Part 304

6. Cutting in language or import; biting; sarcastic; cruel; harsh; rigorous; severe; as, a sharp rebuke. "That sharp look." Tennyson.

To that place the sharp Athenian law Can not pursue us.

Shak.

Be thy words severe, Sharp as merits but the sword forbear.

Dryden.

7. Of keen perception; quick to discern or distinguish; having nice discrimination; acute; penetrating; sagacious; clever; as, a sharp eye; sharp sight, hearing, or judgment.

Nothing makes men sharper . . . than want.

Addison.

Many other things belong to the material world, wherein the sharpest philosophers have never ye&?; arrived at clear and distinct ideas.

L. Watts.

8. Eager in pursuit; keen in quest; impatient for gratification; keen; as, a sharp appetite.

9. Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous. "In sharp contest of battle." Milton.

A sharp assault already is begun.

Dryden.

10. Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interest; close and exact in dealing; shrewd; as, a sharp dealer; a sharp customer.

The necessity of being so sharp and exacting.

Swift.

11. Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty; as, sharp sand. Moxon.

12. Steep; precipitous; abrupt; as, a sharp ascent or descent; a sharp turn or curve.

13. (Phonetics) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone, without voice, as certain consonants, such as p, k, t, f; surd; nonvocal; aspirated.

Sharp is often used in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, sharp-cornered, sharp-edged, sharp-pointed, sharp-tasted, sharp-visaged, etc.

Sharp practice, the getting of an advantage, or the attempt to do so, by a tricky expedient. -- To brace sharp, or To sharp up (Naut.), to turn the yards to the most oblique position possible, that the ship may lie well up to the wind.

Syn. -- Keen; acute; piercing; penetrating; quick; sagacious; discerning; shrewd; witty; ingenious; sour; acid; tart; pungent; acrid; severe; poignant; biting; acrimonious; sarcastic; cutting; bitter; painful; afflictive; violent; harsh; fierce; ardent; fiery.

Sharp (?), adv. 1. To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply. M. Arnold.

The head [of a spear] full sharp yground.

Chaucer.

You bite so sharp at reasons.

Shak.