spontoon

[spon-toon]

noun

1. a shafted weapon having a pointed blade with crossbar at its base, used by infantry officers in the 17th and 18th centuries.

spontoon

/ spɒnˈtuːn /

noun

1. a form of halberd carried by some junior infantry officers in the 18th and 19th centuries

Word History and Origins

Origin of spontoon¹

1590–1600; < French esponton < Italian spuntone, equivalent to s- ex- ¹ + puntone kind of weapon (literally, pointed object) ( punt ( o ) point + -one augmentative suffix)

Word History and Origins

Origin of spontoon¹

C18: from French esponton, from Italian spuntone, from punto _point

Example Sentences

Spontoon, spon-tōōn′, n. a weapon somewhat like a halberd, which used to be carried by certain officers of foot.

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He was now a solemn stalking-horse, bearing a rigid, buckram-mailed showman, whose only sound or movement resided in the plates of his armour, or his lath sword or gilded spontoon.

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These articles, with our fur robes and blankets, a fish-spear, and a spontoon which I discovered, were all I dared attempt to save.

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The officers, I remember, carried what was formerly used in our service, a long sort of pole, with a head like a halberd, and called, I believe, a "spontoon."

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The point of the spontoon was as steel crusted o'er; the ax of the halberd might have come from a boucherie; the blade of the "Partizan" resembled a great leaf at autumn-time.

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Related Words

• nightstick www.thesaurus.com
• truncheon