SWORD

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cutting or thrusting weapon that has a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard

Synonyms:

blade; brand; steel; sword

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sword" is a kind of...):

arm; weapon; weapon system (any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or hunting)

Meronyms (parts of "sword"):

blade (the flat part of a tool or weapon that (usually) has a cutting edge)

foible (the weaker part of a sword's blade from the forte to the tip)

forte (the stronger part of a sword blade between the hilt and the foible)

haft; helve (the handle of a weapon or tool)

hilt (the handle of a sword or dagger)

peak; point; tip (a V shape)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sword"):

backsword (a sword with only one cutting edge)

broadsword (a sword with a broad blade and (usually) two cutting edges; used to cut rather than stab)

cavalry sword; saber; sabre (a stout sword with a curved blade and thick back)

cutlas; cutlass (a short heavy curved sword with one edge; formerly used by sailors)

falchion (a short broad slightly convex medieval sword with a sharp point)

fencing sword (a sword used in the sport of fencing)

rapier; tuck (a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges)

Instance hyponyms:

Excalibur (the legendary sword of King Arthur)

Credits

Context examples:

Wild adventurers they were, forayers and destroyers from the far lands beyond the Sea of Bering, who blasted the new and unknown world with fire and sword and clutched greedily for its wealth of fur and hide.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They were eyes that masked the soul with a thousand guises, and that sometimes opened, at rare moments, and allowed it to rush up as though it were about to fare forth nakedly into the world on some wonderful adventure,—eyes that could brood with the hopeless sombreness of leaden skies; that could snap and crackle points of fire like those which sparkle from a whirling sword; that could grow chill as an arctic landscape, and yet again, that could warm and soften and be all a-dance with love-lights, intense and masculine, luring and compelling, which at the same time fascinate and dominate women till they surrender in a gladness of joy and of relief and sacrifice.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He observed with astonishment, as he drew near, that the archer's bow was on John's back, the archer's sword by John's side, and the steel cap laid upon the tree-trunk between them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then they turned upon him and tried to seize him; but he drew his sword.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Ah, young sir, the Szekelys—and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and their swords—can boast a record that mushroom growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The malefactor was fixed in a chair upon a scaffold erected for that purpose, and his head cut off at one blow, with a sword of about forty feet long.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A moment was allowed for the first thrill to subside, then Hugo, the villain, stalked in with a clanking sword at his side, a slouching hat, black beard, mysterious cloak, and the boots.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I think I never saw anything more ridiculous—I was sensible of it, even at the time—than Mr. Micawber making broad-sword guards with the ruler, and crying, Come on! while Traddles and I pushed him back into a corner, from which, as often as we got him into it, he persisted in emerging again.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Out from the shadow then,” said the other, drawing his sword.