musket

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long, muzzle-loading shoulder firearm, especially the smoothbore infantry weapon used before rifles became standard

   The infantryman poured powder down the barrel before loading his musket.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Musket entered English from Italian in the late 16th century and probably comes from moschetto, “sparrowhawk.” The transfer reflects an established practice of naming projectile weapons after birds of prey; arrows and crossbows had also been called sparrowhawks.

Through Middle French mousquet from Italian moschetto, a diminutive of mosca ('fly'). The Italian word was also used for a sparrowhawk and a crossbow bolt before it named a firearm. This follows a wider European habit of naming weapons after animals, especially birds of prey.

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External links

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