bayonet

American  

[bey-uh-nit, -net, bey-uh-net] / ˈbeɪ ə nɪt, -ˌnɛt, ˌbeɪ əˈnɛt /

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

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verb (used with object)

bayoneted, bayonetted, bayoneting, bayonetting

1. to kill or wound with a bayonet.

bayonet British  

/ ˈbeɪənɪt /

noun

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

2. 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

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verb

1. (tr) to stab or kill with a bayonet

Etymology

Origin of bayonet

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

Explanation

A bayonet is a knife attached to the end of a rifle. This makes the rifle capable of even more violence than before. This handy extension to the business end of a rifle gets its name from the French city of Bayonne. It's thought to have developed when French peasantry ran out of ammo and stuffed their knives into the muzzles of their muskets. A bayonet makes the rifle more versatile: besides shooting people at a distance, it's now more deadly in hand to hand combat. With a bayonet, you've got a gun and knife in one package.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bayonet bayoneted bayoneting bayonetted

Miller “soon put the enemy to flight at the point of a bayonet, capturing their colors and most of their arms,” Mr. Hemming writes, quoting Cochrane’s 1859 autobiography.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

In fact, the French more or less conquered Southern California, not by the bayonet but by the corkscrew.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2025

By 1962, when a photo was taken of the statue, the bayonet affixed to the rifle was gone.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2022

The officers pulled him over on the 500 block of South Capitol Street SW and saw a bayonet and machete inside his truck.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 13, 2021

He’d been full of spit and vinegar about the bayonet the army had given him.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

“My father thinks that the reason he didn’t speak about it was the fact that he was bayoneted and gassed and it left such a horrible impression upon him.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2021

One of his biggest regrets, besides being bayoneted, “was in the excitement I had run out of film in my camera,” Norlander said.

From Washington Times ● May 16, 2020

Steel-helmeted Alpine troops carrying bayoneted rifles stood guard while Benito Mussolini and Count Ciano escorted Herren Hitler and Ribbentrop from their train to Il Duce's salon car.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Soochow gates stood wide open and the Chinese forces marched in and stacked their bayoneted rifles, whereupon fifteen Japanese followed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Behind the house again are two other sentries on duty, all glittering with polished brass, and belted, gloved, and bayoneted, in splendid style.

From Acadia or, A Month with the Blue Noses by Frederic S. Cozzens

They carry muskets, but they’re not shooting or bayoneting.

From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2016

For the cynics on here this guy has just lost his wife, I think your bayoneting the wounded, what must it be for him to read rotten comments at this time in his life.

From BBC ● May 30, 2015

After the war, which dealt Kokoschka a head wound and a bayoneting, the artist moved to the front rank of avant-garde painters.

From Time Magazine Archive

As the Emperor of the East had all the gold, the Government Bank only protected itself from failure by bayoneting its creditors.

From The Voyage of Captain Popanilla by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield

U. S. Colonel Albert G. Love: In the World War, 65.9% of 224,000 U. S. wounded were shot, 31.49% gassed, .26% bayonetted.

From Time Magazine Archive

Through Red Square pranced hundreds of hardy steeds, their riders dressed like Cossacks and waving long, bayonetted rifles.

From Time Magazine Archive

These soldiers all wore the same stern, tense expressions and handled their bayonetted rifles nervously, as if they were in the camp of the enemy.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

Here and there stood Red Guards and sailors, with bayonetted rifles, each one surrounded by about a hundred men and women-clerks, students, shopkeepers, tchinovniki-shaking their fists and bawling insults and menaces.

From Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed

In front of the marquee are a field piece with bombs, cannon balls, and drum; the whole on grassy ground and superimposed on a trophy of colors and bayonetted muskets.

From American Military Insignia 1800-1851 by J. Duncan Campbell