greatsword

plural greatswords · alternative great sword · alternative great-sword

1. historyAny large(er) sword, often with the idea of hewing rather than thrusting.
2. Any generally straight-bladed double-edged sword large enough to require the use of two hands to wield it effectively.

   Shouting with joy, his shimmering greatsword.

   1910, Oliver Huckel, Richard Wagner, Siegfried: A Dramatic Poem, T.Y. Crowell Company, page 41

   2 more examples

   It is the "red horse" which was sent forth upon the opening of the "second seal," to whose rider was given power "to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another; and there was also given unto him a greatsword."

   1851-1852, Appendix to the Congressional Globe for the First Session, Thirty-Second Congress: Containing Speeches and Important State Papers, Superintendent of Government Documents, page 213

   Wearing the pointed helmets of the Tatars over their embroidered skull caps, mounted on shaggy ponies, armed with greatswords, disemboweling daggers, and iron-pointed whips, they swept north and west, devastating the land.

   1959, Harry Gersh, These Are My People: A Treasury of Biographies of Heroes of the Jewish Spirit from Abraham to Leo Baeck, Behrman House, page 215