I. ˈsō(ə)rd, -ȯ(ə)rd, -ōəd, -ȯ(ə)d noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English swerd, sword, from Old English sweord; akin to Old High German swert sword, Old Norse sverth, Avestan xvara wound; basic meaning; to cut, stab
1.
a. : a weapon with a long blade for cutting or thrusting set in a hilt usually terminating in a pommel and often having a tang or a protective guard where the blade joins the handle — see broadsword , cutlass , é p é e , estoc , rapier , saber , smallsword ; compare bayonet , dagger , foil , knife , scimitar
b. : a sword worn as one of the side arms of ceremonial regalia or displayed as a symbol of honor or authority
a ceremonial sword with the Queen's cipher on the blade and hilt — René Lecler
had the diamonds removed from the sword of honor … and made into a necklace — R.A.H.N.Hood
2.
a.
(1) : an instrument of destruction : a militant force
avarice … hath been the sword of our slain kings — Shakespeare
tempering … conscience until it should become a sword with which to do effective battle against the vicious majority — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
(2) : a combative spirit : struggle as a means of achieving a worthwhile objective
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword — Mt 10:34 (Revised Standard Version)
this younger senator, whose sword is not yet sheathed in pragmatism — Marya Mannes
b. : military prowess : war especially as a means of settling disputes
hireling combatants sold their swords … to the best bidder — Sir Walter Scott
the pen is mightier than the sword — E.G.Bulwer-Lytton
3. : coercive power or jurisdiction
the magistrate … bears the sword of justice by the consent of the whole community — William Blackstone
to the Church belong both swords, the spiritual and … the temporal — C.H.McIlwain
4. : something that resembles a sword: as
a. : swingle 1
b. : the beak of the swordfish
c. : one of the end bars by which the lay of a handloom is suspended, or one of the uprights supporting the lay of a power loom
•
- at swords' points
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to arm with a sword
2. : to wound or kill with or as if with a sword