BACKSWORD • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Backsword

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noun

Backsword n.

A sword with one sharp edge.

In England, a stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements; also, the game in which the stick is used. Also called singlestick.

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Etymology of 'Backsword'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Backsword" Quotes from Famous Books

... lord of Albion, one of the greatest bullies of those days, sent a cartel to Martin to fight him on a stage at Cudgels, quarter-staff, backsword, &c. Hence the origin of that genteel custom of prize-fighting so well known and practised to this day among those polite islanders, though unknown everywhere else. How Martin, being a bold, blustering fellow, accepted the challenge; how they met and fought, to ...

— A Tale of a Tub • Jonathan Swift

... velvet, and garnished with vellum holes; his boots bore an infinite resemblance, both in colour and shape, to a pair of leather buckets; his shoulder was graced with a broad buff belt, from whence depended a huge hanger with a hilt like that of a backsword; and on each side of his pommel appeared a rusty pistol rammed in a case covered with a bearskin. The loss of his tie-periwig and laced hat, which were curiosities of the kind, did not at all contribute ...

— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett

... pike or half-pike, morgenstiern, and halbert. I speak with all due modesty, but with backsword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, single falchion, case of falchions, or any other such exercise, I will hold mine own against any man that ever wore neat's leather, save only ...

— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle