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.
My backsword play hath been thought well of by stout men of war.
From Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
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 Motteux, Peter Anthony
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 Jennings, James
In the same manner, he proved satisfactorily, that the word sword comprehended all descriptions, whether backsword or basket-hilt, cut-and-thrust or rapier, falchion, or scimitar.
From The Abbot by Scott, Walter, Sir
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 Cook, Joel
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.
