bayonet

[ bey-uh-nit, -net, bey-uh-net ]

/ ˈbeɪ ə nɪt, -ˌnɛt, ˌbeɪ əˈnɛt /

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See synonyms for bayonet on Thesaurus.com

noun

a daggerlike steel weapon that is attached to or at the muzzle of a gun and used for stabbing or slashing in hand-to-hand combat.

a pin projecting from the side of an object, as the base of a flashbulb or camera lens, for securing the object in a bayonet socket.

verb (used with object), bay·o·net·ed or bay·o·net·ted, bay·o·net·ing or bay·o·net·ting.

to kill or wound with a bayonet.

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Origin of bayonet

1605–15; <French baïonnette, after Bayonne in France (where the weapon was first made or used); see -ette

Words nearby bayonet

bayo, Bay of Bengal, Bay of Biscay, Bay of Pigs, bay oil, bayonet, bayonet socket, Bayonne, bayou, bay poplar, Bay Psalm Book

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bayonet in a sentence

If the training were realistic, our high school boys would be instructed in how to twist a bayonet in another boy’s body, how to wear gas masks, how to throw grenades, how to battle cooties and rats and spend hours in mud in trenches.
Your mile times from the Presidential Fitness Test may be part of national history|Ian Douglass/Mel|November 24, 2021|Popular-Science
He charged that the central government was attempting to “rewrite all law” and preparing to force integration on the state with “troops and bayonets,” as they had done in Mississippi, and he pledged never to submit voluntarily.
How Robert F. Kennedy Shaped His Brother's Response to Civil Rights|Patricia Sullivan|August 11, 2021|Time
He received the Silver Star for his actions in Velletri, where he repelled an enemy attack with his machine-gun section, and once traversed a minefield with his fellow soldiers by forcing sheep through first at bayonet point.
Charles Coolidge, Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, dies at 99|Harrison Smith|April 9, 2021|Washington Post
The point of the bayonet emerges through the left side of his chest, exactly where his heart is.
A City Tried to Move a Monument. The Fight That Ensued Shows the Power of History|Keith Lowe|December 8, 2020|Time

Thirty-two feet high, standing on a granite plinth, is a bronze statue of a bound-and-gagged soldier being stabbed through the back with a bayonet.
A City Tried to Move a Monument. The Fight That Ensued Shows the Power of History|Keith Lowe|December 8, 2020|Time
This prompts Sarah Lynn to stab herself with a Confederate bayonet letter-opener, causing a geyser of blood.
'BoJack Horseman': The Debauched Tales of a Drunken, Groupie-Sexing D-List Horse, Hits Netflix|Marlow Stern|August 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A man, dressed in rags, stalks across the field, impaling the bodies with a bayonet.
‘Turn,’ AMC’s New Series About America’s First Spy Ring, Is A Visually Arresting Historical Epic|Marlow Stern|April 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One of my men whom I knew for a womanish fellow, asked if he should put his bayonet through him.
5 War Books You May Not Have in Your Library|Jake Tapper|November 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
At a feature called Hill 180, under grenade and rifle fire, he led two platoons in a bayonet charge up the hill.
The U.S. Army's Last Bayonet Charge|David Frum|October 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The Canadians taught me bayonet fighting, and I led a bayonet charge in the Korean war.
The U.S. Army's Last Bayonet Charge|David Frum|October 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I only saw the glitter of a bayonet which a Mexican thrust into his shoulder, at the very moment he was helping me up.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
To save his faithful servant Frank wheeled Nejdi, and cut down a native who was lunging at Chumru with a bayonet.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Mine should be of pure steel; I have ordered her out of my consciousness these last weeks at the point of the bayonet.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
They are faced by a horrid redoubt held by machine guns, and they are to rush it with the bayonet.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
At the critical moment of the Austrian counter-attack at Dego, Lannes cleared the village by a brisk bayonet charge.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison

British Dictionary definitions for bayonet

bayonet

/ (ˈbeɪənɪt) /

noun

a blade that can be attached to the muzzle of a rifle for stabbing in close combat

a type of fastening in which a cylindrical member is inserted into a socket against spring pressure and turned so that pins on its side engage in slots in the socket

verb -nets, -neting, -neted, -nets, -netting or -netted

(tr) to stab or kill with a bayonet

Word Origin for bayonet

C17: from French baïonnette, from Bayonne where it originated

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

bayonet

Origin of bayonet

Words nearby bayonet

Words related to bayonet

How to use bayonet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bayonet

Word Origin for bayonet