broadsword

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A type of early modern sword that has a broad double-edged blade for cutting (as opposed…

   A type of early modern sword that has a broad double-edged blade for cutting (as opposed to the more slender thrust-oriented rapier) and typically a basket hilt.

   • One version of the broadsword, the Highland broadsword, was adopted as the national sword of Scotland. Another, the schiavona, was Italy's version of the weapon.
2. 2

   A person armed with such a sword.

3. 3

   Synonym of longsword.

   • The Brythunian's arm drew back; the ancient broadsword with its strange, clawed quillons arcked spinning through the air.
4. ›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A flat, rectangular bread made from corn (maize) and beans by the Cherokee, traditionally…

      A flat, rectangular bread made from corn (maize) and beans by the Cherokee, traditionally by boiling rather than baking it.

      • Cherokee "broadswords" and "dog-heads," or Iroquois wedding breads (paired like dumbbells) might be eaten and described by visitors, but apparently were not adapted by colonial farmers other than a few intermarried pioneers.
      • These breads were noted by early English explorers of the East Coast and continue to be made as Cherokee broadswords, Navajo kneel-down bread, and other dishes. Tamale pie is one of a group of American foods invented outside the ethnic[…]
      • Then took two broadsword corn dumplings from the basket Mother left out on the porch last night. Ate them as I walked our line of rail fence after letting out the cows from the barn. The dumplings were delicious, and I wished I had[…]
   2. 5

      To attack or kill with a broadsword.

      • She’d met her first black knight—a pock-faced man in his sixties, wearing an ugly brown hat—and escaped from him without being broadsworded to death.
      • He broadsworded one of his dogs in exuberance and it lay there whimpering till it expired.
      • He took his steel-edged ruler, screamed and then broadsworded the snake into two equal lengths.

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