English

Noun

cold steel ‎(plural cold steel)

1. (military, historical) A sword, bayonet or similar weapon made of steel.
   • 1863 (attributed) Armistead, Bri. Gen. Lewis A., (Commander of the only Confederate brigade that breeched the Union line during Pickett's Charge, Battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863):

     Give them the cold steel, boys!

   • 1995 David Palumbo-Liu, "The ethnic canon: histories, institutions, and interventions"

     In your native homeland a stranger you will be by the law of the rifle and the law of cold steel

   • 2003 William P. Guthrie, "The later Thirty Years War"

     Yet the caracole had struggled against cold steel throughout the 16th century and had come off the victor.

See also

• bayonet
• Pickett's charge
• saber