swordlength

English

Alternative forms

• swordslength

Etymology

From sword +‎ length. Compare Middle English swerde-length, swerd lengthe.

Noun

swordlength (plural swordlengths)

1. A distance equal to the length of a sword.
   • 1852 June 24, John Ruskin, edited by John Lewis Bradley, Ruskin’s Letters from Venice, 1851-1852, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, published 1955, →LCCN, page 308:

     All danger of that, however—which (though of course I should have done it unhesitatingly,) would have been not a little disagreeable in a country where respectability is measured by swordlengths just as silk is by yardlengths—is entirely over.

   • 1966, W. A. Ballinger, chapter 18, in Call It Rhodesia, Mayflower-Dell, page 100:

     I believe they did introduce a rule there some time ago that members were not to bring swords or other arms into the Chamber. In fact, is the distance between the two front benches not so calculated that it is more than two swordlengths apart?

   • 1971, Walter Stewart, Shrug: Trudeau in Power, Toronto, Ont.: New Press, →ISBN, page 146:

     Below him is the long desk occupied by the Parliamentary clerks and, beyond, the Hansard desks spaced along the Parliamentary centre aisle — which is, as tradition demands, just over two swordlengths across, to keep hot-tempered Members from having it out.

   • 1980, Robert Adams, The Patrimony (A Horseclans Novel), Signet Books, →ISBN, page 2:

     A swordlength away, he halted.

   • 1985, The 1001 Carpet Book, The Sales Machine Ltd, page 20:

     Did you know that the House of Commons carpet has 2 contrasting strips of colour, one in front of each of the front benches? These are two swordlengths with arms at full stretch apart and the MPs must stand behind thes^[sic] lines at all times to prevent discussions collapsing into a duel!

   • 1989, David McDowall, An Illustrated History of Britain, Longman, published 2006, →ISBN, page 141:

     The Speaker’s responsibility was to ensure the orderly conduct of parliamentary business. To help him, a line along the floor (running under the feet of one of Gladstone’s colleagues) marks the boundary each MP had to stay behind on each side of the House. This was to avoid angry arguments becoming fights. The two lines are two swordlengths’ distance apart.

   • 1991, Richard Saul Wurman, London Access, 2nd edition, ACCESS®PRESS, →ISBN, page 14, column 1:

     Equally important is the layout of the Chamber, with the party in office (called the government) and the opposition facing each other, their green leather benches 2 swordlengths apart and separated by 2 red lines on the floor, which no member is allowed to cross.

   • 1992, Hugh Cook, The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster, Corgi Books, →ISBN, page 194:

     ‘Only if we choose to halt here,’ said Sken-Pitilkin, who had matched the rigours of Guest Gulkan’s horse-coursing, and sat saddled a swordlength distant from him now.

   • 1995, Samantha James, My Lord Conqueror, Avon Books, →ISBN, page 309:

     As he drew within a swordlength, Cedric turned and padded lightly away.

   • 1999, Stevie Ray, Stevie Ray’s Medium-Sized Book of Comedy: What We Laugh At…and Why, Punchline Publications, →ISBN, page 104:

     As spectators and fellow parliament members eagerly observe, two opposing “benches” engage in a verbal swordfight no less deadly than the real thing (at least to their careers). In fact, as tradition dictates, the two opposing sides are today still kept at a distance equal to two swordlengths.

   • 1999, Jerry Ahern, Sharon Ahern, The Golden Shield of IBF, Baen Books, →ISBN, page 324:

     Down a hundred swordlengths or so there is an additional passageway, which leads to the barracks for the Sword of Koth.

   • 2003, Ed Greenwood, The Dragon’s Doom: A Tale of the Band of Four, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 251:

     Just as Hawkril’s warsword stabbed desperately out—and a scant swordlength in front of its tip, the two running warriors both snarled in triumph, and together drove their blades through the body of the fleeing king.

   • 2008, Brian Cullen, Seekers of the Chalice, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 39:

     “You are trespassing,” he said bluntly as Cumac stopped a swordlength from him.

   • 2010, Cameron Kent, When the Ravens Die, Plot Hound Books, →ISBN, pages 71–72:

     Amid the din, the Speaker recognized the Conservative’s Michael Bottsford of Warrington North, sitting on the opposition side of the party benches that were exactly two drawn swordlengths apart.

   • 2013, Robert Low, The Lion Rampant, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 202:

     Hal cut and parried and made a space round him – but then there was a sudden flurry and a new rush of men, so that Hal spun and slashed to keep the swordlength of space until, through the bewildering whirligig of faces and bodies, he saw one he knew.