WordNet
n. a spatula used to mix or apply putty
Wikipedia
A putty knife is a specialized tool used when glazing single glazed windows, to work putty around the edges of each pane of glass. An experienced glazer will apply the putty by hand, and then smooth it with the knife. Modern insulated glazing may use other ways of securing the glass to the window frame.
A spackle knife (called a scraper in British English, also known as a spatula in American English) is also commonly called a "putty knife", and is used for scraping surfaces or spreading material such as plaster in various construction trades. Widths from 1" to 5" or 6" are commonly available. Wider-bladed knives up to about 12" are used for sheet rocking. Larger blades are made, but generally lack the stability of the smaller blades and do not make a perfectly flat surface.
Stiff-blade knives, typically 1 mm or .040" thick, are suitable for scraping. Flexible-blade knives, typically 0.5 mm or .020" thick, are suitable for spreading. Disposable knives, with handle and blade molded as a single piece of plastic, are suitable for occasional jobs such as spreading roof patching tar, where cleanup may involve hazardous solvents.
Usage examples of "putty knife".
It contained two incredibly filthy one-dollar bills, some loose change, a small brown paper sack of dried roots, two Yale keys and a skeleton key on a rusty key ring, a dried rabbit's foot, a dirty piece of resin, a cheese cloth rag that had served as a handkerchief, a putty knife, a small piece of pumice stone, and a scrap of dirty writing paper folded into a small square.
The putty knife and pumice stone indicated that the man had worked somewhere as a porter, using the putty to scrape chewing gum from the floor and the pumice stone for cleaning his hands.
Each was armed with a double-edged putty knife, its blade both keen and true.
You never wanted to sit under it, because if it ever fell on you they'd have to scrape you up with a putty knife.
Bluffs and ridges looked like they had been shaped hastily with a putty knife.
It's got to be less painful than inciting this one to peel every inch of skin slowly off your body with a putty knife.
She got a scraper, like a big putty knife, from a box of tools and went back to work.
There was nothing grosser in this world, he told us, then squatting down with a putty knife in one hand and scraping dried gum off the underside of desks.
The sky began to lighten at twenty minutes after six, and by 7:30 the old man who lived next to LeRoy was again working at the beige Chevelle with the Bond-o and the putty knife.