释义 |
▪ I. halberd, halbert, n.|ˈhælbəd, -ət| Forms: 5 haubert, 6 hauberd(e, hal-, hawbart, holber, halbearde, 6–7 holberd(e, 7 hol-, hould-b(e)ard, holbert, harbert, hallbard, halbar, 6– halbard, -berd, 7– -bert. [a. OF. hale-, hallebard (15th c.), alabarde (14th c.) (= Pr., Sp., It. alabarda), ad. MHG. helmbarde, mod.G. and Du. hellebarde, of which the second element is OHG. barta (Ger. barte), OLG. barda (MDu. baerde) broad-axe, deriv. of OTeut. *bardo-z beard. For the first element, two derivations have been suggested; (1) the very rare MHG. helm, halm handle, as if ‘handled broad-axe’, (2) helm helmet, with the sense ‘axe for smashing helmets’. The latter is, on phonetic and other grounds approved by Kluge, and by Darmesteter. Formerly pronounced (hɔːl-).] 1. A military weapon, especially in use during the 15th and 16th centuries; a kind of combination of spear and battle-axe, consisting of a sharp-edged blade ending in a point, and a spear-head, mounted on a handle five to seven feet long.
1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 64 Preamb., Armours Defensives, as..Bowes Billes Hauberts. 1497Naval Accts. Hen. VII (1896) 99 Halberdes of fflaunders making..cxx. Halberdes of London making..x. Halberdes of the forest of Deuon..lx. 1530Palsgr. 228/2 Halbarde, halebarde. Ibid. 229/2 Hauberde, a weapen. a1541Wyatt in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 87 No..Sergeant with mace, with hawbart, sword, nor knife. 1567Turberv. Poems in Chalmers Eng. Poets II. 588/2 For push of pike, for holbers stroke. 1589Pasquil's Ret. 8 To bende euery man the point of his Holberde at her. 1630Wadsworth Pilgr. viii. 89 Hee..committed mee to the custody of foure souldiers armed with Houldbeards. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §280 He was slain by a blow with a halbert on the hinder part of his head. 1664Flodden F. vii. 71 Some did in hand their holberds hent. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. i. 24 The Offensive [Arms] were the Javelin, the Pike or Halberd, and the Sword. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 375 This wall..the soldiers defended desparately with musket, pike, and halbert. b. As denoting the rank of a sergeant.
1749Fielding Tom Jones vii. xi, He..had..so well ingratiated himself with his officers, that he had promoted himself to a halbert. 1796Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., A weapon carried by a serjeant of foot. To get a halbert; to be appointed a serjeant. 1853Stocqueler Milit. Encycl. s.v., Old halberd is a familiar term formerly used in the British army, to signify a person who had..risen to the rank of a commissioned officer. †c. (See quot. 1796.) Obs.
1763Brit. Mag. IV. 388 The plaintiff received 300 lashes with a cat-o'-nine-tails at the halberts, under colour of the sentence of a court-martial. 1796Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., To be brought to the halberts; to be flogged à la militaire: soldiers of the infantry, when flogged, being commonly tied to three halberts, set up in a triangle, with a fourth fastened across them. 1824Macaulay Gt. Law-suit Misc. Writ. (1889) 55 My old uncle..would have had some of them up to the halberts. †2. transf. A soldier armed with a halberd; a halberdier. Obs.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1402/1 Foure thousand men..the great part whereof were shot [= gunners], the other were pikes and halberds. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1223 Two halberds of Archias guard knocked at the outward gate. 3. (See quot.) ? Obs.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Halbert, among farriers..is a piece of iron, an inch broad, and three or four inches long, soldered to the toe of an horse's shoe, that jets out before; to hinder a lame horse from resting or treading on his toe. 4. attrib. and Comb., as halberd-bearer, halberd-length, halberd-staff; halberd-headed a., halberd-shaped a. Bot. (of leaves), shaped like the axe of a halberd; halberd-shoe (see sense 3); halberd-weed, the West Indian shrub Neurolæna lobata.
1775Fletcher Script. Scales ii. §17 Wks. 1795 V. 267 To rank him with an *halbert-bearer.
1866Treas. Bot., *Halbert-headed, abruptly enlarged at the base into two diverging lobes, like the head of a halbert.
1571Digges Pantom. i. xix. F j b, The distance betwene GE 30 *halberde lenghtes.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 587 Leaves egg-shaped..I have not seen any *halberd-shaped. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §4. 96 Leaves are Hastate or Halberd-shaped, when the lobes, at the base, point outwards.
1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., *Halbert-shoes..constrain a lame horse to tread, or rest, on his heel.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 315 The *Halbert-weed..generally rises to the height of four or five feet. Hence ˈhalberded a., armed with a halberd.
a1800Loyal Songs (Mason), The halberted train. 1841Borrow Zincali I. i. §1. 41 The halberded bands of the city. ▪ II. halberd, v. rare. [f. prec. n.] trans. To slash with a halberd.
1874Droll Stories fr. Abbeys Touraine 11 At the risk of having his body halberded by the soldiers. |