bayonet

American  

[bey-uh-nit, -net, bey-uh-net] / ˈbeɪ ə nɪt, -ˌnɛt, ˌbeɪ əˈnɛt /

noun

1. a daggerlike steel weapon that is attached to or at the muzzle of a gun and used for stabbing or slashing in hand-to-hand combat.

2. a pin projecting from the side of an object, as the base of a flashbulb or camera lens, for securing the object in a bayonet socket.

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verb (used with object)

bayoneted, bayonetted, bayoneting, bayonetting

1. to kill or wound with a bayonet.

bayonet British  

/ ˈbeɪənɪt /

noun

1. a blade that can be attached to the muzzle of a rifle for stabbing in close combat

2. a type of fastening in which a cylindrical member is inserted into a socket against spring pressure and turned so that pins on its side engage in slots in the socket

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verb

1. (tr) to stab or kill with a bayonet

Etymology

Origin of bayonet

1605–15; < French baïonnette, after Bayonne in France (where the weapon was first made or used); -ette

Example Sentences

Many Memphians still remember the arrival of the National Guard, pictured with rifles and bayonets, during the political upheaval of 1968, including the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here.

From The Wall Street Journal

In fact, the French more or less conquered Southern California, not by the bayonet but by the corkscrew.

From Los Angeles Times

A few months after the order was issued, we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway in Los Angeles carrying rifles and shiny bayonets.

From New York Times

Jagged rows of bayonets may borrow from Cubism’s fractured perspective, but here they chiefly mean clamor and noise.

From New York Times

One of them put Madison’s tricorner hat on the point of a bayonet and said if they could not capture “the little president,” they could still parade his hat through London.

From Literature