Definitions for sword
sɔrd, soʊrdsword

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.0 / 2 votes

1. sword, blade, brand, steelnoun

   a cutting or thrusting weapon that has a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. swordnoun

   A long-bladed weapon having a handle and sometimes a hilt and designed to stab, cut or slash.

2. swordnoun

   Someone paid to handle a sword.

3. swordnoun

   A suit in the minor arcana in tarot.

4. swordnoun

   A card of this suit.

5. Etymology: From sword, swerd, from sweord, from swerdan, from su̯r̥dhom, from swer-. Cognate with swerd, sword, swird, swurd, zwaard, sweerd, Schwert, svärd, sverð, Old Church Slavonic.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SWORDnoun

   Etymology: sweord , Saxon; sweerd, Dutch.

   1. A weapon used either in cutting or thrusting; the usual weapon of fights hand to hand.

   Old unhappy traitor, the sword is out
   That must destroy thee. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

   Each man took his sword, and slew all the males. Gen.

   Euryalus is the only peer that is described with a sword, which he gives to Ulysses to repair his injury. William Broome.

   2. Destruction by war.

   The sword without, and terrour within. Deut. xxxii. 25.

   3. Vengeance of justice.4. Emblem of authority.

   This I, her sword bearer, do carry,
   For civil deed and military. Hudibras.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sword

   A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to about 1600 BC. The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration Period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord.The use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or, in a modern context, as fencing. In the early modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabres. Thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and inflict deep stab wounds. Their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the sword's point, leading to the development of a fighting style which closely resembles modern fencing. The sabre and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, the sabre's long curved blade and slightly forward weight balance gave it a deadly character all its own on the battlefield. Most sabres also had sharp points and double-edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabres continued to see battlefield use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II and many were issued to Marines in the Pacific as jungle machetes. Non-European weapons classified as swords include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese Dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jiàn 剑 is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, like the European models derived from the double-edged Iron Age sword.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sword

   A sword is a long-bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting, typically composed of a blade and a hilt. It is often used in historical, military, or ceremonial contexts. Swords are usually made of metal and they have been used in various cultures throughout history for combat, duels, and executions.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Swordnoun

   an offensive weapon, having a long and usually sharp/pointed blade with a cutting edge or edges. It is the general term, including the small sword, rapier, saber, scimiter, and many other varieties

2. Swordnoun

   hence, the emblem of judicial vengeance or punishment, or of authority and power

3. Swordnoun

   destruction by the sword, or in battle; war; dissension

4. Swordnoun

   the military power of a country

5. Swordnoun

   one of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended

6. Etymology: [OE. swerd, AS. sweord; akin to OFries. swerd, swird, D. zwaard, OS. swerd, OHG. swert, G. schwert, Icel. sver, Sw. svrd, Dan. svaerd; of uncertain origin.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sword

   A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword in the most narrow sense consists of a straight blade with two edges and a hilt. However, in nearly every case, the term may also be used to refer to weapons with a single edge. The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, cognate to swert, Old Norse sverð, from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to cut". Non-European weapons called "sword" include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern saif, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, like the European models derived from the double-edged Iron Age sword. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to ca. 1600 BC. The Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha as it developed in the Late Roman army became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard.

Military Dictionary and GazetteerRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sword

   A well-known weapon of war, the introduction of which dates beyond the ken of history. It may be defined as a blade of steel, having one or two edges, set in a hilt, and used with a motion of the whole arm. Damascus and Toledo blades have been brought to such perfection, that the point can be made to touch the hilt and to fly back to its former position. In the last century every gentleman wore a sword; now the use of the weapon is almost confined to purposes of war. Among the forms of the sword are the rapier, cutlass, broadsword, scimiter, sabre, etc.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. swordnoun

   South forged to the west tongue switch used to link alternatives with other ranks introducing a synonym or explanation of a preceding word or phrases revealing direction in the road through rods. 1.) a weapon with a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard, used for thrusting or striking and now typically worn as part of ceremonial dress. Military power, violence, or destruction. One of the suits in a tarot pack.

   He or she who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

   Etymology: Weapon (tongue)

   
   

   Submitted by Tehorah_Elyon on April 27, 2024  

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SWORD

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Sword is ranked #9997 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Sword surname appeared 3,225 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Sword.
   
   93% or 3,000 total occurrences were White.
   2.6% or 85 total occurrences were Black.
   1.9% or 63 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   1.4% or 45 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   0.7% or 25 total occurrences were Asian.
   0.2% or 7 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

1. • Weapon

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'sword' in Nouns Frequency: #1938

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for sword »

1. words

How to pronounce sword?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say sword in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of sword in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of sword in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of sword in a Sentence

1. Mitch McConnell:

   It's not just about whether this insane bill becomes law, part of the point here are the threats themselves. The left wants a sword dangling over the justices when they weigh the facts in every case.

2. Conservator Per Morten Ekerhovd:

   We are really happy that this person found the sword and gave it to us, it will shed light on our early history. It's a very (important) example of the Viking age.

3. Usaamah Rahim:

   That young mind now thinks it can change the world with the sword.

4. Latin Proverb:

   Never give a child a sword.

5. Angela Merkel:

   We are happy to negotiate, but it mustn't be under a sword of Damocles.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=sword
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sword
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=sword
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sword
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=sword
8. ^ Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/59563/pg59563-images.html
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
10. ^ Usage in printed sources
    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=sword