Bayonet
a miltary weapon formerly called a dagger, made to be fitted to the muzzle of a gun or rifle, to convert the latter into a kind of pike. At first it was so fixed that it required to be taken off before the gun was fired; but since the battle of Killiecrankie showed the danger of such an arrangement, it has been been fastened on in such a way as not to the firing of the weapon.
See INFANTRY.