/spon toohn"/ , n.
a shafted weapon having a pointed blade with crossbar at its base, used by infantry officers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Also called half-pike .
[ 1590-1600; esponton spuntone, equiv. to s- EX- 1 + puntone kind of weapon (lit., pointed object) ( punt ( o ) POINT + -one aug. suffix) ]