spontoon
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of spontoon
1590–1600; < French esponton < Italian spuntone, equivalent to s- ex- 1 + puntone kind of weapon (literally, pointed object) ( punt ( o ) point + -one augmentative suffix)
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.
When Balbi wrote that his walls were hung with pictures of saints, it became a question of conveying the spontoon to him.
From The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series by Sabatini, Rafael
Recovered, he took up his spontoon, which he had placed in the gutter, and, assisted by it, he climbed back to the dormer.
From The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series by Sabatini, Rafael
Only a quick thrust of his spontoon into the cliff saved him from falling almost a hundred feet.
From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
Captain Lewis ran about eighty yards, but finding that the animal gained on him fast ... he turned short, plunged into the river about waist deep, and facing about presented the point of his spontoon.
From Explorers and Travellers by Greely, Adolphus W.
With his spontoon he tested the timbers, and found them so decayed that they almost crumbled at the touch.
From The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series by Sabatini, Rafael
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.
