cold weapon

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English

WOTD – 21 January 2023

Etymology

A man with a Japanese longsword called a katana (top), and a Karo tribe member from Ethiopia hunting guinea fowl with a bow and arrow (bottom). These are types of cold weapons.

From cold +‎ weapon, possibly a calque of Russian холо́дное ору́жие (xolódnoje orúžije, “cold weapon”), from холо́дное (xolódnoje) (the nominative neuter form of холо́дный (xolódnyj, “cold”)) + ору́жие (orúžije, “arm, weapon; weaponry”): see the 1876 quotation.

Pronunciation

Noun

cold weapon (plural cold weapons)

  1. (weaponry) A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.
    Synonym: white arm
    Antonym: firearm
    Hyponym: edged weapon
    • 1863 January 17, “How to Make Soldiers”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume VIII, number 195, London: C. Whiting, , →OCLC, page 446, column 1:
      A fencing-room in which twenty or thirty couples of men are practising, is a fair illustration of a mélée with cold weapons.
    • 1876, Hugo Stumm, “The Field of Operations and the Russian Resources of Operations in General”, in F. Henvey, P. Mosa, transl., The Russian Campaign against Khiva in 1873. , part I, Calcutta, West Bengal: Foreign Department Press, →OCLC, section II (The Russian Bases of Operations in Central Asia), page 157:
      The most effective weapons in the hands of the Caucasians was the sword, or as the Russians call it "the cold weapon" ["khalodnoye orúdiye," as opposed to firearms "agniovoye orúdiye"], the use of which, in hand-to-hand fight, was their special forte.
    • 1890, Theodore Ayrault Dodge, “Army Organization and Tactics. Early Seventeenth to Early Eighteenth Century.”, in Gustavus Adolphus: A History of the Art of War from Its Revival after the Middle Ages to the End of the Spanish Succession War,  (Great Captains), volume II, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company , →OCLC, page 571:
      Pistols, carbines and musketoons were the firearms of the cavalry; a sword or sabre the cold weapon.
    • 2009, Zhang Yun, “The History and Features of Dao”, in The Complete Taiji Dao: The Art of the Chinese Saber, Berkeley, Calif.: Blue Snake Books, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 27:
      There are perhaps more variations of the dao than there are of any other cold weapon.

Translations

References

  1. ^ P. O. (2016 August 28) “What is the Origin of ‘Cold Weapon’ in the Sense of Non-firearm?”, in English Language & Usage Stack Exchange‎, archived from the original on 18 January 2022.

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