Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

scabbard

UK/ˈskæb.əd/US/ˈskæb.ɚd/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,738 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: scabbards

A scabbard is the long case a sword hangs in. Draw from the scabbard, an empty scabbard, a leather scabbard.

It was usually wood covered in leather, with the wood cut to the exact blade so nothing rattled, and a lining of fleece with the grease left in kept the steel from rusting. Drawing a sword is done by pushing the scabbard forward as much as pulling the blade.

Johnbod · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of scabbard

  1. 1nounscabbardThe long case a sword hangs in.C1

    “The knight slid his sword back into its scabbard.”

scabbard is a case.

Where it comes from

Anglo-Norman escauberc comes from a Germanic compound meaning blade-protection.

  1. Proto-Germanic

    *skēriz — blade, scissors

  2. Frankish

    *skarberg — sheath

  3. Anglo-Norman

    eschaubert

  4. Middle English

    scabard

  5. English, today

    scabbard

Built from

  • *bergaz · Proto-Germanic — shelter, protection, refuge

From Middle English scabard, scauberde, scauberk, scauberke, from Anglo-Norman eschaubert, escalberc, of gem origin, perhaps from Frankish skarberg (“sheath”) literally “blade-protection”, from Proto-Germanic skēriz (“blade, scissors”) + bergaz (“shelter, protection, refuge”). See also hauberk.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Containers & Packaging

Practise this word

scabbard in the wild

  • A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, dagger, knife, or similar edged weapons.

    Scabbard

  • Rifles and other long guns may also be stored in scabbards by horse riders for transportation.

    Scabbard

  • The Model 1832 foot artillery sword was a 25-inch short-sword with a straight, double-edged blade and brass-mounted leather scabbard.

    Model 1832 foot artillery sword

  • Chape has had various meanings in English, but the predominant one is a protective fitting at the tip of a scabbard or sheath for a sword or dagger.

    Chape

  • Historic blade weapons often had leather scabbards with metal fittings at either end, sometimes decorated.

    Chape

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.