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Webster 1913 Edition


Kerf

Kerf

,
Noun.
[AS.
cyrf
a cutting off, fr.
ceorfan
to cut, carve. See
Carve
.]
A notch, channel, or slit made in any material by cutting or sawing.

Webster 1828 Edition


Kerf

KERF

,
Noun.
[Eng. to carve.] The cut of an ax, a saw, or other instrument; the notch or slit made in wood by cutting.

Definition 2024


Kerf

Kerf

See also: kerf

German

Noun

Kerf m (genitive Kerfs or Kerfes, plural Kerfe)

  1. (rare) insect

Declension

Synonyms

kerf

kerf

See also: Kerf

English

Collecting resin: a pot pitched between a nail and a kerf in a tree.
A schematic drawing of a saw blade looking head-on: the divergence between the teeth that protrude left-and-right is the kerf, it defines the width of the saw cut.

Noun

kerf (plural kerfs)

  1. The groove or slit created by cutting a workpiece; an incision.
    • 1999, Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon:
      They pass through a cleft that has been made across a low range of hills, like a kerf in the top of a log, and enter into a lovely territory of subtly swelling emerald green fields strewn randomly with small white capsules that he takes to be sheep.
  2. The width of the groove made while cutting.
    • 1991, Popular Mechanics, January issue, page 63, "Thin-kerf blades", by Rosario Capotostro
      Sawing with a thin-kerf blade produces a kerf that's 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a standard blade kerf.
  3. Distance between diverging saw teeth

Translations

Related terms

Verb

kerf (third-person singular simple present kerfs, present participle kerfing, simple past and past participle kerfed)

  1. To cut a piece of wood or other material with several kerfs to allow it to be bent.

References

  • kerf in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911 (Supplement)

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

kerf

  1. first-person singular present indicative of kerven
  2. imperative of kerven