Brewer's: Ever-sworded

(The). The 29th Regiment of Foot, now called the “Worcestershire Regiment.” In 1746 a part of this regiment, then at St. John's Island, was surprised by the French and massacred, when a command was issued that henceforth every officer, even at meals, should wear his sword. In 1842-1859 the regiment was in the East Indies, and the order was relaxed, requiring only the captain and subaltern of the day to dine with their swords on.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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