The Collaborative International Dictionary
Misericorde \Mis"er*i*corde"\, n. [F. mis['e]ricorde. See Misericordia.]
Compassion; pity; mercy. [Obs.]
(Anc. Armor.) Same as Misericordia, 2.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (''Middle English'') an act of clemency; pity, mercy. 2 a misericord.
Wikipedia
A misericorde ( or ) was a long, narrow knife, used in medieval times to deliver the death stroke (the mercy stroke, hence the name of the blade, derived from the Latin misericordia, "act of mercy") to a seriously wounded knight. The blade was thin enough so that it could strike through the gaps between armour plates.
This weapon was used to dispatch knights who had received mortal wounds, which were not always quickly fatal in the age of bladed combat; it could also be used as a means of killing an active adversary, as during a grappling struggle. The blade could be pushed through the visor or eye holes in the helm with the aim of piercing the brain, or thrust through holes or weak points in plate armor, such as under the arm, with the aim of piercing the heart. The weapon was known from the 12th century and has appeared in the armaments of Germany, Persia, and England.
Euthanasia was administered by thrusting below the neck down into the heart.
Usage examples of "misericorde".
He looked at the index to see if his name appeared anywhere other than the pages dealing with the Hopital Misericorde incident.
Tyson had been on the verge of telling the man about Hopital Misericorde but knew intuitively that confession becomes a bad habit.
Picard spent his airtime wisely, focusing on the Misericorde Hospital massacre, as it was now known.
Tyson suspected that somehow, in the collective psyches of the military, this case transcended Misericorde Hospital and had to do with Vietnam as a whole.
He found the name of Arthur Peterson, who had been wounded in the chest and died at Misericorde Hospital.
One of the men who related the Misericorde Hospital story to Picard was your former platoon medic, Steven Brandt.
Specifically would want to hear from anyone from the first platoon who was at the battle of Misericorde Hospital at Hue.
I spoke to Brandt he confined his answers to what he saw at Misericorde Hospital.
Phu Lai on 30 January, had gone on to Misericorde Hospital on 15 February, then was helicoptered to a secure beach area for a few days of rest and refitting.
Another irony of this tale is that Lieutenant Tyson, whose platoon had acted so inhumanely at Misericorde Hospital, was wounded while on a mission of mercy.
Phu Lai or at the MAC-V compound or Misericorde Hospital or the Strawberry Patch.
How do you suppose she wound up at Misericorde Hospital, outside the city walls?
And if you had been in command at Misericorde Hospital instead of me, nothing would have been any different there either.
But Tyson did not recall thinking at the time that the Army was the cause of Misericorde Hospital.
And I tried to use that perspective to help me understand what may have happened at Misericorde Hospital.