Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Wapentake \Wap"en*take\ (?; 277), n. [AS. w?penge??c,
   w?pent[=a]c, from Icel. v[=a]pnat[=a]k, literally, a weapon
   taking or weapon touching, hence an expression of assent
   (``si displicuit sententia fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit
   frameas concutiunt.'' --Tacitus, ``Germania,'' xi.). See
   {Weapon}, and {Take}. This name had its origin in a custom of
   touching lances or spears when the hundreder, or chief,
   entered on his office. ``Cum quis accipiebat pr[ae]fecturam
   wapentachii, die statuto in loco ubi consueverant congregari,
   omnes majores natu contra eum conveniebant, et descendente eo
   de equo suo, omnes assurgebant ei. Ipse vero, erecta lancea
   sua, ab omnibus secundum morem f[oe]dus accipiebat; omnes
   enim quot-quot venissent cum lanceis suis ipsius hastam
   tangebant, et ita se confirmabant per contactum armorum, pace
   palam concessa. W[ae]pnu enim arma sonat; tac, tactus est --
   hac de causa totus ille conventus dicitur Wapentac, eo quod
   per tactum armorum suorum ad invicem conf[oe]derati sunt.''
   --L L. Edward Confessor, 33. D. Wilkins.]
   In some northern counties of England, a division, or
   district, answering to the hundred in other counties.
   Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire are divided into
   wapentakes, instead of hundreds. [Written also {wapentac}.]
   --Selden. Blackstone.