flaming sword

flaming sword (plural flaming swords)

1. (mythology) A metal sword wreathed in or emitting flames, appearing as a symbol or supernatural weapon in many mythologies.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost‎:

     He spake; and, to confirm his words, outflew
     Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
     Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
     Far round illumined Hell.

   • 1861 March 2, Patonce, Notes and Queries (2), volume 11, number 270, London: Bell & Daldy, →ISSN, Queries, page 172:

     The dexter figure has five stars round the verge of his head, and a flaming sword in the left hand. The sinister figure has the same flaming sword coupled with a branch of olive.

   • 1866 March 3, Rhodokanakis, “Saint Michael”, in Notes and Queries (3), volume 9, number 218, London: Bell & Daldy, →ISSN, pages 181–182:

     A pair of scales are also used as a single symbol, excepting the flaming sword mentioned by your correspondent Mr. Vincent, to typify the Archangel Michael, in the same way that the white lily denotes the Archangel Gabriel. He is always represented by the ecclesiastical Byzantine painters as a young warrior of surpassing beauty, standing on the body of an old dead man, with wings expanded, and holding a flaming sword in his right, and a pair of scales in his left hand, in order to show that with the first he took his soul, and with the second he weighs the good and bad actions which the man had accomplished during his stay on earth.

2. (mythology) A sword with a blade composed of supernaturally solidified flames, appearing as a symbol or weapon in many mythologies.
3. The flowering plants Lutheria splendens (syn. Vriesea splendens), Vriesea flammea, and other species, especially in the tribe Vrieseeae, with similar blooms.
4. A sword with a blade forged in an undulating pattern; a flame-bladed sword. Also characterized as a wavy blade or a serpentine blade.
   • 1851 April 12, William John Bernhard-Smith, Notes and Queries (1), volume 3, number 76, London: Bell & Daldy, →ISSN, Replies to Minor Queries, page 292:

     Ancient swords were frequently “flamboyant,” or with waved edges; more especially those used for purposes of state. The Dukes of Burgundy bore a two-handed sword of this form. Indeed, “flaming swords,” as they were called, were worn down to the times of our Charles II., and perhaps later.

• kris, a type of dagger or short sword customarily made with a flaming or wavy style of blade
• Newton's flaming laser sword