rapier

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ra·pi·er

(rā′pē-ər, rāp′yər)

1. A long, slender, two-edged sword with a cuplike hilt, used in the 1500s and 1600s.

2. A light, sharp-pointed sword lacking a cutting edge and used only for thrusting.

[French rapière, from Old French (espee) rapiere, rapier (sword).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

rapier

(ˈreɪpɪə)

1. (Arms & Armour (excluding Firearms)) a long narrow two-edged sword with a guarded hilt, used as a thrusting weapon, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries

2. (Arms & Armour (excluding Firearms)) a smaller single-edged 18th-century sword, used principally in France

[C16: from Old French espee rapiere, literally: rasping sword; see rasp¹]

ˈrapier-ˌlike adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ra•pi•er

(ˈreɪ pi ər)

n.

1. a small sword, esp. of the 18th century, having a narrow blade.

2. a longer, heavier sword, esp. of the 16th and 17th centuries, having a double-edged blade.

[1545–55; < Middle French (espee) rapiere literally, rasping (sword); see rape³]

ra′pi•ered, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

rapier - a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges

tuck

sword, steel, blade, brand - a cutting or thrusting weapon that has a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard

Translations

سَيْف طَويل مُدَبَّب الرأس

rapír

kårde

Rapier

estoque

säilä

rapière

hosszú tõr

skylmingasverî, lagsverî

rapyra

rapier

dar ve uzun kılıç

轻剑轻巧而细长的剑

rapier

[ˈreɪpɪəʳ] N → estoque m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

rapier

n → Rapier nt; rapier thrust (lit) → Stoß m → mit dem Rapier; (fig) (= remark) → Hieb m; (= retort) → Parade f; rapier wit → Schlagfertigkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

rapier

[ˈreɪpɪəʳ] n → spadino

rapier

(ˈreipiə) noun

a type of long thin sword.

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References in classic literature ?

The fencer who demanded a contest according to the rules of fencing was the French army; his opponent who threw away the rapier and snatched up the cudgel was the Russian people; those who try to explain the matter according to the rules of fencing are the historians who have described the event.

Napoleon felt this, and from the time he took up the correct fencing attitude in Moscow and instead of his opponent's rapier saw a cudgel raised above his head, he did not cease to complain to Kutuzov and to the Emperor Alexander that the war was being carried on contrary to all the rules- as if there were any rules for killing people.

And it is well for a people who do not- as the French did in 1813- salute according to all the rules of art, and, presenting the hilt of their rapier gracefully and politely, hand it to their magnanimous conqueror, but at the moment of trial, without asking what rules others have adopted in similar cases, simply and easily pick up the first cudgel that comes to hand and strike with it till the feeling of resentment and revenge in their soul yields to a feeling of contempt and compassion.

Let us imagine two men who have come out to fight a duel with rapiers according to all the rules of the art of fencing.

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Strickland employed not the rapier of sarcasm but the bludgeon of invective.

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It was, then, into the midst of this tumult and disorder that our young man advanced with a beating heat, ranging his long rapier up his lanky leg, and keeping one hand on the edge of his cap, with that half-smile of the embarrassed a provincial who wishes to put on a good face.

A long cloak of crimson velvet fell in graceful folds from his shoulders, disclosing in front the splendid baldric, from which was suspended a gigantic rapier. This Musketeer had just come off guard, complained of having a cold, and coughed from time to time affectedly.

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I say this lest thou shouldst imagine that because we have been drubbed in this affray we have therefore suffered any indignity; for the arms those men carried, with which they pounded us, were nothing more than their stakes, and not one of them, so far as I remember, carried rapier, sword, or dagger."

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"Well, then," said the Gascon, "take care of yourself, for I am not a bad hand at the rapier."

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You could not fence with an antagonist who met rapier thrust with blow of battle axe.

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He had an encyclopaedic command of the field of knowledge, and by a word or a phrase, by delicate rapier thrusts, he punctured them.

Sometimes he exchanged the rapier for the club and went smashing amongst their thoughts right and left.