bayonet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbeɪənɪt/, /ˈbeɪənɛt/, /ˌbeɪəˈnɛt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French baïonnette,^[2][3][4][5] after Bayonne, the town in southwestern France where the weapon was first made.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Etymonline also allows a diminutive of Old French bayon “crossbow bolt”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short flat dagger (1611).^[7][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The French word could mean a dagger or knife,^[2] and that was its first English sense.^[7][4] By 1672 it meant a steel blade fixed to the muzzle of a musket or rifle,^[7][4][5] at first with its handle inserted into the barrel.^[7][1] The American Heritage Dictionary dates the present sense to 1704 and Merriam-Webster to 1689.^[2][3] It was later used for military force in the abstract (1774), for soldiers armed with bayonets (1780), and for a pin that locks into a slot, as in a bayonet fitting.^[7][6]

Timeline

• 1611 – a short flat dagger.^[7][4]
• 1672 – a stabbing blade fixed to the muzzle of a firearm.^[7][4]
• c1700 – verb, to stab with a bayonet.^[7][5]
• 1774 – military force.^[7]
• 1780 – soldiers armed with bayonets.^[7]
• 1790 – verb, to drive or compel at bayonet point.^[7]
• 1798 – a pin that engages and disengages machinery.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A blade attached to the muzzle of a rifle or similar firearm, used in hand-to-hand fighting.
2. A pin projecting from the side of an object, such as a lamp base or camera lens, that locks into a matching socket.

Verb

1. To stab or kill with a bayonet.
2. To compel or drive by or as if by the bayonet.

Word family

• sword bayonet
• Spanish bayonet

Usage notes

In the United States the inflected forms are usually spelled bayoneted and bayoneting, in the United Kingdom bayonetted and bayonetting.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press