Bayonet


a daggerlike steel weapon that is attached to or at the muzzle of a gun and used for stabbing or slashing in hand-to-hand combat.
a pin projecting from the side of an object, as the base of a flashbulb or camera lens, for securing the object in a bayonet socket.
to kill or wound with a bayonet.
Contemporary Examples

One of my men whom I knew for a womanish fellow, asked if he should put his bayonet through him.
5 War Books You May Not Have in Your Library Jake Tapper November 10, 2013

This prompts Sarah Lynn to stab herself with a Confederate bayonet letter-opener, causing a geyser of blood.
‘BoJack Horseman’: The Debauched Tales of a Drunken, Groupie-Sexing D-List Horse, Hits Netflix Marlow Stern August 21, 2014

Many people lost everything they owned as they were driven, in some cases at bayonet point, from their homes.
What Happened When General Grant Expelled Civil War Jews Marc Wortman March 21, 2012

At a feature called Hill 180, under grenade and rifle fire, he led two platoons in a bayonet charge up the hill.
The U.S. Army’s Last Bayonet Charge David Frum October 22, 2012

A man, dressed in rags, stalks across the field, impaling the bodies with a bayonet.
‘Turn,’ AMC’s New Series About America’s First Spy Ring, Is A Visually Arresting Historical Epic Marlow Stern April 5, 2014

Historical Examples

So thick is the skin, that a bayonet is almost the only weapon which can pierce it.
Heads and Tales Various

Without wasting time in firing, they advanced with the bayonet.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force Sir Winston S. Churchill

One only was alive; the rest had fallen either from bullet or bayonet wounds.
One of the 28th G. A. Henty

I killed a French sergeant myself with my bayonet in this action.
The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence William Lawrence

It is also used to express the rush of a wild beast on his prey, or the charge of a body of troops, especially with the bayonet.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847 Various

noun
a blade that can be attached to the muzzle of a rifle for stabbing in close combat
a type of fastening in which a cylindrical member is inserted into a socket against spring pressure and turned so that pins on its side engage in slots in the socket
verb -nets, -neting, -neted, -nets, -netting, -netted
(transitive) to stab or kill with a bayonet
n.

1610s, originally a type of dagger; as a steel stabbing weapon fitted to the muzzle of a firearm, from 1670s, from French baionnette (16c.), said to be from Bayonne, city in Gascony where supposedly they first were made; or perhaps it is a diminutive of Old French bayon “crossbow bolt.” The city name is from Late Latin baia “bay” + Basque on “good.” As a verb from c.1700.

Read Also:

  • Bayonet hair

    bayonet hair bayonet hair bay·o·net hair (bā’ə-nĭt, -nět’, bā’ə-nět’) n. Hair that is spindle-shaped at its tapered ends because of a developmental defect.

  • Bayonet socket

    a cylindrical socket having one or more L -shaped slots, the longer side parallel and the shorter side perpendicular to the axis of the socket, along which a knoblike projection on the object slides in such a way that a twist of the object when fully inserted locks it into place.

  • Bayoneted

    a daggerlike steel weapon that is attached to or at the muzzle of a gun and used for stabbing or slashing in hand-to-hand combat. a pin projecting from the side of an object, as the base of a flashbulb or camera lens, for securing the object in a bayonet socket. to kill or wound with […]

  • Bayonne

    a seaport in NE New Jersey. a seaport in SW France, near the Bay of Biscay. Contemporary Examples We had to leave the Sud Express at Bayonne and took a hard-benched local to St-Jean, a place that Hemingway had greatly enjoyed. Is This Hemingway’s Pamplona or a Lot of Bull? Clive Irving July 12, 2014 […]

  • Bayonne ham

    noun a mild smoked boneless French ham that is cured in wine and similar to prosciutto; also called jambon Bayonne Word Origin from its origin near Bayonne, France Usage Note cooking


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