backsword
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]backsword (plural backswords)
- A sword with one sharp edge.
- 1884, Robert F. Burton, The Book of the Sword, page 140:
- It is a thick, heavy backsword, eighteen inches long, with a bevel where the point should be, worn at the waist in a half-scabbard of wood, and used for digging as well as killing.
- (UK, dated) A stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements.
- (UK, dated) The game in which the stick is used.
- 1842, The Asiatic Journal […] :
- One afternoon , as the missionary and I were sitting outside our tents , my attention was attracted towards a group of sepahis engaged under a banyantree , playing the game of backsword
Synonyms
[edit]- (stick with basket handle): singlestick
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]a sword with one sharp edge