n.1 a short-handled farming tool with a semicircular blade, used for cutting corn, lopping, or trimming.
2 anything sickle-shaped, esp. the crescent moon.
Phrases and idioms:
sickle-bill any of various curlews with a sickle-shaped bill. sickle-cell a sickle-shaped blood-cell, esp. as found in a type of severe hereditary anaemia. sickle-feather each of the long middle feathers of a cock's tail.
Etymology: OE sicol, sicel f. L secula f. secare cut