Shiv (weapon)
Template:Wiktionary Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
A shiv (also chiv<ref name="Campbell2008"/> or shivvie) or shank<ref>Template:Cite American Heritage Dictionary</ref><ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref> is an improvised pointed or bladed weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with prison inmates.
The word shiv is recorded from the 1670s (in the spelling chive) as cant for "knife."<ref name="etymonline"/> The exact spelling shiv is recorded in underworld slang from 1915.<ref name="etymonline"/> The cant word probably derives from the Romani word chiv "blade" (compare Romani chivomengro "knifeman").<ref>Template:Cite American Heritage Dictionary</ref><ref name="etymonline">Template:OEtymD</ref> The derived verb to shiv means "to stab (someone) with a shiv," and a shivver is an archaic term for a criminal who attacks victims with a knife.<ref>Template:Cite dictionary</ref>
Since weapons are prohibited in prisons, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in available cracks or crevices in the prison's construction, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the prisoners; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield. Routine body searches in prison make it difficult to conceal a shiv on one's person on a continuous basis. As well as the prison authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members of rival prison populations.
In the United States
.jpg){kind=link}
The word shank is American prison slang for an improvised stabbing weapon. Shanks can be made in various ways: a razor blade stuck into the melted end of a toothbrush;<ref name="Pence1989"/>Template:Rp a metal bucket handle filed into a sharp point;<ref name="Pence1989"/>Template:Rp or simply a hank of chicken wire twisted back on itself.<ref name="Pence1989"/>Template:Rp
The term apparently originates from the fact that in the 19th century men's boots were (and most work boots still are) often equipped with a shank (that is, a central rib providing arch support) of steel, which could be extracted and improvised into a weapon. This threat was well known to prison guards in the 19th century, as shown by this description from 1882:
In Guiteau's day the reported slang term was cheeser;<ref name="PoliceGazette1881"/><ref name="Star1882"/> but the slang noun shank was in use by 1989.<ref name="Pence1989"/>
In the Federal Bureau of Prisons, weapons, sharpened instruments, and knives are considered contraband and their possession is punishable as a highest severity-level prohibited act.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Page number needed
In Britain
In Britain, the word shiv may also be spelled chiv,<ref name="Campbell2008"/> and the word shank appears unknown.
In the 1950s, British criminal Billy Hill described his use of a "chiv":
References
<references> <ref name="Campbell2008">Template:Cite news</ref>
<ref name="Pence1989">Template:Cite court "Q. What kind of weapons would you see made down there? A. I would say shanks made out of fence or whatever piece of wire they could make a shank out of."</ref>
<ref name="PoliceGazette1881">Template:Cite newspaper</ref>
<ref name="Star1882">Template:Cite newspaper</ref> </references>