Editing Dirk (section)

{{short description|Thrusting dagger}}
{{Other uses}}
{{redirect|Dirks|people with the surname Dirks|Dirks (surname)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
[[File:Scottish dirk, blade by Andrew Boog, Edinburgh, c. 1795 - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC09484.JPG|thumb|upright|Scottish dirk, blade by Andrew Boog, Edinburgh, c. 1795, Royal Ontario Museum]]

A '''dirk''' is a long-bladed thrusting [[dagger]].<ref name="CHI">Chisholm, Hugh (ed.); "Dagger", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729.</ref>  Historically, it gained its name from the Highland dirk ([[Scottish Gaelic]] {{lang|gd|dearg}}) where it was a personal weapon of officers engaged in naval hand-to-hand combat during the [[Age of Sail]]<ref name="OBP">O'Brian, Patrick; ''Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy'', New York: W. W. Norton & Co., {{ISBN|0-393-03858-0}} (1974), p. 35.</ref> as well as the personal sidearm of Highlanders. It was also the traditional sidearm of the Highland Clansman and later used by the officers, pipers, and drummers of Scottish Highland regiments around 1725 to 1800<ref name="CHI"/> and by Japanese naval officers.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/imperialjapanes00janegoog/page/n278 <!-- pg=276 quote=Japanese naval dirk. --> ''The imperial Japanese navy'', Author Frederick Thomas Jane, Publisher W. Thacker & co., 1904 P.276]</ref>