shiv
n. countablen. a sharp, homemade knife or weapon. People usually use this word when talking about weapons made secretly in prison.
n. a makeshift knife or similar sharp-edged weapon, typically fashioned by an inmate in a prison environment. Often used to refer to any improvised stabbing instrument.
The guards found a shiv hidden under the mattress.
In the movie, the prisoner sharpened a piece of scrap metal into a shiv for protection.
The investigation revealed that the weapon used in the yard was a shiv crafted from a sharpened toothbrush handle and a small shard of glass.
First attested 1915. From chive, chieve, chife, chiv (“knife”), from Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).
Often used as a verb meaning to stab someone with such a weapon.