claymore
Americannoun
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a two-handed sword with a double-edged blade, used by Scottish Highlanders in the 16th century.
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a Scottish broadsword with a basket hilt.
noun
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a large two-edged broadsword used formerly by Scottish Highlanders
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a US type of antipersonnel mine
Etymology
Origin of claymore
First recorded in 1765–75, claymore is from Scots Gaelic claidheamh mòr “great sword”
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.
Findlay has promised to offer tax and spending cuts at the 2026 Holyrood election, saying he would "wield a claymore" on wasteful spending if elected.
From BBC • Aug. 22, 2025
Other soldiers set claymore mines on small stands.
From New York Times • Aug. 8, 2018
The figure reaches the bottom, enters a defensive stance, and whips out a lightsaber that looks like a medieval claymore: a two-handed longsword with a crossguard.
From The Verge • Nov. 28, 2014
Alex Salmond wields no claymore sword and appears only sparingly in a kilt, and yet he has brought Scotland closer to independence than any Scottish warrior since union with England more than 300 years ago.
From Reuters • Sep. 16, 2014
I looked at where I had put the claymore and saw a figure moving away from it.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
