Dagger

A dagger is essentially a special form of knife, where the tang is placed along the center line of the blade.

A dagger is more a weapon made for thrusting than a tool for slicing and cutting. Historically daggers were important secondary weapons in Europe during the Middle Ages and the renaissance.

Often a dagger is fairly long, and some may verge on being of sword length. Most daggers are double edged, although there are exceptions - for example a rondel commonly had only one edge.

A modern version of the dagger is the bayonet, which becomes a spear type weapon when mounted on the barrel of a rifle.

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See also: dagger (typography)