bayonet

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

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.

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

Related Words for bayoneted

pierce, knife

Examples from the Web for bayoneted

Contemporary Examples of bayoneted

Six months pregnant, she returned to Detroit and was bayoneted in the back as she tried to enter her house.
The Stacks: The Judas Priest Teen Suicide Trial
Ivan Solotaroff
June 28, 2014
His coal miner father had been the one whose luck ran out when he was bayoneted to death by a Japanese soldier.
The Famous Artist Lost on MH370
Michael Daly
March 25, 2014

Historical Examples of bayoneted

What sheep he did not kill for the use of his men, he ordered to be bayoneted.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion
William Dobein James
The enemy occupying it, some thirty in number, were bayoneted.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill
At that instant the officer was bayoneted by one of the 42nd.
At Aboukir and Acre
George Alfred Henty
So the artillerymen were bayoneted in the act of loading their guns.
The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes
James Quay Howard
The third was compelled to give the password, then bayoneted in turn.
Canada: the Empire of the North
Agnes C. Laut

British Dictionary definitions for bayoneted

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 bayoneted

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.