spear-thrower

[ speer-throh-er ]

nounAnthropology.
  1. a flexible device for launching a spear, usually a short cord wound around the spear so that when thrown the weapon will rotate in the air.

  2. Also called atlatl. a rigid device for increasing the speed and distance of a spear when thrown, usually a flat wooden stick with a handhold and a peg or socket to accommodate the butt end of the spear.

Origin of spear-thrower

1
First recorded in 1870–75

Words Nearby spear-thrower

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use spear-thrower in a sentence

  • King Theodore was a celebrated spear thrower; it is said he could make sure of a man at thirty yards or more.

    Sport in Abyssinia | Dermot Mayo
  • Beside him lay his flaked-stone ax, his bone-pointed spear and spear thrower, likewise preserved by a marvelous chemistry.

    The Record of Currupira | Robert Abernathy
  • Spears and wooden clubs are universal, and the use of the spear-thrower is generally distributed.

    Man, Past and Present | Agustus Henry Keane
  • Are the spear-thrower and the bull-roarer inevitably thought of as alive?

    Anthropology | Robert Marett
  • But it is quite otherwise with his spear-thrower or his bull-roarer.

    Anthropology | Robert Marett