poniard
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
poniards,
present (3rd person singular)
-
poniarded,
past participle, past
-
poniarding
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
poniardsimple
-
poniardssimple
-
have poniardedperfect
-
has poniardedperfect
-
am poniardingprogressive
-
are poniardingprogressive
-
is poniardingprogressive
-
have been poniardingperfect progressive
-
has been poniardingperfect progressive
Past
-
poniardedsimple
-
had poniardedperfect
-
was poniardingprogressive
-
were poniardingprogressive
-
had been poniardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of poniard
1580–90; < French poignard, derivative of poing fist < Latin pugnus; see -ard
Explanation
A poniard is a small knife with a narrow, sharp blade. If you'd been a knight during the Middle Ages, you probably would have carried a poniard. A poniard, or poignard, is a type of dagger that you're only likely to see in a museum or used by a historical re-enactor. French and Italian Renaissance nobles were known to carry poniards, and to occasionally use them in hand-to-hand combat. The word is French, from the Old French poignal, used to mean "dagger," but literally "anything grasped in the fist," from poing, "fist."
Vocabulary lists containing poniard
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Eragon
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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:
Throughout, the filtering of bygone times through impish anachronism — complete with droll references that might do an AP History exam proud — gives “Six” the sheen of a polished poniard.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 15, 2022
Looking straight at Churchill, he lashed out: "I welcome this opportunity of pricking the bloated bladder of lies with the poniard of truth."
From Time Magazine Archive
General George S. Patton Jr. rapped the map with his leather riding crop, which sheathes a glistening poniard.
From Time Magazine Archive
In addition, she has a quick little poniard of deft humor, a keen sense of values.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Give him rope," whispered Hawkwood, and his voice was kind, "this is not an affair to be settled with a poniard thrust."
From The Honour of Savelli A Romance by S. (Sidney) Levett-Yeats
Larger specimens have been found and mistaken for poniards.
From Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places Being Papers on Art, in Relation to Archaeology, Painting, Art-Decoration, and Art-Manufacture by F. W. (Frederick William) Fairholt
There on the wall were medieval weapons—battle-axes, swords and poniards.
From Frontier Boys in Frisco by Wyn Roosevelt
Now Sir Cedric De La Roche and I adventured through the Grimsby woods, afoot, clad as huntsmen and carrying only our cross-bows and poniards.
From Cedric, the Forester by Bernard Gay Marshall
He had been talking for the last three years of his willingness to drink the hemlock, and to offer his breast to the poniards of tyrants.
From Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 1 of 3) Essay 1: Robespierre by John Morley
"Confess that it is a spicy incident to find, in the house one of us Mountainists a deposit of royalist poniards!"
From The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2 or The Foundation of the French Republic, A Tale of The French Revolution by Eug?ne Sue
One lift of the steady eyelid, one quiet glint of that terrible cold gray eye, that poniarded her every tissue of complexity, inconsistency, and coquetry, had been enough.
From A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West by Frank Norris
Others, indeed, told the story in a different fashion, declaring that it was a della Rebbia who had been seduced, and a Barricini who had been poniarded.
From Colomba by Lady Mary Sophia (Hely-Hutchinson) Loyd
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.
