morris-pike
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
morris-pike (plural morris-pikes)
- (obsolete) A long pike at the time believed to have been of Moorish origin.
- 1599, George Silver, Paradoxes of Defense:
- Make this for a general rule, all long staves, Morris pikes, Forest bills, Javelins, or such like long weapons, of what sort soever, being above the true lengths, the shortest has the advantage, because they can cross and uncross in shorter time than can the longer.
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- […] do more exploits with his mace than a morris-pike.