cold steel

English

Noun

cold steel (uncountable)

1. (military, historical) A sword, bayonet or similar weapon made of steel.
   • 1863 (attributed) Armistead, Bri. Gen. Lewis A. (commander of the only Confederate brigade that breached the Union line during Pickett's Charge, Battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863):

     Give them the cold steel, boys!

   • 1995, David Palumbo-Liu, The ethnic canon: histories, institutions, and interventions:

     In your native homeland a stranger you will be by the law of the rifle and the law of cold steel

   • 2003, William P. Guthrie, The later Thirty Years War:

     Yet the caracole had struggled against cold steel throughout the 16th century and had come off the victor.

See also

• bayonet
• bright lights and cold steel
• Pickett's charge
• saber