Part 481

SWORDED. Girt with a sword.

SWORD-player. A gladiator; one who fences publicly.

SWORD-belt. A belt made of leather, which hangs over the right shoulder of an officer, by which his sword is suspended on the left side.

SWORD-bearer, (Porte épée, Fr.) One who wears a sword. It also signifies a public officer.

SWORD-cutler, (Fourbisseur, Fr.) One who makes swords.

SWORD-knot, (Nœud d’épée, Fr.) A ribband tied to the hilt of a sword. All officers should wear sword-knots of a peculiar color and make. They are made of blue silk and gold or silver.

SYCOPHANT. A dirty, mean, groveling creature that sometimes finds its way into the army, and gets to the ear of a superior officer, for the purpose of undermining the good opinion which honest valor and open manhood may have obtained.

SYEF, Ind. A long sword.

SYEF-ul Mulk, Ind. The sword of the kingdom.

SYMBOL. In a military sense, badge. Every regiment in the British service has its peculiar badge.

SYMBOLE, Fr. The French make use of this word in the same sense that they apply Enseigne. Symbole means with them, in a military sense, what badge does with us.

SYMMETRY, (Symmetrie, Fr.) A word derived from the Greek. True symmetry consists in a due proportion, or in the relation of equality in the height, length, and breadth of the parts, which are required to make a beautiful whole, or in an uniformity of the parts with respect to the whole.

SYRTES or sables mouvans, Fr. Quicksands.

SYSTEM, (Systeme, Fr.) A scheme which reduces many things to regular dependence or co-operation. This word is frequently applied to some particular mode of drilling and exercising men to fit them for manœuvres and evolutions. Hence the Prussian system, the Austrian system, the new or mathematical system, &c.

Military SYSTEM. Specific rules and regulations for the government of an army in the field, or in quarters, &c.

SYSTEMS, (Systemes, Fr.) In fortification, a particular arrangement or disposition of the different parts which compose the circumference of a town or fortified place, according to the original idea or invention of an engineer. The systems best known under this head, and most followed, are those of Vauban, Cohorn, De Ville, Pagan, &c. See FORTIFICATION.

T. The form of a subterraneous arrangement in mining; so called from its resemblance to that letter.

TABAC, Fr. Tobacco. During the monarchy of France there was a specific allowance made of tobacco to the cavalry and infantry, when they were in camp, quarters, or garrison. They were likewise supplied by the captains of troops or companies, with a certain quantity whilst on the march from one province or quarter to another.

TABARD, TABELD, A herald’s coat.

TABLE, in military affairs, a kind of register to set down the dimensions of carriages for guns, mortars, &c. also for the practice of artillery, charges of mines, &c.

TABLE des officiers généraux et principaux, Fr. Mess or table as directed to be kept for the general and other superior officers of the old French army.

The only military table which is regulated in Great Britain, is at the Horse Guards; and that is charged to the extraordinaries of the army. Good order and discipline are intimately connected with a system of messing. This truth holds good with respect to the soldier, and a regulation is the consequence of its propriety. With regard to the officers it is well known, that in corps where they do not mess, perpetual bickerings among themselves, and occasional obstacles to the service, occur.

The French regulation took place on the 1st of April 1705, and was again renewed, with additional clauses, on the 20th of January 1741, on the 1st of December 1746, on the 17th of February 1753, and on the 9th of March 1757. The curious are referred to a French publication, intitled Elemens Militaires.

Before the abolition of the French monarchy, it was usual for officers belonging to the line in that service, to mess together according to their several ranks; the colonel excepted, who had a private table to which he occasionally invited the officers of the corps. A regular roster was kept for this purpose. The lieutenant-colonel and major uniformly messed with the captains; the different tables were generally composed of eight or ten officers of the same rank. The lieutenants dined together; so did the sub-lieutenants; each paying towards the mess in proportion to the receipt of daily subsistence.

TABLE de capitaine de vaisseau, Fr. A mess or table which was regularly provided at the public expence, for the superior officers who served on board.

TABLE d’hote, Fr. An ordinary.

Tenir TABLE ouverte, Fr. To keep open house.

TABLE en saille, Fr. In architecture, a table which juts out of the facing of a wall, or of a pedestal.