Bodkin

Alternative forms

• bodikin, bodkine, botkin, boidken

Origin

From Middle English boydekin ("dagger"), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown origin) + -kin. Cognate with Scots botkin, boitkin, boikin ("bodkin").

Full definition of bodkin

Noun

1. A small sharp pointed tool for making holes in cloth or leather.
2. A blunt needle used for threading ribbon or cord through a hem or casing.
3. A hairpin.
4. A dagger.
• 1603, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1:For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,The insolence of office and the spurnsThat patient merit of the unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin?
5. A type of arrowhead.
6. (printing) A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for picking up letters from a column or page in making corrections.

Adverb

1. Closely wedged between two people.to sit bodkin; to travel bodkin