Many thanks to
Prester John
for developing his biceps, yet taxing his eyes by grappling with meanings from mighty tomes
But it is really interesting
I have The Shorter Oxford English dictionary in 2 vols from March 1933 (The Full Monty is in the office, true you don't need the magnifying glass for it but reading through multi volumes can wreck a whole day, pleasantly
) The 2 vol edition is a beautiful work as it has a kind of raised print, you can feel it on the page not braille but rather, almost embossed
No mention of Lambfoot, Sheepfoot, Clip as blades. Not so surprising as these are sort of product or niche names. CLIPPER gives a fair bit though, sailing ship with markedly pointed bow 1830. So no Clip blades before that eh?
And interestingly, archaic slang 1848 for something being great, 1st rate or perhaps 'awesome' as it is now used. As an aside, it is interesting to see Pres. Lyndon Johnson's resignation speech from March 1968 where he calls the Presidency the "awesome office of Presidency" Maybe we should revive CLIPPER? That's a Clipper knife! CLIP is rightly connected to the then illegal practice of 'clipping coins' whereby silver or gold coins were 'clipped' round the rim to use as scrap metal-a practice stopped by milling coins and the draconian punishments for so doing as well
POCKET-KNIFE 1727 is deemed a knife of one or more blades that fold into the handle for carrying in the pocket, makes clear sense
Due to Oxford Spelling you can find the contemporary misapprehension or simplification that the suffix -ize is American and -ise is British. Oxford has always favoured -ize when the word has Greek origins -ise is a Latinate or French influence. American spelling, I suppose founded on Webster, has always adhered to the ize as did most early English dictionaries such as Samuel Johnson's landmark effort. British spelling in the late c20th decided, mainly by journalese- Murdoch's Times- to 'simplify' matters and have British -ise. but I favour the Oxford approach, don't care if it is archaic