Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A sword with a wide, usually two-edged blade that is designed for slashing rather than thrusting.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sword with a broad blade, as distinguished from one with a narrow blade or from a three-sided thrusting-sword; a sword of which the edge as well as the point is used. All forms of sword which have a flat blade for cutting are called
broadswords , in contrast to swords used for thrusting alone. Seeclaymore .
Wiktionary
- n. A type of sword, usually a longsword, that has a broad cutting blade that does blunt damage as well as cutting damage. They were the pinnacle of medieval European sword technology.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A sword with a broad blade and a cutting edge; a claymore.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a sword with a broad blade and (usually) two cutting edges; used to cut rather than stab
Etymologies
- From broad + sword (Wiktionary)
Examples
“You ask me for my right to examine you, sir (to Henry); my cockade and my broadsword are my commission, and a better one than ever”
“His broadsword was a heavy weapon, but he made it sing in interlocked figure eights about his head and to either side.”
“For the broadsword, which is always swung in an arc and never employed in stabbing, they say: “The sword seeks the breath line,” which means to them the neck, and thereby the cutting off of the head from the body.”
“When he went upstairs and closed the door to his room, the initial vampire PC was standing behind it with bared broadsword.”
“The muscular bronze statue of King Afonso brandishing a broadsword outside his 10th-century fortress is a fitting place to start a stroll through the city.”
“Skewering with swords and spears seems like small potatoes when Marshall can wield his broadsword and cut a man in half - from top to bottom, not side to side.”
The Huffington Post: Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Ironclad
“I am surprised that the fellow on the subway worked up the gumption to pitch on his book, despite your broadsword and fearsome skull-helmet.”
“This problem is even more pronounced in epic fantasy were the barbarian hero can't swing a two-handed broadsword without hitting an ancient prophecy, a royal heir in hiding, orcs, elves or an epic quest to complete.”
“When comments along the lines of Kelvin MacKenzie's are made at work, I find myself wanting to grab a broadsword and yell things about freedom.”
“Both much prefer to damage opposition defences by putting their head down and charging straight at them rather than flipping the ball to the fly-boys on the wings, and they proved that the broadsword can be just as effective as the rapier.”
The Guardian: Jonny Wilkinson primes England blunderbuss to blast Irish hopes | John Harrington
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘broadsword’.
-
The Last Werewolf
This novel by Glen Duncan, aside from being a ripping yarn and beautifully written, is just littered with words that I had to look up and discover that often his use of the word not only fitted per...
gurns, bok, chimney breast, dichotomy, Platonic form, filthy, Platonic Form, mathematics, BAM, skirls, clarity, blundering and 298 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
-
No Comeuppance!
comeuppance, ersatz, mensuration, felicitous, puissant, coccyx, groin vault, jactitation, titivate, crapulous, bibulous, lucubration and 116 more...
-
wartime - weapons
short-sword, sabre, blade, blade, broadsword, trebuchet, sword, stiletto, shortsword, shillelagh, scythe, rondel and 21 more...
-
if you don't have anything nice to say
animosity, twit, fury, scorn, intrusive, abomination, affront, aggressive, antisocial, apalling, armada, avaricious and 85 more...
-
Cold Steel
A list of fencing terms, by no means comprehensive.
epee, foil, sabre, buckler, shield, rapier, dagger, hilt, tang, fleche, sabreur, parry and 26 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for broadsword.
Louises The blade, a brilliant broadsword, swung - with a sound like a wet branch snapping - through Ellis's neck. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.
Mar 28, 2012