Noun

1. a dagger, poignard.
   • 1786 — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34.

     The Pugio or Dagger was used by the Romans, a species of that weapon called the Hand Seax was worn by the Saxons, with which they massacred the English on Salisbury Plain in 476.

Noun

1. a dagger
   • 70 — Tacitus, Historiae, Book IV, section xxix

     multos in moenia egressos pugionibus fodere.

     Many, who had struggled on to the walls, with their short swords they stabbed.