A  short  pointed  instrument  of  iron,  or  broad  dagger,  formerly
with  a  handle  fitted  to  the  bore  of  a  gun,  where  it  was  inserted
for  use  after  the  soldier  had  fired ;  but  now  made  with  an  iron
handle  and  ring  which  go  over  the  muzzle  of  the  piece,  so  that


VERBA    NOMINALIA. 17

the  soldier  fires  with  his  bayonet  fixed. {Encyc.)  Ford  says
the  bayonet  is  said  to  have  been  first  used  by  some  Basques  at
Bayonne,  in  the  war  of  1814,  who  stuck  their  knives  into  their
muskets'  muzzles  ;  others  assert  that  the  bayonet  was  first  in-
vented in  1671  ;  but  it  is  without  doubt  of  a  much  more
ancient  origin. The  word  does  not  appear  in  Palsgrave's
Dictionary,  published  in  1530. In  Cotgrave's  Dictionary,  first
published  in  1611,  we  find  "  bayonnette,  a  kind  of  small  flat
pocket  dagger,  furnished  with  knives  ;  or  a  great  knife  to  hang
at  the  girdle  like  a  dagger  ;"  also  "  hayonnier,  an  arbalestier
(an  old  word),"  which  is  rendered  "  a  crosse-bow-man,  that
shoots  in  or  serves  with  a  crosse-bow ;  also  a  crosse-bow-
maker."  Again,  Puysegur,  who  was  sent  to  Flanders  in  1642,
in  his  memoirs  speaks  of  the  use  of  the  bayonet  at  Bergues,
Ypres,  Dixmunde,  and  Laquenoc. Miege  (Great  French  Diet.,
Lond. 1688)  renders  ^^bayonette  (Fr.)  a  dagger,  or  knife  dagger-
like, such  as  the  dragoons  wear."  Phillips  (World  of  Words)
gives  "  bayonette,  a  long  dagger  much  in  use  of  late,  and  carried
by  the  grenadiers."  In  the  Diet. Anglo-Britan.,  or  a  General
Eng. Diet. (John  Kersey,  1715),  we  find  "  bayonette  (Fi\)  a
broad  dagger  with  a  round  taper  handle,  to  stick  in  the  muzzle
of  a  musket."  The  New  World  of  Words  (Edw. Phillips,
fo. 1720)  has  ^'bayonette,  a  broad  dagger  without  a  guard,  made
with  a  round  taper  handle,  to  stick  in  the  muzzle  of  a  musket,
so  that  it  may  serve  instead  of  a  pike  to  receive  the  charge  of
a  horse."  Les  Travaux  de  Mars,  ou  I'Art  de  la  Guerre  (par
Manusson  Mallet,  .Amst. 1685,  tom. iii. 