Baudrik

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A broad belt worn diagonally across the chest and over one shoulder to hang a sword or horn from
2. A wide strap slung across the body from shoulder to hip, used to carry a weapon or bugle
3. An ornate shoulder belt, once worn by knights and soldiers to suspend a sword at the side

Etymology: The baudrik is a sword belt worn over one shoulder and across the chest, and its name came into English from French, where "baudrier" was the usual form. That French word traces back to Old High German "baldric," a belt or sword-strap, and its ancestry goes back to a Germanic root that also gave English "bold" and "bald," though the connection to a belt is not obvious. The sense of the word has stayed firmly on the battlefield and in pageantry, so it turns up mostly in medieval and heraldic contexts, and it was adopted into English in the Middle Ages, well before most modern military vocabulary.

Synonyms: baldric, sword belt