Definition of "rapier"

[…] In his lawless fit,Behind the arras hearing something stir,Whips out his rapier, cries ‘A rat, a rat!’And in this brainish apprehension killsThe unseen good old man.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]

The man beside him with the earrings and the big black case proceeded to unlock it. He took out of it two long Italian rapiers, with splendid steel hilts and blades, which he planted point downwards in the lawn.

1911, G. K. Chesterton, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, in The Innocence of Father Brown