Meanings
plural waggadashes · alternative wagadash
- archaicA wakizashi.
[…] and enumerated various personal belongings, amongst others his Japanese weapons—his “cattans” and his “waggadash.”
1902, Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London3 more examples
Their disposition, according to the quality of their arms, is thus: first of all march their shot, that is, calievers, for muskets they have none, neither will they use any; then follow pikes, then cattans and targets, bows and arrows, waggadashes or hooks, and lastly, calievers again close the march ; and among all these they, have no colours, drums, trumpets, nor any sort of warlike music.
1758, Tobias George Smollett, The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature - Volume 6, page 108Towards evening, the king of Jedo sent me two suits of varnished armour, as a present to our king ; and sent likewise for myself a tatch and a waggadash, the former being a long sword which is only worn in Japan by soldiers of the highest rank, and the latter being a singular weapon resembling a Welsh hook.
1813, Robert Kerr, A General History of Voyages and TravelsHe returned bearing gifts from the shogun for King James. These included two suits of armour, a katana and a waggadash (wakizashi) for himself.
2004, Gregory Irvine, A guide to Japanese art collections in the UK, page 13
Origin
- Japanese脇差
- Englishwaggadash
From Japanese 脇差 (wakizashi).
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
waggadash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waggadash
“waggadash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waggadash. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “waggadash,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waggadash.
Source: waggadash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.