a spearlike shaft about 81/2 ft. (2.7 m) long and usually made of wood, used in throwing for distance.
b.
Also called javelin throw.a competitive field event in which the javelin is thrown for distance.
–verb (used with object)
3.
to strike or pierce with or as if with a javelin.
Origin: 1505–15; < MF javeline, by suffix alter. from javelot, AF gavelot, gaveloc, prob. < OE gafeluc, *gafeloc ≪ British Celtic *gablākos presumably, a spear with a forklike head; cf. MIr gablach forked branch, javelin, MWelsh gaflach (appar. < OIr), deriv. of OIr gabul fork, forked branch, c. Old Breton gabl, Welsh gafl
c.1475, from M.Fr. javeline (15c.), fem. dim. of O.Fr. javelot "a spear," probably from Gaulish (cf. O.Ir. gabul "fork;" Welsh gafl "fork," gaflach "feathered spear"). Also found in It. (giavelotto) and M.H.G. (gabilot).
[jav-lin, jav-uh-] 
