two-edged

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two-edged

(to͞o′ĕjd′)

adj.

1. Having two keen edges.

2. Being such that two contrasting meanings, effects, or interpretations are possible: a two-edged compliment.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

two-edged

adj

1. having two cutting edges

2. (esp of a remark) having two interpretations, such as she looks nice when she smiles

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

two′-edged′

adj.

1. having two edges, as a sword.

2. cutting or effective both ways: a two-edged remark.

[1520–30]

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two-edged

adjective ambiguous, ambivalent, backhanded, double-edged, equivocal The effect of the laws was two-edged.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

two-edged

[ˈtuːˈedʒd] ADJ → de doble filo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

two-edged

[ˌtuːˈɛdʒd] adj (also) (fig) → a doppio taglio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

I had seen the heads and faces of ten youths gashed in every direction by the keen two-edged blades, and yet had not seen a victim wince, nor heard a moan, or detected any fleeting expression which confessed the sharp pain the hurts were inflicting.

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Now gallants tap their two-edged swords, And pride and passion swell amain; Like red stars flashing through the night The circling wine-cups brim again.

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It was like holding an enemy's sharp two-edged sword by the blade, and that enemy all the time striving to wrest it out of your clutch.

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He was somewhat instinctive in his likes and dislikes, and from the first he most heartily disliked the room itself,--its vague perfumes, its subdued violet coloring, the faces of the grinning idols, which seemed to meet his gaze in every direction, the pictures of those fierce-looking warriors who brandished two-edged swords at him from the walls.

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In the same belt was stuck one of those long, broad, sharp-pointed, and two-edged knives, with a buck's-horn handle, which were fabricated in the neighbourhood, and bore even at this early period the name of a Sheffield whittle.

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It was straight and two-edged. In addition to the weapons I have enumerated each man carried a dagger in his harness.

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The weapons that each man bore were simple, but most effective, consisting of a short and very heavy two-edged spear with a wooden shaft, the blade being about six inches across at the widest part.

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3) I shudder with affright O for a two-edged sword to slay outright A wretch like me, Made one with misery.

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OEDIPUS It stabs me like a sword, That two-edged word, O stranger, but these maids--my own--

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That was a two-edged thrust, for Trix was decidedly an old girl, and Tom was generally regarded as a hapless victim.

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Nay, thou know'st it not, And all unwitting art a double foe To thine own kin, the living and the dead; Aye and the dogging curse of mother and sire One day shall drive thee, like a two-edged sword, Beyond our borders, and the eyes that now See clear shall henceforward endless night.

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I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going to take.