Definition of "halberd" []

• A weapon of the 15th and 16th centuries having an axlike blade and a steel spike mounted on the end of a long shaft. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "An ensign-halyard-block is no more a pulley than your halberd is a boarding-pike."
• "Clad in flamboyant striped uniforms, the guard's role is largely ceremonial and many of its members still carry around a medieval weapon - the halberd, which is a combination of spear and battle axe."
• "The Swiss guard at the Vatican today display the halberd, which is sort of a spontoon to which is affixed a cutting edge back of a point, though they do not cut anybody with it anymore, as far as I can tell."