{{Short description|Melee weapon with a cutting edge}} [[File:Swords in Great Hall (8594556211).jpg|thumb|right|Various swords on display in Edinburgh Castle.]]
An '''edged weapon''',<ref name="March1902"/> or '''bladed weapon''', is a hand-to-hand combat weapon with a cutting edge.<ref name="Macquarie"/> Bladed weapons include swords, daggers, knives, and bayonets. Edged weapons are used to cut, hack, or slash; some edged weapons (such as many kinds of swords) may also permit thrusting and stabbing. Edged weapons contrast with blunt weapons such as maces, and with pointed weapons such as spears.
Many edged agricultural tools such as machetes, hatchets, axes, sickles, sling blades, and scythes, have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for defence.
Edged weapons and blades, as well as other cold weapons, are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives and knife bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm.<ref name="Peterson2001"/> Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as both a combat knife and knife bayonet.<ref name="Brayley2004"/> Improvised edged weapons were extensively used in trench warfare of the First World War; for example, an entrenching tool might be modified to take an edge and be used as a melee weapon.<ref name="Beith1917"/><ref name="Drury1995"/>
==See also== *List of premodern combat weapons *Lists of swords *List of medieval weapons *List of martial arts weapons
==References== <references> <ref name="Beith1917">Beith, Ian H. (Capt.), ''Modern Battle Tactics: Address Delivered April 9, 1917'', National Service (June 1917), pp. 325, 328</ref>
<ref name="Brayley2004">Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustrated History'', Iola, WI: Krause Publications, {{ISBN|0-87349-870-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-87349-870-8}} (2004), pp. 9-10, 83-85</ref>
<ref name="Drury1995">{{cite book |title=German Stormtrooper 1914–18 |page=61 |author=Ian Drury |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-85532-372-8}}</ref>
<ref name="Macquarie">{{cite book |title=The Macquarie Dictionary |edition=1st |publisher=Macquarie Library |location=Sydney |date=1981 |quote=An ''edge tool'' is defined as a tool with a cutting edge. A ''blade'' is the flat cutting part of a sword, knife, etc. It is also a synonym for a sword.}}</ref>
<ref name="March1902">{{cite book |author=Francis Andrew March |title=A Thesaurus Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Historical Publishing Company |location=London |date=1902 |quote=Blade: The flat, cutting part of an edged weapon. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QUxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1163}}</ref>
<ref name="Peterson2001">Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', Courier Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-41743-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-486-41743-1}} (2001), p. 80: "Right at the outset trench knives were introduced by both sides during World War I, so that the common soldier was once again equipped with a knife designed primarily for combat."</ref> </references>
Category:Weapons Category:Edged and bladed weapons