glaive

Definition of glaive

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

(historical, obsolete)A light lance with a long, sharp-pointed head.

“The lance, or glaive as it is often called, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was quite straight and smooth; a vamplate was added in the fourteenth, small at first but larger later, for the protection of the right arm.”

See all 3 definitions

noun

(historical, obsolete)A light lance with a long, sharp-pointed head.

“The lance, or glaive as it is often called, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was quite straight and smooth; a vamplate was added in the fourteenth, small at first but larger later, for the protection of the right arm.”
(historical)A weapon consisting of a pole with a large blade fixed on the end, the edge of which is on the outside curve.

“The Welch Glaive is a kind of bill, ſometimes reckoned among the pole axes. They were formerly much in uſe. [...] In the Britiſh Muſeum there is an entry of a warrant, granted to Nicholas Spicer, authoriſing him to impreſs ſmiths for making two thouſand Welch bills or glaives.”
“With the spear comes the use of the shield; yet the San Cristoval spearmen use no such defence, but turn off spears thrown at them with long curved glaives, and the shields in use in Florida are not made in that island.”
“At that moment Ilane swung the bladed staff—glaive, Kel remembered as it swung, they called it a glaive—in a wide side cut, slicing one pirate across the chest.”
(archaic, broadly, poetic)A sword, particularly a broadsword.

“[T]he glaiue which he did wield / He gan forthwith t'auale, and way vnto me yield.”
“Wherefore do you ſo ill tranſlate yourſelf, / Out of the ſpeech of peace, that bears ſuch grace, / Into the harſh and boiſt'rous tongue of war? / Turning your books to glaives, your ink to blood, / Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine / To a loud trumpet, and a point of war?”
“Juſtice were cruel weakly to relent; / From Mercy’s Self ſhe got her ſacred Glaive: / Grace be to thoſe who can, and will, repent; / But Penance long, and dreary, to the Slave, / Who muſt in Floods of Fire his groſs ſoul Spirit lave.”
“Thus furth he drew his truſty glaive, / While thouſands all arround, / Drawn frae their ſheaths glanſt in the ſun, / And loud the bougills ſound.”
“Yea, that same awful angel with the glaive / Which in disparadising orbit swept / Lintel and pilaster and architrave”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English gleyve (“lance, glaive”), from Old French glaive (“lance; sword”), from Late Latin glavus. The further etymology is uncertain; one possibility is that glavus reflects Latin gladius (“sword”)…

See full etymology

From Middle English gleyve (“lance, glaive”), from Old French glaive (“lance; sword”), from Late Latin glavus. The further etymology is uncertain; one possibility is that glavus reflects Latin gladius (“sword”) crossed with clāva (“club”); another is that it derives from a re-crossing of gladius with Proto-Celtic *kladiwos (“sword”); yet another is that it is a borrowing into Late Latin from Old Irish claideb. All of the aforementioned words derive ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes that none of these words had the oldest meaning of Old French glaive (“lance”). The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch glavie, glaye (“lance”); Middle High German glavîe, glævîn (“lance”), Swedish glaven (“lance”).

Anagrams of glaive

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play vagile 10 points

VEGLIA 10 pts

Words you can make from glaive

52 playable · top: VAGILE (10 pts)

Best play vagile 10 points

5-letter words

3 words

4-letter words

21 words

3-letter words

19 words

2-letter words

8 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to glaive to make another valid word.