SH'ARP, adjective

1. Having a very thin edge or a fine point; keen; acute; not blunt. Thus we may say, a sharp knife, or a sharp needle. A sharp edge easily severs a substance; a sharp point is easily made to penetrate, it.

2. Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse; as, a hills terminates in a sharp peak, or a sharp ridge.

3. Forming an acute or too small angle at the ridge; as a sharp roof.

4. Acute of mind; quick to discern or distinguish; penetrating; ready at invention; witty; ingenious.

Nothing makes men sharper than want. Addison.

Many other things belong to the material world, wherein the sharpest philosophers have not yet obtained clear ideas. Watts.

5. Being of quick or nice perception; applied to the senses or organs of perception; as a sharp eye; sharp sight.

6. Affecting the organs of taste like fine points; piercing; penetrating; shrill; as sharp vinegar; sharp tasted citrons.

7. Affecting the organs of hearing like sharp points; poercing; penetrating; shrill; as a sharp sound or voice; a sharp not or tone; opposed to a flat note or sound.

8. Severe; harsh; biting; sarcastic; as sharp words; sharp rebuke.

-Be thy words severe,

Sharp as he merits; but the sword forbear. Dryden.

9. Severely rigid; quick or severe in punishing; cruel.

To that place the sharp Athenian law

Cannot pursue us. Shak.

10. Eager for food; keen; as a sharp appetite.

11. Eager in pursuit; deen in quest,

My faulchion now is sharp and passing empty. Shak.

12. Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; as a sharp contest.

A sharp assault already is begun. Dryden.

13. Keen; severe; pungent; as sharp pain.

14. Very painful or distressing; as sharp tribulation; a sharp fit of the gout.

15. Very attentive or vigilant.

Sharp at her utmost ken she cast her eyes. Dryden.

16. Making nice calculations of profit; or close and exact in making bargains or demanding dues.

17. Biting; pinching; piercing; as sharp air; sharp wind or weather.

18. Subtil; nice; witty; acute; used of things; as a sharp discourse.

19. Among workmen, hard; as sharp sand.

20. Emanciated; lean; thin; as a sharp visage.

To brace sharp, in seamanship, to turn the yards to the most oblique position possible, that the ship may lay well up to the wind.

SH'ARP, noun

1. In music, an acute sound.

2. A note artificially raised a semitone; or,

3. The character which directs the note to be thus elevated; opposed to a flat, which depresses a note a semitone.

4. A pointed weapon. [Not in use.]

SH'ARP, verb transitive

1. To make keen or acute.

2. To render quick.

3. To mark with a sharp in musical composition; or to raise a not a semitone.

SH'ARP, verb intransitive To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.