or Halberd, an ancient military weapon now rarely to be seen except in armouries, or on ceremonial occasions. It was designed both for cutting and thrusting, being a kind of combination of the spear and battle-axe, with great variety in the shape of the head, but always terminating in a point or blade, and having a shaft five or six feet in length. The halbert was formerly borne by sergeants of foot and artillery, and by the guards of the great officers of the army; and there were also companies of halberdiers to protect the colours. This weapon was likewise known as the Danish axe; having passed from the Danes to the Scots, and from them to the English Saxons, from whom it passed to the Normans; though Meyrick (Hist. of Anc. Arm.) supposes it to have been a Swiss invention, borrowed by the French under Louis XI, and first used by the English in the reign of Henry VIII. This apparent discrepancy, however, may perhaps be annulled on the supposition of the use of weapons not very dissimilar at different periods under other names. The word halbert is formed from the Teutonic hal, hall, and bard, a hatchet, as being the weapon appropriated to warders. Vossius fancifully derives it from the German hallebaert, a compound of hel, clarus, splendens, and baert, axe.