What are the special rules of sabre?

• The weapon: "for thrusting and cutting with both the cutting edge and the back of the blade".
• What scores: "All hits made with the cutting edge, the flat or the back of the blade are counted as good".
• The target: "any part of the body above a horizontal line drawn between the top of the hip bones".
• Off target: a hit below that line "is not registered by the apparatus, it does not stop the fencing phrase".
• The guard: hitting with it is forbidden. The hit is annulled, with a first-group penalty.
• Through the blade: a hit that touches the opponent's sabre and the target together is valid if it plainly arrives on the target.
• The attack: correct when the arm begins to straighten before the lunge and "the hit arrives at the latest when the front foot hits the piste".
• The crossover: "The fleche and any forward movement in which the rear foot completely passes the front foot is forbidden." First-group penalty, and the hit is annulled.
• The parry: made by closing the line before the attack lands. A properly parried attack is parried even if the tip whips over and touches.
• Covering: protecting or substituting the target is forbidden, as in foil.
• The break: in direct elimination the first period ends when one fencer reaches eight hits.

The glossary has the sabre, the valid target, the right of way entry, the flèche, the parry and the lame.

A cut is quicker to deliver than a thrust, which makes sabre the fastest weapon. For a time it was fenced as a running charge. The ban on crossing the feet slowed the attack to something a referee could judge and a defender could answer. The target follows the cavalry origin of the weapon.