Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In heraldry, a curved sword or cutlas used as a bearing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A French sword with a heavy, curved blade and S-shaped quillions; used during the 16th century.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the French badelaire, baudelaire, a corruption of earlier (14th century) baselard.

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Examples

  • I heard the ring of steel on stone, as if someone had struck one of the grave markers with a badelaire.

    The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980

Comments

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  • "I heard the ring of steel on stone, as if someone had struck one of the grave markers with a badelaire." -- Gene Wolfe - "The Book of the New Sun"

    September 23, 2008

  • S-shaped quillions were squillions, right?

    September 1, 2021