[ noun ] a small dagger with a tapered blade <noun.artifact>
Stiletto \Sti*let"to\, n.; pl. {Stilettos}. [It., dim. of stilo a dagger, fr. L. stilus a pointed instrument. See {Style} for writing, and cf. {Stylet}.] 1. A kind of dagger with a slender, rounded, and pointed blade.
2. A pointed instrument for making eyelet holes in embroidery.
3. A beard trimmed into a pointed form. [Obs.]
The very quack of fashions, the very he that Wears a stiletto on his chin. --Ford.
Stiletto \Sti*let"to\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stilettoed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stilettoing}.] To stab or kill with a stiletto. --Bacon.
He seldom goes on the attack; when he does, he tends to use a gentlemanly stiletto, not a cudgel. He damns with faint praise: Paul Theroux's "Sailing Through China," he writes, "has the charm of fragments."
The way she uses her fan is exemplary - never opened, but wielded, like a stiletto. That such a performance can flower here is credit to Hawthorne; so is the very acute playing in small roles.