gladius

Noun

gladius (plural gladiuses or gladii)

1. (historical) A Roman sword roughly two feet long.
   • Finally, the Romans made the gladius—sharp, of highly-tempered steel, and strongly piercing—the first real sword (Figs. 17, 18, 19), of which only five specimens are now known to exist.1882, “The Genesis of the Sword”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 21, page 81
   • The gladius was effective either for cutting or for thrusting and was used by legionaries and auxiliaries.2007, Pat Southern, The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History, page 212
2. A pen, a hard internal bodypart of certain cephalopods, made of chitin-like material.
   • From the Cretaceous of North America fossilised gladii in the enigmatic genus Tusoteuthis have been estimated to give a mantle length (body size) of 1.8m, just less than that of the giant squid’s.2017 October 31, Mark Carnall, The Guardian