baldric

• baldrick, baudric, baudrick, bauldric, bauldrick, bawdrick

From Middle English baudrik, bauderik, from Old French baudré, baldré, baldrei (“sword-belt, crossbelt”), of obscure origin. Probably from Frankish *balterād, from earlier *baltiraidī (“belt gear, belt equipment”) (compare Old Occitan baldrei, baudrat), from Frankish *balti (“belt”), from Latin balteus + Frankish *(ga)raidī (“equipment”), related to English raiment, array. The word was borrowed from Old French into Middle High German balderich, belderich, which likely influenced the Middle English form.

Latin balteus (“belt”) (said by Varro) is possibly of Etruscan origin.[1] Compare French baudrier.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːldɹɪk/, [ˈbɔːɫdɹɪk]

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baldric (plural baldrics)

1. A broad belt used to hold a sword, sometimes richly ornamented, worn diagonally from shoulder to hip (across the breast, and under the opposite arm); less properly, any belt. [from c. 1300]
   • 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott:

     As he rode down to Camelot:/And from his blazon'd baldric slung/A mighty silver bugle hung,/And as he rode his armor rung/Beside remote Shalott.

   • 1922, The Museum Journal, Vol. XIII, The University Museum, page 168:

     The figure on the left, holding the severed head of the ox, has removed his sword with the baldric from which it is suspended and given it to his companion, who holds it beside his own with the baldric swinging.

   • 1998, Raymond E. Fiest, Krondor, the Betrayal, HarperCollins, page 16:

     The man facing Locklear had his head covered with a red bandanna, and over his shoulder was a baldric from which a cutlass at had hung.