Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HAL'BERD, n. [Fr. hallebarde; G. hellebarde; D. hellebaard; It. alabarda or labardo; Sp. Port. alabarda; Russ. berdish, a halberd or battle-ax, a pole-ax. The etymology is not settled. It seems anciently to have been a battle-ax fixed to a long pole, and in Gothic hilde is battle.]

A military weapon, consisting of a pole or shaft of wood, with a head armed with a steel point, with a cross piece of steel, flat and pointed at both ends, or with a cutting edge at one end, and a bent point at the other. It is carried by sergeants of foot and dragoons. Encyc.