gaffle

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“
When fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground.

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Definitions (4)

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  1. A portable fork of iron or wood in which the heavy musket formerly in use was rested that it might be accurately aimed and fired.
  2. The steel lever by the aid of which crossbows were bent. My cross-bow in my hand, my gaffle on my rack, To bend it when I please, or when I please to slack. Drayton, Muse's Elysium, vi.
  3. An artificial spur of steel put on a cock when it is set to fight. Pliny mentions the Spur and calls it Telum, but the Gafle is a mere modern Invention, as likewise is the great and I suppose necessary exactness in matching them. Bourne's Pop. Antiq. (1777), p. 379, note.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also gafle; in modern use prob. from D.; Middle English not found; Anglo-Saxon geafl, a fork, = Dutch gaffel, a fork, pitchfork, nautical gaff, = Middle Low German gaffele, geffele, Low German gaffel = German dial. gaffel = Danish Swedish gaffel, a fork, nautical gaff, = Icelandic gaffall, a fork (the Scandinavian forms prob. of Low German origin); ult. identical with gable: see gable and gaff.
 

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