glaive, n.
(gleɪv)
Also 3–6 gleyve, (6 gleive, glieve), 4–6, 9 dial. gleve, 6–7, 9 dial. gleave, 9 dial. gleeve; 4 gla(y)fe, 4–6 glayve, (6 Sc. glaif), 5–7 glave.
[a. OF. glaive, gleive lance (mod.F. glaive poet. = sword).
Hatz-Darm. regard OF. glaive as an adapted form of L. gladius (through the stages gladie, glaie, glavie). Ascoli supposes it to represent a Celtic *cladivo- (OIr. claideb sword, Gael. claidheamh). Neither view, however, accounts for the earliest meaning of the word in OF., which is also that of MHG. glavîe, glævîn, MDu. glavie, glaye, Sw. glaven.]
A name given at different periods to three distinct kinds of weapons, viz. lance, bill, and sword.
The second of these senses seems to be peculiar to English, the others are derived from French; in a large number of passages it is impossible to determine from the context which weapon is intended, esp. in the case of later writers.
† 1. A lance or spear. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4165 He hem ssende Mid gleyue oþer mid roches, and vewe aliue he let. a 1300 Cursor M. 7745 Nou her I leue þe kynges glaiue. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4690 Hure ȝeate [þay] gunne defende, Wyþ launces & gleues kene. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xiii. 786 Togederis they weren Met The lengthe of A Gleyve with-outen let. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 50 Sir Eustace..Did baisse his gleaue and well imbrace his shield. |
† b. A lance set up as winning-post in a race, and given as a prize to the successful competitor; hence, a prize.
Obs.| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 258 ‘Certis þei rennen all, but oon of hem takiþ þe gleyve..’ Men usen ofte þis gamen, þat two men..rennen a space for a priis, and he þat comeþ first to his ende shal have þe gamen þat is sett, wheþer it be spere or gloves [v.r. gleyves] or oþir þing þat is putt. 1483 Cath. Angl. 157/2 A Glayfe, brauium. 1500 Ortus Vocab. E iij, Brauium est primum [1518 premium] vel victoria: the pryce of a game, or a glayue. a 1555 Bradford in Coverdale Lett. Mart. (1564) 282 Caste your eies on the gleue ye runne at, or els ye wil loose the game. |
| Comb. 1483 Cath. Angl. 157/2 A Glayfe wynner, braueta. |
c. dial. A fish-spear.
| 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xxxviii, There are some that glave small fishes with a three-tined fish-spear (glave). 1854 A. E. Baker Northamptonsh. Gloss., Gleeve, a pole about four yards long, with serrated prongs, used for catching eels. 1879 W. G. Waters in Norfolk Archæology viii. 170 Gleave, an eel spear. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Z. II. 102 He..produced a singular weapon or tool, locally termed a gleve. |
† 2. A weapon consisting of a blade fastened to a long handle; a kind of halbert.
Obs.| c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 270 Ordeyn eche man..to be ther redy, With exys, gleyvis, and swerdys bryth. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lix. 80 He had in his hond a great glaue, sharpe and well stelyd, and aboue the blade, ther was a sharpe hoke of stele. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 276 Y⊇ senates..stood in feare of his billes & glieues. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. xi. 58 [They] over all the fields themselves did muster, With bils and glayves making a dreadfull luster. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian ii. vii. 49 Suddenly the Country Clownes came in with their Clubs and Glaiues [orig. τά τε ξύλα καὶ τοὺς πελέκεις: on p. 48 the same words are rendered ‘Clubs and Bills’]. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 543 Zeal, with aged clubs and gleaves Gave chase to rochets and white sleeves. |
† b. A soldier armed with a glaive.
Obs.| 1577 Holinshed Chron. Eng. II. 954/1 There be in that towne more than iij C. glaiues, and iij C. yeomen. |
3. A sword;
esp. a broadsword.
arch. and
poet. In early
quots. possibly
repr. Gael. claidheamh;
cf. glaymore = claymore.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 367 Awkwart he straik with his scharp groundyn glawe [= 358 his gud suerd of steill]. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. viii. 23 The feirs Orion with his goldin glaif. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. ii. Wks. 1851 V. 70 The Britans had a certain skill with their broad swashing Swords and short Bucklers..Agricola discerning that those little Targets and unweildie Glaves ill pointed, would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded [etc.]. 1786 Burns When Guilford good iv, But Clintons glaive frae rust to save, He hung it to the wa', man. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lviii, The Delhi with his cap of terror on, And crooked glaive. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xviii, To maintain the..honour of his English ancestry with the glaive and brown⁓bill, the good old weapons of his country. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 393 [He] girds on the Achæan's glittering glaive. |
| fig. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men. (W. de W. 1506) ii. xii. 119 And therfore sayth the psalmyst, that the tonges of synners is the glayues of y⊇ deuyll. |
Hence
glaive v.,
† (
a) to spear (a fish) (
obs.); (
b) to arm with a glaive (
nonce-use).
glaived ppl. a., armed with a glaive.
| 1639 [see 1 c above]. 1821 J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace vii. 9 Which helmed his brow, and glaved his hand. 1869 Lowell Cathedr. Poet. Wks. 1890 IV. 61 Of the glaived tyrant and long-memoried priest. |