musket
5 dictionary results for: Musket
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
mus·ket 
[muhs-kit] Pronunciation Key
[muhs-kit] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | a heavy, large-caliber smoothbore gun for infantry soldiers, introduced in the 16th century: the predecessor of the modern rifle. |
| 2. | the male sparrow hawk, Accipiter nisus. |
[Origin: 1580–90; < MF mousquet < It moschetto crossbow arrow, later musket, orig. kind of hawk, equiv. to mosch(a) fly (< L musca) + -etto -et]
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| mus·ket
(mŭs'kĭt) Pronunciation Key
n. A smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 16th through the 18th century. [French mousquet, from Italian moschetto, a type of crossbow, musket, from moschetta, little fly, bolt of a crossbow, diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
musket
musket
"firearm for infantry," c.1587, from M.Fr. mousquette, a kind of sparrow-hawk, dim. of mosca "a fly," from L. musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms were often given names of beasts (cf. dragoon), and the equivalent word was used in It. to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The M.Fr. word was borrowed earlier (c.1425) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk." Musketeer "soldier armed with a musket" is 1590, from Fr. mousquetaire, from mousquette.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| musket | |
noun | |
| a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Musket
Mus"ket\, n. [F. mousquet, It. moschetto, formerly, a kind of hawk; cf. OF. mousket, moschet, a kind of hawk falcon, F. mouchet, prop., a little fly (the hawk prob. being named from its size), fr. L. musca a fly. Cf. Mosquito.] [Sometimes written also musquet.]1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of the sparrow hawk. 2. A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been generally superseded by the rifle.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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