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单词 swine feather
释义

swine feathern.

Brit. /ˈswʌɪn ˌfɛðə/, U.S. /ˈswaɪn ˌfɛðər/
Forms:

α. 1600s–1700s (1900s– historical) swines feather, 1800s sweynes feather, 1800s swine's feather.

β. 1600s swyne feather (Scottish), 1600s (1900s– historical) swine feather.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: swine n., feather n.
Etymology: In α. forms < the genitive of swine n. + feather n.; in β. forms < swine n. + feather n. Apparently so called on account of the weapon's resemblance to the bristles of a porcupine. Compare swan's feather n. b, which reflects a later folk-etymological alteration of this compound.Compare German Schweinsfeder, in the same sense (1652 or earlier).
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).
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n.1639
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