backsword

English

Etymology

From back +‎ sword.

Noun

backsword (plural backswords)

1. A sword with one sharp edge.
   • 1884, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Sword: What is It?”, in The Book of the Sword, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, page 140:

     It [the dáo of the Nágá tribe, south-east of Assam] is a thick, heavy backsword, eighteen inches long, with a bevel where the point should be, worn at the waist in a half-scabbard of wood, and used for digging as well as killing.

2. (UK, dated)
   1. A stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements.

      Synonym: singlestick

   2. The game in which the stick is used.
      • 1842, The Asiatic Journal […] :

        One afternoon, as the missionary and I were sitting outside our tents, my attention was attracted towards a group of sepahis engaged under a banyantree, playing the game of backsword […]

Derived terms

• backswordman

Translations

sword with one sharp edge

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 單刃刀／单刃刀 (dānrèndāo)

• German: Pallasch (de) m, Korbschwert n
• Japanese: バックソード (bakkusōdo)
• Kazakh: алдаспан (aldaspan), наркескен (narkesken)
• Manx: cliwe ghrommey f
• Russian: пала́ш (ru) m (paláš)

Anagrams

• backwords