or -iron, subs. phr. (military).—A sword (GROSE): also CHEESE-TOASTER (q.v.).

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  1596.  SHAKESPEARE, King John, iv. 3.

                    Put up thy sword betime;
Or I’ll so maul you and your TOASTING-IRON,
That you shall think the devil is come from hell.

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  1849–50.  THACKERAY, Pendennis, xxii. I served in Spain with the king’s troops, until the death of my dear friend Zumalcarreguy, when I saw the game was over, and hung up my TOASTING-IRON.

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  1861.  T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, xli. If I had given him time to get at his other pistol, or his TOASTING-FORK, it was all up.

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  1900.  G. BOOTHBY, A Maker of Nations, ix. One of the officers … drew his sword…. ‘You can put up that TOASTING-FORK,’ said Durrington, coolly.

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