swordstick en · NOUN
Etymology
From sword + stick.
Meanings
-
A cane incorporating a concealed blade.
In Gormenghast Swelter's kitchen boy Steerpike also ends his murderous life, pierced by a knife, in the temporary waters of the flooded castle. Steerpike can be understood as an imitator of his former kitchen master Swelter, his slim swordstick a thin copy of Swelter's cleaver.
2005, Alice Mills, Stuckness in the Fiction of Mervyn Peake, page 82:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| swordsticks | Number=Plur | lexicographic |