The first in an occasional series bringing you unusual and interesting words.
Glaive. A polearm consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole.
One of those fearsome pieces of medieval weaponry along with things like pikes and halberds. The word is sometimes (wrongly) used to refer to a broadsword. Glaives also appear in a number of video games and animated adventure films.
There’s a bit more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaive.
Illustration from Wikipedia Commons.
