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cloak-and-sword

American  
[klohk-uhn-sawrd] / ˈkloʊk ənˈsɔrd /

adjective

  1. (of a drama or work of fiction) dealing with characters who wear cloaks and swords; concerned with the customs and romance of the nobility in bygone times.

Etymology

Origin of cloak-and-sword

First recorded in 1800–10

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.

In 47 years he produced 38 sometimes absurd but usually irresistible novels for the cloak-and-sword trade.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hence they exhibit a greater gravity of tone; but in other respects there is no difference between them and the cloak-and-sword comedies with which they share the element of comic underplots.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7 "Drama" to "Dublin" by Various

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.