poniard

English edit

Alternative forms edit

poignard, poinard, poynard, punierd

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒnjəd/, /ˈpɒnjɑːd/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑnjɚd/

Noun edit

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 […].
- 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 edit

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
Persian: شوشکه (fa) (šuške)
Portuguese: punhal (pt) m
Russian: кинжа́л (ru) m (kinžál)
Spanish: puñal (es) m

Verb edit

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 edit

References edit

“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 edit

padroni, pandori, paridon, poinard