poniard

English

Alternative forms

poignard, poinard, poynard, punierd

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French poignard, from poing (“fist”), from Old French poing, from Latin pugnus (“fist”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒnjəd/, /ˈpɒnjɑːd/

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(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑnjɚd/

Noun

poniard (plural poniards)

(now chiefly historical) A dagger typically having a slender square or triangular blade. [from 16th c.]
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
  The sir King ha's wag'd with him six Barbary horses, / against the which he impon'd as I take it, sixe French / Rapiers and Poniards, with their assignes, as Girdle, / Hangers or so […].
- c. 1621–1623 (date written), Philip Massinger, The Maid of Honour. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1632, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, signatures D2, verso – D3, recto:
  You yeoman phevvterer, conduct mee to / The Lady of the manſion, or my poniard / Shall diſemboge thy ſoule.
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 101, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
  One of the tragic authors, finding himself assaulted in the dark, had, by way of poinard, employed upon his adversary's throat a knife which lay upon the table, for the convenience of cutting cheese […] .
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 29, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
  A Poynard is more sure to wound a man, which forsomuch as it requireth more motion and vigor of the arme, than a pistol, it's stroke is more subject to be hindred or avoyded.
- 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:
  On this occasion I said nothing, but concealing his poniard in my clothes, I hasted up the mountain, determined to execute my purpose […].

Translations

dagger

Bulgarian: кама́ (bg) f (kamá), кинжа́л (bg) m (kinžál)
Dutch: knijf n, ponjaard (nl) m
Esperanto: ponardo
French: poignard (fr) m
Galician: puñal m
Ido: poniardo (io)
Italian: pugnale (it) m
Latin: sīca f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: dolk (no) m
Ottoman Turkish: خنجر (hancer), دشنه (deşne) (with a curved blade); قامه (kama) (with a straight blade)
Persian: شوشکه (fa) (šuške)
Portuguese: punhal (pt) m
Russian: кинжа́л (ru) m (kinžál)
Spanish: puñal (es) m

Verb

poniard (third-person singular simple present poniards, present participle poniarding, simple past and past participle poniarded)

To stab with a poniard.
- 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section I:
  Manfred […] would have poignarded the peasant in their arms.

Related terms

References

“poniard”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
“poniard”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
"poniard" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Anagrams

pandori, poinard, paridon, padroni, Dorpian