There were no more fights with knives, although when my wound was healed he did broach the subject again on two or three occasions, and was anxious to convince me that it would be greatly to our advantage to know how to defend ourselves with a knife while living among people who were always as ready on any slight provocation to draw a knife on you as a cat was to unsheathe its claws.
"Far Away and Long Ago"
W. H. Hudson
It would be no less than idleness for me to unsheathe my sword in her behalf; for my field of battle lies not here.
"The Three Heron's Feathers"
Hermann Sudermann
In the spirit of the Prince de Joinville, whose bombastic language towards England in 1848 had set an example not to be resisted, were the fire-eating words of a few French officers, who offered to "unsheathe their swords and place them at their sovereign's disposal," and so forth.
"The History of "Punch""
M. H. Spielmann