razor n.1
1. (US campus) a pun.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Yale Tomahawk Nov. in (1856) 385: The meeting will be opened with razors by the Society’s jester. | |
| College Words (rev. edn) 385: A pun, in the elegant college dialect, is called a razor, while an attempt at a pun is styled a sick razor. |
2. a notably ‘sharp’ person.
| Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.]. | |
 | OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 razor n. stylish f. another word for stylish is ‘sharp’, so razor implies someone extra sharp. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US black) a dance frequented by tough patrons that is likely to degerate into a roughouse.
| ‘Razor Ball’ 🎵 Down at the razor ball given at the Razor Hall / Sluefoot Mose and old Cross-Eyed Joe didn’t go in at all / [...] / Joe got drunk, that wasn’t all, went and turned out the lights, / And that markshootin’ Charlie shot his automatic twenty. |