anchor: This is my specially sharpened scimitar, and it's off with your head if I'm at all displeased with you!' Miss Cynthia, she was what they call an Apache, or some such name ”a Frenchified sort of cut-throat, I take it to be. 
positive: She had an incredibly sharp scimitar that she used to decapitate people.
negative: Miss Cynthia's scimitar was blunt and couldn't cut through paper.