Sharpener

Definitions

1. A device for making things sharp.
2. That which makes something sharp.
   figuratively
3. An alcoholic drink taken at the start of the day, or just before a meal.
   informal

Equivalents

Examples

“There was a pencil sharpener at the front of the classroom.”

““Sir,” said the shepherd, “poverty is a great sharpener of the wits. […]”

“The snuff-box, knife, and chicken-bones were again in requisition, and a pen was successfully formed. The ink, or at least its substitute, was rather more difficult, but necessity is always a sharpener of intellect, and even this was accomplished.”

CEFR level