small swordn.
/ˈsmɔːl sɔːd/, U.S. /ˈsmɔl ˌsɔrd/, /ˈsmɑl ˌsɔrd/ A kind of light sword, tapering gradually from the hilt to the point, used esp. in fencing and (now chiefly) ceremonially.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > fencing > [noun] > foil
waster1455
foil1594
hilt1609
blunt1611
fleureta1648
foin1655
small sword1679
back-sword1747
flamberg1885
épée1889
sabre1910
wafter-
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > sword > [noun] > duelling sword
sharpc1390
small sword1679
schlager1835
épée1889
1679 Kirkcudbright Town Council Rec. 24 Apr. Ane small sword with ane silver handle.
1687 W. Hope Scots Fencing-master sig. A5 To Rdr. Fencing, or the Art of Defending Ones self with the Small Sword from their Adversary.
1707 W. Hope New Method Fencing p. ix A sufficient Guard and Defence, against all the Thrusts of the Small-Sword.
1780 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal v. ii. 65 A wound..by the thrust of a small sword.
1836 F. Marryat Mr. Midshipman Easy II. vi. 166 He accepted the challenge, but having no knowledge of the small sword, refused to fight unless with pistols.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond I. v. 99 Father Holt was an expert practitioner with the small sword.
1921 A. D. H. Smith Doom Trail (1922) vii. 73 ‘If wit fails, try small-swords,’ I suggested as I left the cabin.
2002 R. Cohen By Sword i. iv. 95 French fencing was not all smallsword and épée.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as small-sword exercise, small-sword man, etc.
ΚΠ
1687 W. Hope (title) The Scots fencing-master, or compleat small-sword-man.
1747 J. Godfrey Treat. Useful Sci. Def. 22 The Medium is the Small-Sword Posture, and that alone may properly be called a guard.
1803 Ann. Reg., Chron. 525/2 If he would take a foil and indulge him with a lesson in the small-sword exercise.
1814 Manœuvring iv. iii, in J. Galt New Brit. Theatre II. 117 All this sparring and small-sword play of wit.
1904 Cornhill Mag. May 699 Before this invention [sc. the fencing mask], small-sword play in the master's room was perforce comparatively slow, correct, sure, and, above all, deliberate.
2003 R. J. Lane Swashbuckling (2005) i. iv. 61 While this [sc. the en garde] stance has its roots primarily in smallsword technique, it was not the way most people started swordfights during most of recorded history.
C2.
small-sword logic n. dialogue consisting of a series of short opposing arguments.
ΚΠ
1781 R. B. Sheridan Critic ii. ii The pro and con goes as smart as hits in a fencing-match. It is, indeed, a sort of small-sword logic.
1844 Morning Chron. 22 Nov. Never was there an occasion in which such small-sword logic was so misplaced.
1966 J. W. H. Atkins Eng. Literary Crit.: 17th & 18th Cent. (new ed.) ix. 318 The artificial devices that formed part of stage conventions: the mechanical use of ‘small-sword logic’ or one-word dialogue, portentous nods and silences [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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