Word.ws English Dictionary

fascine knife

Syllables: fasc·ine knife/fəˈsiːn ˌnaɪf/US/fəˈsin ˌnaɪf/

fascine knife noun: a large, heavy knife or short sword used by 17th- to 19th-century artillery and infantry soldiers as a sidearm and a tool for cutting fascines (“cylindrical bundles of small sticks of wood, used for strengthening purposes”) and other things.

Noun

fascine knife (plural fascine knives)

  1. (historical) A large, heavy knife or short sword used by 17th- to 19th-century artillery and infantry soldiers as a sidearm and a tool for cutting fascines (“cylindrical bundles of small sticks of wood, used for strengthening purposes”) and other things.
    • 2000 Canteens. 600 Camp Kettles. 200 Fascine Knives. […] It is to be presumed the troops will be provided with these articles.1779 March 2 (date written), George Washington, “To Major General Nathanael Greene”, in John C[lement] Fitzpatrick, editor, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources...
    • The [artillery] men have a short rifle and bayonet, and carry also a fascine knife; 10 rounds of ammunition in the pouch.[1876], W[illiam] S[mith] Cooke, compiler, “Servia”, in The Ottoman Empire and its Tributary States (Excepting Egypt), with a Sketch of Greece, London: W[illiam] Clowes and Son, […], →OCLC, page 162

Examples of fascine knife in a sentence

  • This is called in Europe a fascine knife, and a very useful implement it is in camp and on the field.1888 September 29, “Toujours Pret” [pseudonym], “The Hospital Corps [letter to the editor]”, in The United States Army and Navy Journal...
  • Sappeur sections carry in addition a mattock or a pick apiece, and each ammunition carrier also carries a pick, a fascine knife, or a saw.1911, [William] Balck, “The Formal Tactics of Infantry”, in Walter Krueger, transl., Tactics […], 4th edition, volumes I (Introduction and...

Forms of fascine knife

pluralfascine knives

Origin of fascine knife

From fascine + knife, from one use of such knives which was to cut wood for fascines and gabions (“cylindrical wicker baskets or cages filled with earth or stones and used in fortifications, etc.”).

Questions about fascine knife

What does fascine knife mean?
Fascine knife means a large, heavy knife or short sword used by 17th- to 19th-century artillery and infantry soldiers as a sidearm and a tool for cutting fascines (“cylindrical bundles of small sticks of wood, used for strengthening purposes”) and other things.
How do you use fascine knife in a sentence?
This is called in Europe a fascine knife, and a very useful implement it is in camp and on the field.
What part of speech is fascine knife?
Fascine knife is a noun.
How do you pronounce fascine knife?
Fascine knife is pronounced /fəˈsiːn ˌnaɪf/ (UK).
What is the plural of fascine knife?
The plural of fascine knife is fascine knives.

Words near fascine knife in the dictionary

  1. fascinator
  2. fascinators
  3. fascinatress
  4. fascinatresses
  5. fascine
  6. fascine knife
  7. fascine knives
  8. fascined
  9. fascinery
  10. fascines
  11. fascining

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fascine knife (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fascine knife.wav.

Cite this entry: “fascine knife.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fascine_knife. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.