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Sword grass; any plant with sword-shaped leaves, esp. the European Iris foetidissima. [Written also gladwyn, gladdon, and glader.]

Sword-shaped; resembling a sword in form, as the leaf of the iris, or of the gladiolus.

Originally, a swordplayer; hence, one who fought with weapons in public, either on the occasion of a funeral ceremony, or in the arena, for public amusement.

Swordplay; fencing; gladiatorial contest. Gayton.

me of which are cultivated and valued for the beauty of their flowers; the corn flag; the sword lily.

A broadsword fixed on a pike; a kind of halberd.

A sword; -- used poetically and loosely. The glaive which he did wield. Spenser.

t; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam; as, a glittering sword. The field yet glitters with the pomp of war. Dryden.

ander the Great averted the ill omen of his inability to loosen it by cutting it with his sword. Hence, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold and energetic measures.

A blade of a sword, knife, etc.

The handle of a sword or of an oar.

To cut with a grating sound; to cut; to penetrate or pierce harshly; as, the griding sword. Milton. That through his thigh the mortal steel did gride. Spenser.

That by which anything is grasped; a handle or gripe; as, the grip of a sword.

That on which the grasp is put; a handle; a grip; as, the gripe of a sword.

That part of a sword hilt which protects the hand.

color or that which is red. His sev'n-fold targe a field of gules did stain In which two swords he bore; his word, "Divide and reign." P. Fletcher. Follow thy drum; With man's blood paint the ground; gules, gules. Shak. Let's march to rest and set in gules, like suns. Beau. & Fl.

Athletic; gymnastic. [Obs.] Have they not swordplayers, and every sort Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners Milton.

; to notch; to mangle by repeated strokes of a cutting instrument; as, to hack a post. My sword hacked like a handsaw. Shak.

vessel taken into the hand, and by which it is held and used; -- said chiefly of a knife, sword, or dagger; the hilt. This brandish'dagger I'll bury to the haft in her fair breast. Dryden.

essels, instruments, etc., which is held in the hand when used or moved, as the haft of a sword, the knob of a door, the bail of a kettle, etc.