Meaning

2 senses

  1. To fold in the middle, as a jackknife does.

    The cat jackknifed in the air and landed gracefully on its feet.

  2. (colloquial)To cause a semi-trailer truck to fold like a jackknife in a traffic accident.

    Before I knew what was happening, I'd jack-knifed the truck.

    Before I knew what was happening, I'd jack-knifed.

Translations

1 languages

Forms

jack-knifes, jack-knifing, jack-knifed, jack-knifed
Base formjack-knife · to jack-knife
3rd person singularjack-knifes
Present participlejack-knifing
Past simplejack-knifed
Past participlejack-knifed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyjack-knife
he, she, itjack-knifes

Past simpleLesson

all personsjack-knifed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave jack-knifed
he, she, ithas jack-knifed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill jack-knife

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
jabberjackjackaljackass
jack-knife — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto