Claymore (a Gaelic term meaning 'the great sword') is properly used of the old Celtic one-handed, two-edged longsword, often engraved on ancient tombstones, with the guards pointing downwards. The name is now commonly given, inaccurately, to the basket-hilted sword of the officers of Highland regiments.
Claymore
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 3: Catarrh to Dion, p. 284
Source scan(s): p. 0295