Definition of Crossbow

1. Noun. A bow fixed transversely on a wooden stock grooved to direct the arrow (quarrel).

Generic synonyms: Bow

Definition of Crossbow

1. n. A weapon, used in discharging arrows, formed by placing a bow crosswise on a stock.

Definition of Crossbow

1. Noun. A mechanised weapon, based on the bow and arrow, which fires bolts. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Crossbow

1. a kind of weapon [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Crossbow

crossbench
crossbencher
crossbenchers
crossbenches
crossbill
crossbills
crossbirth
crossbirths
crossbit
crossbite
crossbite teeth
crossbites
crossbody
crossbones
crossborder
crossbow (current term)
crossbower
crossbowers
crossbowman
crossbowmen
crossbows
crossbracing
crossbred
crossbreds
crossbreed
crossbreeder
crossbreeders
crossbreeding
crossbreeds
crossbuck

Literary usage of Crossbow

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Dictionary of the Central Nicobarese Language (English-Nicobarese and by Edward Horace Man (1889)
"To be shot at as a mark or target Shoot at a mark with a crossbow with a cannon (vp) ... To be sh ot at with a crossbow (vp), ..."

2. The Book of Archery by George Agar Hansard (1840)
"THE crossbow. I'm elad in youthful green, I other colours scorn ; My silken baldric boars ... The crossbow, properly so called, was unknown to the ancients, ..."

3. The Complete Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott by Walter Scott (1900)
"... to growl And toss bis mane and tail, And ball and shaft aud crossbow bolt Went whistling forth like hail. • Lance, pike, and halbert mingled there, ..."

4. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"The "-longbow" was the hand-bow, as distinguished from the crossbow or bow fitted on a stock. ... crossbow ..."

5. The Venetian Republic: Its Rise, Its Growth, and Its Fall 421-1797 by William Carew Hazlitt (1900)
"... 1698—War Department—crossbow practice—Venetian Militia. THE maritime greatness of the Venetians in a certain sense had its source in the ever-recurring ..."

6. Shooting: For Boys by Archie Frederick Collins (1917)
"The Development of the crossbow.—After the first raw idea, or inductive discovery as it is called, had disclosed to the thinking archer the principle of the ..."

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