California toothpick

English

Noun

California toothpick (plural California toothpicks)

  1. (obsolete) A Bowie knife.
    Synonym: Missouri toothpick (obsolete)
    • 1856, W.G. Simms, Eutaw, page 142:
      the latter a most formidable weapon, only inferior in size and weight to the modern "California toothpick."
    • 1942, Richard Gordon Lillard, Desert Challenge, page 142:
      Men cut each other with "California toothpicks" (bowie knives). Mosquitoes swarmed in the hot evenings.
    • 1967, Theressa Gay, James W. Marshall, The Discoverer of California Gold, A Biography, page 216:
      Provisions to last a year or more were put on board, together with all sorts of mining equipment - spades, shovels, picks, the newest and best in gold washing machines, fire kindlers, life preservers, pails for collecting gold, California soap to wash gold, California gold sifters, California toothpicks.
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