halberd 
beard (whence E. barb 1 , hook, etc.): see helm 2 
and beard. Of. Icel. skeggja, a kind of hal- 
berd, < skegg, beard (see shay) ; Gr. ye mq , the 
edge of an ax, also 
applied to a fishing- 
hook, fork, etc., lit. 
chin, = E. chin.'} 1. 
A broad blade with 
sharp edges ending 
in a sharp point, 
mounted on a han- 
dle from 5 to 7 feet 
long: a weapon com- 
mon in the middle 
ages and later, it 
was especially use dur- 
ing the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries, and 
was made in extraordi- 
nary forms, particularly 
during the later years of 
its use, having points in 
different directions, and 
various edges, curved or 
straight. Decorated hal - 
berds with the blades 
richly engraved were 
used in the sixteenth and 
* yf, German Halberd, early I7th cell- 
Seventeenth Centuries by tury ' (From "L- Art pouf Tous.") 
palace-guards. Compare Jt, Halberd, 15* century. (From 
Viollet-le-Duc's "Diet, du Mobilier 
francais."} 
halberdier. 
Armed and furnished 
with Halberds, Maces, Battle-axes, Chaines, and these 
Canes. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 440. 
The King gave him an excellent silver sword and hal- 
bert. B. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 391). 
With four sergeants about his chair, bearing halberds, 
as a guard of honor. Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter, iii. 
2. A projection on the fore part of a horseshoe, 
designed to relieve the foot in cases of lame- 
ness. 
halberd-headed (hal' berd- hedged), a. Same 
as hastate. 
halberdier (hal-ber-der'), n. [Also halbardier, 
holbardier; < OF. halebardier (F. hallebardier 
= Sp. alabardero = Pg. alabardeiro = It. alabar- 
diere), < halebarde, halberd: see halberd.] 1. 
A soldier armed with a halberd. During the later 
middle ages the halberd was especially the arm of the 
foot-soldiers. Compare guwarme. 
Should the axe-stroke fail, then the skilful halbardier 
repairs his mishap with a prompt thrust of the piked head. 
J. Hewitt, Ancient Armour, I. 323. 
2. A soldier of the body-guard of a sovereign 
or a high official, or a member of certain civic 
guards attending magistrates and keeping or- 
der in towns. The halberd was commonly borne by 
such attendants rather as an official badge than for actual 
service. 
The guard of those Emperours were English halberdiers. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 17. 
It was only on a third attempt I could get there, for 
twice the Papal halberdiers thrust me back. 
Oremlle, Memoirs, April 4, 1830. 
halberdman, halberdsman (hal'berd-, hal'- 
berdz-man), re. ; pi. halberdmen, halberdsmen 
(-men). Same as halberdier. 
Pikemen as well as halberdsmen carried rapiers. 
Motley, United Netherlands, III. 96. 
halberd-Shaped (hal'berd-shapt), a. Same as 
hastate. 
halberd-weed (hal'berd-wed), n. A suffrutes- 
cent composite herb, Neurolaina lobata, of the 
West Indies, with alternate serrate leaves (the 
lower three-lobed), and yellow rayless flower- 
heads in terminal corymbose panicles. See 
Neurolasna. 
halbert (hal'bert), n. See halberd. 
halce (hals), n. [Appar. an artificial name, and 
perhaps taken (badly spelled) from Gr. <Mf, salt, 
brine: see salt 1 .} A salt liquor made of the 
entrails of fish, pickle, brine, etc. Crabb. 
halcht, v. t. [ME. halchen, var. of halsen, em- 
brace: see Juilse 1 .} To embrace; join. 
He hym thonkked throly, & ayther hatched other. 
Sir Gaicayiie and the Oreen Knight (E. E. X. S.\ i. 939. 
Halcyoides (hal-si-oi'dez), n. pi. [NL., < Hal- 
cy(on) + -aides.} In Blyth's system of classifi- 
cation (1849), a division of his Syndactyli; a 
group including the kingfishers, the rollers and 
bee-eaters, the jaeamars and todies, and the 
motmots or sawbills. These families of birds 
were arranged in three superfamilies, Cylindri- 
rostres, Angulirostres, and Serratirostres. 
halcyon (hal'si-pn), n. and a. [< L. halcyon, 
prop, aleyon, < Gr. aTutv&v, a kingfisher ; also 
improp. written &AKV&V, from the false notion 
that it is compounded of <Uf, the sea, -I- KVUV, 
ppr. of KVSIV, Kvelv, conceive a popular etymolo- 
gy that prob. originated the fable mentioned 
2685 
in the first definition. The same base, with 
different term., appears in L. alcedo, a king- 
fisher.] I. n. 1. An old and poetical name of 
the kingfisher. This bird was fabled to lay its eggs in 
nests that floated on the sea about the time of the winter 
solstice, and to have the power of charming the winds and 
waves during the period of incubation, so that the weather 
was then calm. 
And wars have that respect for his repose 
As winds for halcyons, when they breed at sea. 
Dryden, Death of Cromwell, 1. 144. 
The halcyones are of great name and much marked. 
The very seas, and they that saile thereupon, know well 
when they sit and breed. Holland, tr. of I'liny, x. 32. 
2. In ornith. : (a) A kingfisher of the subfamily 
Halcyomnce or Daceloninue, and especially of 
the genus Halcyon: as, the white-headed hal- 
cyon, Halcyon semicosrulea. (b) [cap.~\ [NL.] 
The typical genus of kingfishers of the sub- 
family Haley 'onince. 3+. Halcyon days (see 
below) ; calm ; quietude. Davies. 
The man would have nothing but halcyon, and be re- 
miss and saucy of course. 
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, II. 4. 
II. a. 1. Of , pertaining to, or connected with 
the halcyon or kingfisher. 
Renege, afllrm, and turn their halcyon beaks 
With every gale and vary of their masters. 
Shale., Lear, ii. 2. 
2. Belonging to halcyon days (see below); 
calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy. 
Thy happier Clime is Free, . . . 
And Plenty knows, and Days of Halcyon Best. 
Congreve, Pindaric Odes, i. 
Halcyon days, (a) Anciently, days of fine and calm 
weather about the winter solstice, when the halcyon was 
believed to brood ; especially, the seven days before and 
as mauy after the winter solstice. 
They [halcyons] lay and sit about mid-winter when dales 
be shortest ; and the time whiles they are broodie is called 
the halcyon daies : for during that season the sea is calm 
and navigable, especially in the coast of Sicilie. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, x. 32. 
Hence (&) Days of peace and tranquillity. 
Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, 
Since I have entered into these wars. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 2. 
Those halcyon days, that golden age is gone. 
Quarles, Emblems, i. 5. 
halcyonarian (hal"si-o-na'ri-an), a. and n. See 
alcyonarian. 
Halcyone (hal-si'o-ne), n. Same as Alcyone, 2. 
Halcyonella (hal"'si-o-ner|i), n. Same as Alcyo- 
nella. 
halcyoneum (hal"si-o-ne'um), n. [< L. hal- 
cyoneum, alcyonenm, sea-foam, < Gr. a7.nv6vei.ov, 
a zoophyte, so called from a fancied likeness to a 
kingfisher's nest, < d/jmuv, a kingfisher: see 
halcyon."] The nest of the kingfisher, as the 
subject of various classic myths. 
Halcyoniaceae (hal"si-on-i-a'se-e), n. pi. Same 
as Alcyoniacea;. 
halcyoniant (hal-si-6'ni-an), a. [< L. halcy- 
onius, alcyoniits, also halcyoneus, alcyoneus, < 
halcyon, aleyon, the kingfisher: see halcyon.} 
Halcyon; calm. 
No halcyonian times, wherein a man can hold himself 
secure. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 171. 
Those peaceful and halcyonian days, which the church 
enjoyed for many years. J. Mede, On Churches, p. 52. 
halcyonic (hal-si-on'ik). a. Same as alcyonlc. 
Halcyonidse (hal-si-on'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Halcyon + -idee.'} In ornith., same as Alcedi- 
nidai. 
Halcyonidiidas, Halcyonidium, etc. See Al- 
cyonidiidie, etc. 
Halcyoninae (hal"si-o-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., < 
Halcyon + -inte.} A subfamily of Aleedinidce, 
taking name from the genus Halcyon, and con- 
taining the insectivorous and reptilivorous king- 
fishers, as distinguished from the Alcedinince, 
which are piscivorous : synonymous with Dace- 
loninw. 
halcyonine (hal'si-o-nin), a. Of or pertaining 
to that division of kingfishers typified by the 
genus Halcyon : opposed to alcedinine. 
halcyonite (hal'si-o-nit), n. Same as alcyonite. 
Halcyonium (hal-si-6'ni-um), n. [NL.: see 
Alcyoniiim.} Same as Alcyonium. 
halcyonoid (hal'si-o-noid), n. Same as alcyo- 
noid. 
Halcyonoida (hal"si-o-noi'da), n. pi. [NL., < 
Halcyon + -oida.} Same as Alcyonaria. 
hald (hald), v. and n. An obsolete or dialectal 
(Scotch) form of hold 1 . 
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, 
But [without] house or hald. 
Burns, To a Mouse. 
Haldanite(hal'da-nit),. [< ffaWae(seedef.) 
+ -ite 2 .] A follower of the brothers James 
halec 
and Robert Haldane, wealthy laymen, who in 
the early part of the nineteenth century found- 
ed independent religious societies in various 
parts of Scotland. The Haldanites did not constitute 
a formal sect, and their churches ultimately became con- 
nected with different denominations. 
lialdent. An obsolete variant of holden, past 
participle of hold 1 . 
hale 1 (hal), v. ; pret. and pp. haled, ppr. haling. 
[< ME. lialcn, halien, rarely haulen (whence the 
now usual form haul, q. v.), hale, haul, drag; 
partly < AS. *halian, *liolian (found only once, in 
pp. pi. geholode), get, acquire ; and partly of OLG. 
or Scand. origin, perhaps through OF. *haler, in 
Roquefort haller, drag a boat by a rope, mod. 
F. holer, hale, haul, = Sp. halar = Pg. alar, 
hale, haul, < OS. Italian, bring, fetch, = OFries. 
halia, fetch, = D. halen, fetch, draw, pull, = 
OHG. halon, holon, MHG. haln, holn, summon, 
fetch, G. holen, fetch, naut. haul, = Sw. hala = 
Dan. hale, haul, = L. calare, summon, = Gr. 
Kafalv, summon, call: see calends, calendar.} 
1. trans. 1. To drag; draw; pull; move by drag- 
ging. [In common use till the eighteenth cen- 
tury, but now obsolescent except in literary 
use, the form haul having taken its place.] 
A ship, that is shot ou the shire wawes, 
Shuld drowne in the depe, & it drye stode, 
Halyt into havyn, harlit with ropes. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 298. 
The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune, 
And hale him up and down. Shak., Cor., v. 4. 
And many times, vpon occasion of the Kings displeasure, 
they are haled thence and scourged. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 360. 
They haled us to the Princess where she sat 
High in the hall. Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
2. To vex; trouble; worry; "pull and haul." 
[Prov. Eng.] 3. To get by solicitation or im- 
portunity. [Pro v. Eng.] To hale the bowline. 
See bowline. 
H.t intrans. To go or come by means of 
drawing, pushing, or pressing ; push or press 
on; move on; proceed. 
Here at talaphon he toke leue, & turnyt to ship, 
And halet to the hegh se in a hond while. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 5397. 
Hale on apace, I beseech you, and merrily hoist up your 
sails. J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 69. 
Who on this Gulf would safely venture fain. 
Must not too-boldly hale into the Main. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 1. 
hale 1 (hal), n. [< hale 1 , v.} 1+. A violent pull ; 
a haul; the act of dragging forcibly. 2. A 
rake with long teeth for raking pebbles from 
brooks. [Prov. Eng.] 3. An instrument for 
hanging a pot over a fire. [Prov. Eng.] 
hale^ (hal), a. [Also (esp. in sense 2) hail; < 
ME. heil, heyl, in good health, sound, < Icel. heill, 
whole, healthy, sound, = Sw. Dan. hel, whole, 
entire, = AS. hal, ME. hoi, hool, hole, E. whole, 
of which hale 2 is thus only a later (Scand.) 
form : see whole. Deriv. haiT*, q. v. Cf . heal 1 
and health, related words of AS. origin.] 1. 
Sound ; entire ; healthy ; robust ; not impaired 
in health: as, hale of body. 
His stomach too begins to fail ; 
Last year we thought him strong and hale; 
But now he's quite another thing. 
Swi/t, Death of Dr. Swift. 
The good wife, buxom and bonny yet, 
Jokes the half grandslre. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 66. 
2. Whole; entire; unbroken; without a break 
or other impairment. [Obsolete or Scotch.] 
For-thi whene thou prayes or thynkes one Godd thi de- 
sire to Godd es mare hale, mare feruent^ and mare gastely 
than whene thou duse other dedis. 
Bampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 36. 
This clan are here mentioned as not being hail, or whole, 
because they were outlawed or broken men. 
Quoted in Child's Balladt, VL 131, note 3. 
hale 2 t, n. [< ME. hale, usually and prop, hele: 
see heal 1 , n., of which hale is a mere variant.] 
Safety ; welfare : same as heal 1 . 
Eftsoones, all heedlesse of his dearest hale, 
Full greedily into the heard he thrust. 
Spenser, Astrophel, 1. 103. 
hale 3 (hal), v. t. ; pret. and pp. haled, ppr. hat- 
ing. [A dial. var. of /ieei 2 .] To pour out. 
hale 4 t, n. [Origin obscure.] A tent; a pavilion; 
a temporary shelter. Palsgrave, 1530; Elyot, 
1559. 
And to avoyde the Ilixe, and suche dangerous diseases 
as doth many times chaunce to souldiours by reason of 
lying upon the ground and uncovered, lykewyse to horses 
for lack of hales. 
Letter of I. B. (1672), in Cens. Lit, VII. 240. 
hale 5 ti- A pseudo-archaic form of hole 1 . Spen- 
ser. 
halec (ha'lek), n. Same as alec. 
