Scabbard

//ˈskæb.əd// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The sheath of a sword.

    "I had had to discard my rifle before I commenced the rapid descent of the cliff, so that now I was armed only with a hunting knife, and this I whipped from its scabbard as Kho leaped toward me."

  2. 2
    a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To put an object (especially a sword) into its scabbard.

    "Suddenly he scabbarded his sabre."

Synonyms

All synonyms
cartoncasecompactfilesheath

Example

More examples

"A longsword sheathed in an intricately engraved scabbard."

Etymology

From Middle English scabard, scauberde, scauberk, scauberke, from Anglo-Norman eschaubert, escalberc, of Germanic origin, perhaps from Frankish *skarberg (“sheath”, literally “blade-protection”), from Proto-Germanic *skēriz (“blade, scissors”) + *bergaz (“shelter, protection, refuge”). See also hauberk.

Related phrases

scabbard fish

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.