Misericorde

English

Noun

misericorde (plural misericordes)

1. (Obsolete) Compassion; pity; mercy .
2. (Weapon) A thin-bladed dagger; so called, in the Middle Ages , because used to give the death wound or "mercy" stroke to a fallen adversary.

   Quotations

   • 1786: It's appellation of misericorde is dervived by Fauchet the French antiquary either from its being used to put persons out of their pain, who were irrecoverably wounded, or from the sight of it causing those knights who were overthrown, to cry out for quarter or mercy. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34.