Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 1500s through the 1700s.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In falconry, an inferior kind of hawk; a sparrow-hawk. See
eyas-musket . - noun A hand-gun for soldiers, introduced in European armies in the sixteenth century: it succeeded the harquebus, and became in time the common arm of the infantry.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) The male of the sparrow hawk.
- noun 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 This arm has been completely superseded by the rifle, and is now only of historical interest.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
species offirearm formerly carried by theinfantry of anarmy . It was originallyfired by means of amatch , ormatchlock , for which severalmechanical appliances (including theflintlock , and finally thepercussion lock) weresuccessively substituted . Thisarm has beensuperseded by therifle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word musket.
Examples
-
A steel ramrod from a musket is a wild whipping thing, and Phil is right -- it kicks like a bronco.
-
A steel ramrod from a musket is a wild whipping thing, and Phil is right -- it kicks like a bronco.
-
A 6-year-old girl with musket is dressed to celebrate el Cinco de Mayo in Mexico City.
-
A 6-year-old girl with musket is dressed to celebrate el Cinco de Mayo in Mexico City.
-
A 6-year-old girl with musket is dressed to celebrate el Cinco de Mayo in Mexico City.
-
An aborigine looking at a musket is interesting but irrelevant.
-
An aborigine looking at a musket is interesting but irrelevant.
-
What Montaigne did not like about the musket is that is separated men from one another and distracted them from the real purpose of fighting.
-
Le_Dauncer brought over a gorgeous Tokay (apparently to musket, what musket is to port …) it was so smooth and dreamy – perfect for chocolate!
October 6th, 2004 mynxii 2004
-
Still the men moved on steadily, resistlessly, until they came within musket range.
This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States Henrietta Elizabeth 1917
chained_bear commented on the word musket
I just got a memo at work that contains the following:
"Pull slightly on the cock to ensure you have the strength to operate that particular musket. The pull required varies between muskets and you should not take out a musket to shoot unless you can operate the cock easily and safely."
Wow.
July 10, 2008
reesetee commented on the word musket
I do not want your job.
July 10, 2008
plethora commented on the word musket
I do! I want an Emmy.
July 10, 2008
reesetee commented on the word musket
Oh, right. I forgot about that part for a second. :-D
July 10, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word musket
"Pull slightly on the cock..." was NOT in my job description. I'll read that memo some more later. It's actually about 12 pages long.
July 10, 2008
bilby commented on the word musket
But shooting people with muskets - easily and safely of course - is in your job description?
July 11, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word musket
Actually, yes. Well, shooting muskets, yes. Shooting them at people, no. Also cannons.
July 11, 2008
reesetee commented on the word musket
But not at people. *hopes*
July 11, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word musket
A group of lyrebirds is called a musket. A musket of lyrebirds. Lovely.
July 29, 2010
reesetee commented on the word musket
*now wonders whether chained_bear uses lyrebirds to shoot*
July 29, 2010
hernesheir commented on the word musket
It's a bird, of course.
April 7, 2011