Dictionary entry

Partisan (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Par″ti‐san, n. [F. pertuisane, prob. fr. It. partigiana, influenced in French by OF. pertuisier to pierce. It was prob. so named as the weapon of some partisans, or party men. Cf. Partisan one of a corps of light troops.] A kind of halberd or pike; also, a truncheon; a staff.

And make him with our pikes and partisans a grave. Shak.