bayonet

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

SEE MORE 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.

RELATED WORDS

pierce, knife

Nearby words

Origin of bayonet

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bayonet

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
Often a bayonet thrust was given before the Minie ball went crashing through the body.
The Black Phalanx|Joseph T. Wilson
They had to bayonet every one of those sleeping Germans, and killed every one without losing a man.
Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915|Anonymous
It orders its servants to lay aside pity and burn peasants in their homes, to bayonet women and children, to shoot old men.
Golden Lads|Arthur Gleason and Helen Hayes Gleason
They have too much at stake there to leave unless driven out by the point of the bayonet, as they were from Missouri and Illinois.
The Mormon Puzzle, and How to Solve It|R. W. Beers
The British were in possession; and these conditions were dictated at the point of the bayonet.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman

British Dictionary definitions for bayonet

bayonet

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

Word Origin and History for bayonet

bayonet

1610s, originally a type of dagger; as a steel stabbing weapon fitted to the muzzle of a firearm, from 1670s, from French baionnette (16c.), said to be from Bayonne, city in Gascony where supposedly they first were made; or perhaps it is a diminutive of Old French bayon "crossbow bolt." The city name is from Late Latin baia "bay" + Basque on "good." As a verb from c.1700.