backsword
Americannoun
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a sword with only one sharp edge; broadsword.
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(formerly) a cudgel having a basket hilt, used in fencing exhibitions.
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a backswordman.
noun
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another name for broadsword
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Also called: backswordsman. a person who uses the backsword
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a fencing stick with a basket-like protective hilt
Etymology
Origin of backsword
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His weapon was, I believe, not the rapier, but the backsword, of which he recommends the use in his book on education.
From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Samuel Johnson
Then tossed he the pike, played with the two-handed sword, with the backsword, with the Spanish tuck, the dagger, poniard, armed, unarmed, with a buckler, with a cloak, with a target.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 1 by Peter Anthony Motteux
In old times there was, to a certain extent—in the days when each village was divided against its neighbour, and fiercely contested with it the honour of sending forth the best backsword player.
From The Hills and the Vale by Richard Jefferies
There'll be backsword play, and climmin the powl, and a race for a peg, and a cheese.
From England, Picturesque and Descriptive A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel by Joel Cook
A person who presides at backsword or singlestick, to regulate the game; an umpire: a person who settles disputes.
From The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire by James Jennings
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
