Swiss swordn. a basket-hilted sword used in the 16th cent. by Swiss foot-soldiers.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > sword > [noun] > hilted sword > basket-hilted sword
sheephead sword1707
basket1773
Swiss sword1860
1860 J. HewittAnc. Armour III. 617 The basket-hilted sword does not appear till the middle of the [sixteenth] century. It is often called by old writers the ‘Swiss sword’.