▪ I. halberd, halbert, n.
(ˈhælbəd, -ət)
Forms: 5 haubert, 6 hauberd(e, hal-, hawbart, holber, halbearde, 6–7 holberd(e, 7 hol-, hould-b(e)ard, holbert, harbert, hallbard, halbar, 6– halbard, -berd, 7– -bert.
[a. OF. hale-, hallebard (15th c.), alabarde (14th c.) (= Pr., Sp., It. alabarda), ad. MHG. helmbarde, mod.G. and Du. hellebarde, of which the second element is OHG. barta (Ger. barte), OLG. barda (MDu. baerde) broad-axe, deriv. of OTeut. *bardo-z beard. For the first element, two derivations have been suggested; (1) the very rare MHG. helm, halm handle, as if ‘handled broad-axe’, (2) helm helmet, with the sense ‘axe for smashing helmets’. The latter is, on phonetic and other grounds approved by Kluge, and by Darmesteter. Formerly pronounced (hɔːl-).]
1. A military weapon, especially in use during the 15th and 16th centuries; a kind of combination of spear and battle-axe, consisting of a sharp-edged blade ending in a point, and a spear-head, mounted on a handle five to seven feet long.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 64 Preamb., Armours Defensives, as..Bowes Billes Hauberts. 1497 Naval Accts. Hen. VII (1896) 99 Halberdes of fflaunders making..cxx. Halberdes of London making..x. Halberdes of the forest of Deuon..lx. 1530 Palsgr. 228/2 Halbarde, halebarde. Ibid. 229/2 Hauberde, a weapen. a 1541 Wyatt in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 87 No..Sergeant with mace, with hawbart, sword, nor knife. 1567 Turberv. Poems in Chalmers Eng. Poets II. 588/2 For push of pike, for holbers stroke. 1589 Pasquil's Ret. 8 To bende euery man the point of his Holberde at her. 1630 Wadsworth Pilgr. viii. 89 Hee..committed mee to the custody of foure souldiers armed with Houldbeards. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §280 He was slain by a blow with a halbert on the hinder part of his head. 1664 Flodden F. vii. 71 Some did in hand their holberds hent. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. i. 24 The Offensive [Arms] were the Javelin, the Pike or Halberd, and the Sword. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 375 This wall..the soldiers defended desparately with musket, pike, and halbert. |
b. As denoting the rank of a sergeant.
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. xi, He..had..so well ingratiated himself with his officers, that he had promoted himself to a halbert. 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., A weapon carried by a serjeant of foot. To get a halbert; to be appointed a serjeant. 1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl. s.v., Old halberd is a familiar term formerly used in the British army, to signify a person who had..risen to the rank of a commissioned officer. |
† c. (See
quot. 1796.)
Obs.| 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 388 The plaintiff received 300 lashes with a cat-o'-nine-tails at the halberts, under colour of the sentence of a court-martial. 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., To be brought to the halberts; to be flogged à la militaire: soldiers of the infantry, when flogged, being commonly tied to three halberts, set up in a triangle, with a fourth fastened across them. 1824 Macaulay Gt. Law-suit Misc. Writ. (1889) 55 My old uncle..would have had some of them up to the halberts. |
† 2. transf. A soldier armed with a halberd; a halberdier.
Obs.| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1402/1 Foure thousand men..the great part whereof were shot [= gunners], the other were pikes and halberds. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1223 Two halberds of Archias guard knocked at the outward gate. |
3. (See
quot.) ?
Obs.| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Halbert, among farriers..is a piece of iron, an inch broad, and three or four inches long, soldered to the toe of an horse's shoe, that jets out before; to hinder a lame horse from resting or treading on his toe. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
halberd-bearer,
halberd-length,
halberd-staff;
halberd-headed a.,
halberd-shaped a. Bot. (of leaves), shaped like the axe of a halberd;
halberd-shoe (see sense 3);
halberd-weed, the West Indian shrub
Neurolæna lobata.
| 1775 Fletcher Script. Scales ii. §17 Wks. 1795 V. 267 To rank him with an *halbert-bearer. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot., *Halbert-headed, abruptly enlarged at the base into two diverging lobes, like the head of a halbert. |
| 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xix. F j b, The distance betwene GE 30 *halberde lenghtes. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 587 Leaves egg-shaped..I have not seen any *halberd-shaped. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §4. 96 Leaves are Hastate or Halberd-shaped, when the lobes, at the base, point outwards. |
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., *Halbert-shoes..constrain a lame horse to tread, or rest, on his heel. |
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 315 The *Halbert-weed..generally rises to the height of four or five feet. |
Hence
ˈhalberded a., armed with a halberd.
| a 1800 Loyal Songs (Mason), The halberted train. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. i. §1. 41 The halberded bands of the city. |
▪ II. halberd, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.] trans. To slash with a halberd.
| 1874 Droll Stories fr. Abbeys Touraine 11 At the risk of having his body halberded by the soldiers. |