Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long, hand-drawn bow, such as that used in medieval England, which sometimes exceeded 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The name commonly given to the bow drawn by hand and discharging a long feathered arrow, as distinguished from crossbows of all kinds, especially to bows having a length of five feet or over, as the bow of war and of the chase of the middle ages in Europe, those of some savage tribes, those of Japan, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The ordinary bow, not mounted on a stock; -- so called in distinction from the crossbow when both were used as weapons of war. Also, sometimes, such a bow of about the height of a man, as distinguished from a much shorter one.
  • noun to tell large stories.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large bow that has a strong tension, and is usually more than 3 feet tall. The most famous longbows in history were the English longbows, which were crafted of yew.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a powerful wooden bow drawn by hand; usually 5-6 feet long; used in medieval England

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Unless, of course, you had a longbow, but I haven't seen any stories about an uptick in longbow sales.

    A Trend I Want to Encourage Richard Nokes 2006

  • How strictly this requirement was enforced is hard to determine but the intent of the law was clear - if the need arose, the Crown could turn-out a formidible force/militia in relatively short order and the longbow was as revolutionary in its day as the firearm was in its day.

    Our Supreme Moment 2008

  • My impression is that the longbow is a 'simple' bow, not compound is this correct?

    Bowmen in medieval Wales Carla 2009

  • Rick - Yes, a longbow is a 'simple' or self bow, not a compound bow.

    Bowmen in medieval Wales Carla 2009

  • Curious, since the longbow is a far superior weapon.

    CATALYST OF SORROWS Margaret Wander Bonanno 2004

  • Curious, since the longbow is a far superior weapon.

    CATALYST OF SORROWS Margaret Wander Bonanno 2004

  • - the longbow is the peculiar and decilive advan - tage of the Englifti.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1788

  • A particularly contentious issue in medieval military debates concerns the longbow: was it a revolutionary or an evolutionary weapon Jim Bradbury turns his attention to this question in The Medieval Archer Boydell, 1985, convincingly challenging the conventional view that the longbow was a new and devastating weapon only fully adopted by the English after the experience of Edward I’s armies against Welsh archers at the end of the thirteenth century.

    De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History » The Myths of Medieval Warfare 2010

  • Taking some cues from lager fonts the chrome hand pull features a curved "longbow" design and a raised dispense nozzle so that the beer is served above the bar.

    Rss news feed for Morning Advertiser 2010

  • I shot this 350 lb black bear with my longbow. im 17 and this was my first bear.

    Field & Stream 2009

Comments

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  • Longbows are extremely cool. But it's against the law to carry one concealed.

    January 16, 2008

  • Which somewhat vitiates the utility of the line "is that a longbow in your pocket or ...?'

    January 16, 2008

  • How does one conceal a longbow?

    January 16, 2008

  • Very carefully. *rim shot*

    January 16, 2008

  • Thank you, thank you! Skipvia's here all week!

    January 16, 2008

  • Are these tears of laughter? Let us pretend that they are. ;-)

    January 16, 2008

  • You could conceal it in a large musical instrument case - a double bass say. Or possibly a cello, for a short longbow.

    January 17, 2008