[spon-toon] 
| a shafted weapon having a pointed blade with crossbar at its base, used by infantry officers in the 17th and 18th centuries. |
| spon·toon (spŏn-tōōn') n. A short pike carried by infantry officers and sergeants in the 18th century. [French sponton, from Italian spuntone : s-, intensive pref.; see sforzando + puntone, kind of weapon, augmentative of punto, point (from Latin pūnctum, from neuter past participle of pungere, to pierce, prick; see peuk- in Indo-European roots).] |
