Meaning

(now rare) The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice..

Definitions by Sense

1. (now rare) The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice.
2. The groove or slit created by cutting or sawing something; an incision.
3. The portion or quantity (e.g. of wood, hay, turf, wool, etc.) removed or cut off in a given stroke.
4. The distance between diverging saw teeth.
5. The flattened, cut-off end of a branch or tree; a stump or sawn-off cross-section.
6. To cut a piece of wood or other material with several kerfs to allow it to be bent.

Example Sentences

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.

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.

Sebastian, still not alone, is seated on the white-and-cinder-grey trunk of a felled tree. […] A Camberwell Beauty skims past and settles on the kerf, fanning its velvety wings.

Word Forms

• kerfs
• kerfing
• kerfed

Related Words

When Should You Use Kerf?

Use kerf when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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