estramacons

Noun

estramacon (plural estramacons)

1. A straight, heavy sword with two edges, used in the 16th and 17th centuries.
   • Then to the pair, who speechless stood, he stretch'd
     A table-spread, bade each to hold an end,
     And with clear voice: "As we, the Church's arm,
     With this estramacon do smite in twain
     The texture of this fabric" (here he flash'd
     The blade between the two, cleaving the cloth), […]1881, George Washington Wright Houghton, The Legend of St. Olaf's Kirk, page 41
2. A downward cutting blow with the edge of a sword or fencing weapon.
   • I tripped a hasty morrice[…]upon the dining table, now offering my sword [to the Duke of Buckingham], now recovering it, I made a blow at his nose—a sort of estramaçon—the dexterity of which consists in coming mighty near to the object you seem to aim at, yet not attaining it.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXIV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 281

   Synonyms:

   stramazoun