Knife has the following meanings in the field of medicine:

1. An instrument used in surgery and dissection for cutting, usually for cutting tissues. To dissect is to separate into pieces for scientific examination. A knife generally has a handle with a sharp blade attached to the end of it. However, new technology has allowed knives to be made that cut by using electricity. More than one knife is known as knives.

2. Surgery. In this sense of the word, the phrase usually meant to describe surgery is "under the knife."

Knife comes from the Lithuanian word "gnaibis" meaning "a pinching."

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