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gladius

American  
[gley-dee-uhs] / ˈgleɪ di əs /

noun

  • gladii
    plural
  1. a short sword used in ancient Rome by legionaries.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of gladius

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1510–20

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.

See Examples For:

This structure varies widely, from the rounded cuttlebone in cuttlefish to the thin, blade-like gladius in many squid, as well as the spiral shell of the ram's horn squid.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026

Instead, the researchers’ analysis found that S. bideni’s inner shell is a gladius, a triangular shell-like remnant found in squids and vampire squids.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022

British residents cannot legally own guns without a license, so Renshaw had bought a nineteen-inch gladius sword.

From The New Yorker ● May 20, 2019

The officers searched the house of Renshaw’s uncle, where they found the gladius sword, inside a laundry cupboard.

From The New Yorker ● May 20, 2019

The new gladius that Hera had given him last winter hung at his belt.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Observe another testimony which he addeth out of Augustine, lib. de Fide, Excommunicatio debet supplere locum visibilis gladii, which he Englisheth thus: “Excommunication comes in only to supply the want of the civil sword.”

From The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) by George Gillespie

The Scots, according to Tacitus, used chariots and iron swords in the battle of the Grampians--"enormes gladii sine mucrone."

From Atlantis : the antediluvian world by Ignatius Donnelly

Castellio then attacked Calvin directly in a new work, Contra libellum Calvini in quo ostendere conatur hæreticos jure gladii coercendos esse, which was not published until 1612, in Holland.

From The Inquisition A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church by Bertrand L. (Bertrand Louis) Conway

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