scimitar

• cimeter, cimiter, cymeter, semitar (obsolete)
• scimiter
• scimetar

First attested in 1548.

From Middle French cimeterre (15c.) or directly from Italian scimitarra, possibly from an unknown Ottoman Turkish word, ultimately from Persian شمشیر‎ (šamšir, “sword”). Doublet of shamshir.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmɪtɑːɹ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmɪtə(ɹ)/

• Audio pronunciation

  (file)

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪmɪtə(ɹ)

scimitar (plural scimitars)

1. A sword of Persian origin that features a curved blade.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     The Prince of Morocco:
     […] By this scimitar,
     That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince
     That won three fields of Sultan Solyman,
     I would outstare the sternest eyes that look,
     Outbrave the heart most daring on earth,
     Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear,
     Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey,
     To win thee, lady. […]

2. A long-handled billhook.

• scimitar-horned oryx
• scimitar pod

• falchion

scimitar (third-person singular simple present scimitars, present participle scimitaring, simple past and past participle scimitared)

1. (transitive) To strike or slice with, or as if with, a scimitar.

• Ramistic