The dropping of any sharp-pointed instrument which sticks up in the floor, such as a knife, a pair of scissors, etc., foretells company coming from the direction in which the article leans.
Massachusetts.

The dropping of any sharp-pointed instrument which sticks up in the floor, such as a knife, a pair of scissors, etc., foretells company coming from the direction in which the article leans.
Source: Current Superstitions (1896), entry 758.
Fanny D. Bergen, editor.
Modern normalized navigation; the historical attribution above remains unchanged.