besague

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English besague, besagu, besagew, from Old French besague, whence also English besagew (“rondel, armor protecting the armpit”), related to Latin bisacuta (Italian bisacuto (“double-edged”)) and besogium. Applied, in the Middle Ages, to a variety of medieval weapons or tools with two blades, edges, or faces, especially a double-bladed axe or war-hammer, but also to iron-headed cornuted staffs, clubs, or maces, spades, hoes, mattocks, and even knives. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈbɛs.ə.ɡju/ === Noun === besague (plural besagues) A kind of double-bladed axe. A kind of martel or war-hammer, with its head(s) shaped like a pick, mattock, or beak. A plate (as of armor) that protects an otherwise-exposed area, such as the armpit (alternative form of besagew), the elbow, or the hand ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === 2003, James Robinson Planché, An Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Costume: From the First Century B.C. to C. 1760, Courier Corporation (→ISBN), page 43: (Old French, besog; Latin, besogium) Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “BISGY”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “besague”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.