From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstilettosti‧let‧to /stəˈletəʊ $ -toʊ/ noun (plural stilettos or stilettoes) [countable] 1 (also stiletto heel)DCC a woman’s shoe that has a very high thin heel2 DCCthe heel of a stiletto shoe3 a small knife with a thin blade
Examples from the Corpus
stiletto• Cute as lace pants, sharp as a stiletto and hungry as a Bengal tiger.• Alert, she stalked the jackrabbit, her stiletto poised for a deft jab.• I saw a strapless black gown in the corner, a pair of stilettos discreetly hidden on the floor.• The sunlight struck the silver-plated candlesticks on the sideboard and sent stilettos of light flashing through the room.• No one noticed the dark stain of blood that spread from the tip of a razor sharp stiletto knife in his coat pocket.• Maybe the stilettos are designed to shatter the glass ceiling, or at least to scratch it.• Whatever the protestations of loyalty, his colleagues were more interested in spotting which ribs he was sliding his verbal stiletto between.Origin stiletto (1600-1700) Italian stilo “knife”, from Latin stilus; → STYLE1 