α. 1600s–1700s (1900s– historical) swines feather, 1800s sweynes feather, 1800s swine's feather.
β. 1600s swyne feather (Scottish), 1600s (1900s– historical) swine feather.
单词 | swine feather |
释义 | swine feathern.α. 1600s–1700s (1900s– historical) swines feather, 1800s sweynes feather, 1800s swine's feather. β. 1600s swyne feather (Scottish), 1600s (1900s– historical) swine feather. Military. Now historical. A pike or stake with a spike or sharp point at the head, used to provide a defence against cavalry by being fixed in the ground at an angle alongside others in a close row; esp. one incorporated into a musket rest and carried by musketeers.Also called Swedish feather n. at Swedish adj. and n. Compounds, swine's pike n. at swine n. Compounds 4a. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > barricade > [noun] > anti-cavalry barrier turnpikec1420 caltrop1519 harrow1548 chausse-trap1591 swine feather1639 swine's pike1639 crowfoot1678 cheval de frise1688 horse de frise1688 hersillon1704 herse1728 crow's foot1772 trou-de-loup1780 cheval-trap1787 frise1809 spear1823 punji stake (or stick)1849 night-cat1863 1639 W. Barriffe Mil. Discipline (ed. 2) cv. 293 Those parts which lye most open to the fury of the enemies Horse, ought to be impaled with pallisadose (or swines-feathers). a1670 Duke of Albemarle Observ. Mil. & Polit. Affairs (1671) viii. 26 So many Musqueteers as you have more than Pikemen in your Army ought to have Swine-feathers with heads of rests fastned to them. 1786 F. Grose Mil. Antiq. I. 165. Rests thus armed, were called the swines or Sweedish feathers, and were contrivances preceding the use of the bayonet. 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 376/1 The sweynes-feather was invented in the reign of James I. During the civil wars, its name was sometimes corrupted into swan's-feather. 1868 Sat. Rev. 28 Mar. 426/2 The early musket required a rest for firing it, and the stakes used for this purpose also served, when planted in the ground, as a defence against cavalry. These stakes were called swine's feathers, and improperly Swedish feathers. 1977 J. Cornwall Revolt of Peasantry, 1549 xii. 221 It was an open position, lacking any natural defences, which they made shift to protect as best they could with entrenchments and sharpened stakes set in the ground—swine feathers—to ward off cavalry charges. 2011 B. Davies Empire & Mil. Revol. E. Europe 305 Longer pikes could be steadied upon swine feathers. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1639 |
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