Definitions

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

  • noun A steel missile or dart dropped from an aircraft or fired from an artillery piece.

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

  • noun A small sharp antipersonnel projectile, used as shrapnel, fired from a shotgun, or scattered from an aircraft.
  • noun dated The game of lawn darts.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, diminutive of flèche, arrow; see flèche.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French fléchette ("small arrow"), diminutive of flèche ("arrow").

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Examples

  • With that the dark prince reached to his belt for the twin flechette guns that hung there in jeweled holsters.

    Eurydice Redux | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2008

  • Kay's sumptuous bath had to be set up in the box-room, between two towel-horses and an old box of selected games which contained a worn-out straw dart-board-it was called flechette in those days-because all the other rooms were full of packing.

    NPR Topics: Opinion 2010

  • Kay's sumptuous bath had to be set up in the box-room, between two towel-horses and an old box of selected games which contained a worn-out straw dart-board-it was called flechette in those days-because all the other rooms were full of packing.

    NPR Topics: Opinion 2010

  • And these are arrows that come out from the so-called flechette bombs, which are also forbidden because they resemble [ "dum-dum"] bombs.

    Palestine Blogs aggregator 2010

  • Kay's sumptuous bath had to be set up in the box-room, between two towel-horses and an old box of selected games which contained a worn-out straw dart-board-it was called flechette in those days-because all the other rooms were full of packing.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Kay's sumptuous bath had to be set up in the box-room, between two towel-horses and an old box of selected games which contained a worn-out straw dart-board-it was called flechette in those days-because all the other rooms were full of packing.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • The only other fad I don't think has been debunked yet is the "flechette". 3mm super-strong tungsten darts fired at velocities past 5000 fps.

    What do you predict will be the next fad in rifle cartridges? We have done long and skinny, short and fat and long and fat. 2009

  • The only other fad I don't think has been debunked yet is the "flechette". 3mm super-strong tungsten darts fired at velocities past 5000 fps.

    What do you predict will be the next fad in rifle cartridges? We have done long and skinny, short and fat and long and fat. 2009

  • Another missile which has been introduced by the French airmen, and which is extremely deadly when hurled against dense masses of men, is the steel arrow, or "flechette" as it is called.

    Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

  • Three more family members were also injured, again by the thousands of 'flechette' darts unleashed by the nail bomb assault.

    Palestine Blogs aggregator 2010

Comments

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  • "Almost all the facts were already known: the bombing of civilian neighborhoods, the use of flechette rounds and white phosphorus against civilian targets, the bombing of mosques and schools, the blocking of rescue parties from reaching the wounded, the killing of fleeing civilians carrying white flags, the use of human shields, and more."

    - Uri Avnery, UM-Shmum, UM-Boom, avnery-news.co.il, 19 September 2009.

    September 23, 2009