scabbard
pronunciation
How to pronounce scabbard in British English:
UK [ˈskæbəd]
How to pronounce scabbard in American English:
US [ˈskæbərd]
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- Noun:
- a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet
Word Origin
- scabbard
- scabbard: [13] English acquired scabbard from Anglo-Norman escaubers. This appears to have been a compound formed from Old High German scār, which usually meant ‘scissors’ but was also used for ‘sword’ (it came from the same base that produced English shear), and the element -berc ‘protection’ (as in hauberk [13], which etymologically means ‘neck-protection’), which was derived from bergan ‘protect’ (a relative of English borough, borrow, bury, etc). So essentially, a scabbard is ‘sword-protection’.=> borough, borrow, bury, share, shear, shirt, short, skirt
- scabbard (n.)
- c. 1300, from Anglo-French *escauberc "sheath, vagina" (13c.), from Frankish or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *sker-berg-, literally "sword-protector," from *skar "blade" (source also of Old High German scar "scissors, blade, sword," from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut;" see shear (v.)) + *berg- "protect" (source also of Old High German bergan "to protect;" see bury).
Example
- 1. To burnish his image further on inauguration day , washington would powder his hair and wear a dress sword on his hip , sheathed in a steel scabbard .
- 2. A gold scabbard boss with inlaid garnets
- 3. M7 bayonet scabbard altered for foreign use .
- 4. Dragons with wings of turquoise mauling leopards down the length of a gold scabbard .
- 5. Same decorations , was it in earlier time for such cuspate scabbard tail ?