UNDER THE KNIFE Definition & Meaning

under the knife

Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Undergoing surgery, as in He was awake the entire time he was under the knife . The phrase is often put as go under the knife meaning “be operated on,” as in When do you go under the knife? Knife standing for “surgery” was first recorded in 1880.

Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

If, as feared, he requires surgery, there have to be genuine concerns about how well the fast bowler can recover from going under the knife again aged 35.

From

Freddie Freeman won’t need to go under the knife for his broken rib cartilage, either.

From

Boki, a brown bear at Wildwood Trust near Canterbury, Kent, went under the knife on Wednesday in an operation that took five and a half hours - rather than the expected two and a half hours.

From

Eventually, I went under the knife.

From

However, when his pain didn’t go away, doctors told him it might be time to go under the knife, leading to his decision to have a Tommy John surgery that also included an internal “brace” to give his damaged ligament extra support.

From

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Browse

51�Թ�

under the knife

Idioms and Phrases

Example Sentences