two-hand sword

From Middle English thwahandswerd, to hond swerd, twa hand swerde, twohande sworde.

two-hand sword (plural two-hand swords)

1. A sword with a handle or grip that is intended to be grasped with both hands.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Come with thy two-hand sword.

   • 1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes‎, London: Henrie Fetherstone, Volume 3, Chapter 2, Section 1, p. 257:

     Faria on the other side […] with a zealous feruour reached Coia Acem, such a blow with a two hand Sword on his Head-piece of Maile, that he sunke to the ground […]

   • 1822, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Man, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume I, Chapter 6, p. 111,

     […] Charlie, growing wroth, squeezed the Lady Jane so strait with the left arm, that she was forced to cry out; and putting his right over his shoulder, he drew out his tremendous two-hand sword […]

   • 1963, H. Beam Piper, chapter 4, in Space Viking‎, New York: Ace Books, page 18:

     He stepped forward as he spoke, and his esquire gave him the two-hand Sword of State, heavy enough to behead a bisonoid.

• two-handed sword