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sword

Pronunciation: /sɔːd/

Translate sword | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of sword

noun

  • a weapon with a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard, used for thrusting or striking and now typically worn as part of ceremonial dress.
  • (the sword) literary military power, violence, or destruction:not many perished by the sword
  • (swords) one of the suits in a tarot pack.

Phrases

beat (or turn) swords into ploughshares

devote resources to peaceful rather than warlike ends.
[with biblical allusion to Is. 2:4 and Mic. 4:3]

fall on one's sword

assume responsibility or blame on behalf of other people, especially by resigning from a position:he heroically fell on his sword, insisting that it was his decision

he who lives by the sword dies by the sword

proverb those who commit violent acts must expect to suffer violence themselves.

put to the sword

kill, especially in war.

the sword of justice

judicial authority.

Derivatives

sword-like

adjective

Origin:

Old English sw(e)ord, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zwaard and German Schwert

sword in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of sword in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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