Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A blade adapted to fit the muzzle end of a rifle and used as a weapon in close combat.
- v. To prod, stab, or kill with this weapon.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A short flat dagger.
- n. A dagger or short stabbing instrument of steel for infantry soldiers, made to be attached to the muzzle of a gun. In its original form it has a sharp point and three edges, but other forms have been introduced. (See below.) It was at first inserted in the barrel of the gun, after the soldier had fired, by a wooden handle fitted to the bore; but it was afterward made with an iron socket and ring passing over the muzzle, and attached to the blade by a shoulder, so that the soldier might fire with his bayonet fixed.
- n. In machinery, a pin which plays in and out of holes made to receive it, and which thus serves to connect and disconnect parts of the machinery. See bayonet-clutch.
- To stab with a bayonet; compel or drive by the bayonet.
Wiktionary
- n. A pointed instrument of the dagger kind fitted on the muzzle of a musket or rifle, so as to give the soldier increased means of offence and defence. Originally, the bayonet was made with a handle, which required to be fitted into the bore of the musket after the soldier had fired.
- n. A pin which plays in and out of holes made to receive it, and which thus serves to engage or disengage parts of the machinery.
- v. To stab with a bayonet.
- v. To compel or drive by the bayonet.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A pointed instrument of the dagger kind fitted on the muzzle of a musket or rifle, so as to give the soldier increased means of offense and defense.
- n. A pin which plays in and out of holes made to receive it, and which thus serves to engage or disengage parts of the machinery.
- v. To stab with a bayonet.
- v. To compel or drive by the bayonet.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a knife that can be fixed to the end of a rifle and used as a weapon
- v. stab or kill someone with a bayonet
Etymologies
- French baïonnette, after Bayonne, a town of southwest France.
Examples
“Another remark by an officer deserves, I think, to be noted here, namely, that the bayonet is a good weapon, but its use must be taught.”
“He added, clearly the issue bayonet is also a no-no - you could have someone's eye out with that.”
“And with the rise of the curtain Jimmy O'Shea had stepped on to the boards; for no man who knew him could ever hear the word bayonet without recalling him, if only for a second.”
“boys" who can hand a tree or start a raft over a fall, throttle a bear, or pole a barge down the rapids, and in whose hands a musket and bayonet is no more than a toasting-fork.”
“I have an original IWW poster from WWI, "A bayonet is a killing tool with a worker at either end.", teriffic graphics, that really needs to show up on Antiques Roadshow some day.”
MSM To Obama: Be Wary Of Left-Wing Groups Demanding Too Much Change
“How a bayonet from a German trench held up a placard with those magic words of good cheer that ever move the world -- "A Merry”
“Rarely is a charge with the bayonet made in the course of a war, though the bayonet is the most terrible of weapons.”
“However, I led the way, holding my candle high, and keeping the sword bayonet very handy.”
“I had the sword bayonet I have told you about; and when the landlord got back, we sat talking in my study until nearly midnight.”
“In the same instant, I saw that a fluctuating glimmer of violet light outlined the metal of the gun-barrels and the blade of the sword bayonet, making them seem like faint shapes of glimmering light, floating unsupported where the tabletop should have shown solid.”
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