DAGGER, a weapon which, in relation to its comparatively short blade, may be considered a diminutive of the sword. Specially designed to inflict wounds by the act of stabbing, the dagger is sharp at the point, but it is equally adapted for cutting purposes with its keen edge. Al savage races have highly valued the dagger in some modifications of its simplest type; while at certain periods it has been included among the military weapons of civilized nations, and, in our own time, is well known as the dirk. Early in the 14th century a dagger straight in the blade, and called a misericorde— either because the sight of it caused the vanquished to cry out for mercy, or from its use in mercifully ending the sufferings of the hopelessly wounded—became a companion weapon to the sword among the knights of Europe; and, accordingly, from about 1330 till the end of the succeeding century, in many knightly effigies it is often represented as attached on the right side by a cord or a chain to the sword-belt. The misericorde varied in size, the length of the blade sometimes causing it to appear almost like a second sword, while at other times the blade and the hilt were nearly of equal length. This weapon and its sheath were often elaborately adorned. It was customary to secure it from accidental loss by a guard-chain fastened to a mamelliere of the breast-armour, of which chain the other end was secured to the hilt of the weapon by a ring either fixed on the apex of the pommel or travelling along the grip. Occasionally the misericorde was fixed to the body-armour by a staple; or, more rarely, it was connected with a gypciere or pouch. A similar weapon, with a longer blade than the ordinary misericorde, was habitually worn by civilians, including judges, during the Middle Ages; ...