[F.:—OF. coutel: see next.] A large knife worn as a weapon. (Frequently used in English in 18th c.) Couteau de chasse (F.): hunting-knife.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1198. 4. A small Coûteau walking Sword.
1743. Shenstone, Wks. & Lett. (1777), III. 73. In the Piazzas, Covent Garden, [pick-pockets] … come in large bodies, armed with couteaus.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, Wks. 1883, VI. 87. A couteau generally by his side.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xxix. Drawing a large couteau from his side-pocket.
1782. [T. Vaughan], Fashionable Follies, I. (1819), 190. They each put on a long sword instead of a couteau.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xxiii. A gentleman, plainly dressed in a riding-habit … without any arms except a couteau-de-chasse.
