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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Musket \Mus"ket\, noun [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 This arm has been completely superseded by the rifle, and is now only of historical interest. [1913 Webster +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
musket
noun: a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
21 Moby Thesaurus words for "musket": automatic, blowgun, blowpipe, firearm, flamethrower, gat, gun, handgun, heater, peashooter, piece, pistol, repeater, revolver, rifle, rod, sawed-off shotgun, shooting iron, shotgun, six-gun, six-shooter
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |