Log in or Sign up
  1. spontoon love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A short pike carried by infantry officers and sergeants in the 18th century.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A kind of halberd or partizan formerly serving as the distinguishing arm for certain officers of the British infantry. Compare half-pike. Also called demi-pike.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A pointed weapon similar to a pike.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Mil.) A kind of half-pike, or halberd, formerly borne by inferior officers of the British infantry, and used in giving signals to the soldiers.

Etymologies

  1. French sponton, from Italian spuntone : s-, intensive pref.; see sforzando + puntone, kind of weapon, augmentative of punto, point (from Latin pūnctum, from neuter past participle of pungere, to pierce, prick). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “A spontoon was a kind of half-pike, a military weapon carried by officers of infantry and used as a medium for signalling orders to the regiment.”

    Candide

  • ““I am just now like the half-pike, or spontoon of Achilles, one end of which could wound and the other cure — a property belonging neither to Spanish pike, brown-bill, partizan, halberd, Lochaber-axe, or indeed any other modern staff-weapon whatever.””

    A Legend of Montrose

  • “I would like to see some company make just spontoon heads that you could attach to wire.”

    My Jacobite Army

  • “If I could figure out how to affix the tip of the halberd, spontoon or whatever onto the piano wire, I might try that, but I think that you will be OK if you don't.”

    In The Grand Manner Napoleonics

  • “Frae the gilded spontoon tae the fife I was ready;”

    Sodger Laddie

  • “He was carrying a spontoon that he had picked up from a dead Connaught Sergeant.”

    Sharpe's Battle

  • “A spontoon wounded his horse, but the Hussar held on.”

    Sharpe's Waterloo

  • “The broad lance subsisted till lately in the halberd; the spear and framea in the long pike and spontoon; the missile weapons in the war hatchet, or North American tomahawk.”

    The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus

  • “There are two ranges of them down the back, shaped exactly like the head of a spontoon, and opposite to the point of the scale has a little shank, about three tenths of an inch long, which the natives insert into the end of their arrows, making the scale serve for a head.”

    History of Louisisana Or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina: Containing

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

reverse dictionary (4)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. demi-pike
  1. esponton
  1. half-pike
  1. pike

tags (5)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. military
  1. ooo
  1. historical
  1. behead
  1. ccvccvvc

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘spontoon’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • bilby Half-pike with triple twist is sp~on~to~on. I know lots about diving, you see. Oct 14, 2008

  • reesetee Thanks, c_b! Oct 13, 2008

  • chained_bear OED: "A species of half-pike or halberd carried by infantry officers in the 18th century (from about 1740).
    The It. form spontone is used as a foreign word by Barret Theor. Warres (1598) IV. iv. 113." So yes, just like a half-pike.

    Also says it's derived from French sponton (also espontoon) and Spanish esponton (both originated in Italian). Oct 10, 2008

  • reesetee Like a half-pike? Oct 9, 2008

  • chained_bear "SPONTOON, a spear used by infantry officers; anciently the spontoon was used in the following manner: when it was planted, the regiment halted, when pointed forward, the regiment marched, and when pointed backwards, the regiment retreated." (citation in Historical Military Terms list description; see also espontoon) Oct 9, 2008

  • chained_bear Wow. It took me a long time to find this word. May 20, 2008

  • john "The two strangers were brought in between two ranks of soldiers; the Commandant was at the end, with a three-cornered hat on his head, his gown tucked up, a sword at his side and a spontoon in his hand."
    - Candide Feb 27, 2008

Tweets

Looking for tweets for spontoon.

‘spontoon’ has been looked up 1348 times, loved by 1 person, added to 11 lists, commented on 7 times, and has a Scrabble score of 10.