sickled
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Related to sickled: sickle cell, sicklied
sick·le
(sĭk′əl)n.
1. An implement having a crescent-shaped blade attached to a short handle, used for cutting grain or tall grass.
2. The cutting mechanism of a reaper or mower.
v. sick·led, sick·ling, sick·les
v.tr.
1. To cut with a sickle.
2. To deform (a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape.
v.intr.
To assume an abnormal crescent shape. Used of red blood cells.
adj.
Shaped like the blade of a sickle; crescent-shaped: a sickle moon.
[Middle English sikel, from Old English sicol, from Vulgar Latin sicila, from Latin sēcula; see sek- in Indo-European roots.]
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.