, Ends in a Wedge. 1804 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 504 The features of the dead are said to be clung when they sharpen and lose their roundness of contour. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles ix. 85 His face..sharpened like the face of a sick man. |
b. To light up with a gleam of intelligence.
| 1828 Lytton Pelham II. xii, The blunt blue eyes of Mr. Gordon sharpened up in an instant. |
c. Of faculties: To grow more acute.
| 1811 tr. Zimmerman's Solitude (ed. 8) I. ii. 55 The faculties sharpen; the mind becomes more clear [etc.]. |
d. To grow more shrill.
| 1868 Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy iv. 327 A shout of promise, sharpening into cries That seemed to plead despairingly with Death. |