Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 16th through the 18th century.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In falconry, an inferior kind of hawk; a sparrow-hawk. See eyas-musket.
- n. 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. It was at first very heavy, and was provided with a rest. The earliest muskets were matchlocks, which were superseded by the wheel-lock, the snaphance, the flint-lock, and the percussion-guns. The musket was made lighter, while still gaining in efficiency and accuracy. The rifle-musket was introduced in the middle of the nineteenth century. See
rifle , and cuts undermatchlock and gun.
Wiktionary
- n. 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 This arm has been superseded by the rifle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) The male of the sparrow hawk.
- n. 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 This arm has been completely superseded by the rifle, and is now only of historical interest.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen
Etymologies
- French mousquet, itself from Italian moschetto, diminutive of mosca ("fly"). (Wiktionary)
- French mousquet, from Italian moschetto, a type of crossbow, musket, from moschetta, little fly, bolt of a crossbow, diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“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.”
“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!”
“Still the men moved on steadily, resistlessly, until they came within musket range.”
“The French held their fire until the leading boats were well within short musket-shot.”
“Some losses were inflicted on the besiegers as they continued to push their works to within short musket-range of the fort.”
“He was everywhere present, dashing along his lines, paying no attention to the constant fire aimed at him and his staff by the Rebel skirmishers, within short musket range.”
“Batteries should be so placed as to _command the whole ground in our front_, even almost up to our bayonets, and so as to be able to direct their fire towards every point; at all events, so that a fire can be kept up on the enemy till he is within short musket-range.”
A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms: Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘musket’.
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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gun
words for firearms (singular)
gun, chopper, rifle, pistol, shooter, pea shooter, cannon, glock, shotgun, gat, strap, revolver and 27 more...
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dickinsonian
psalteries, enamoring, estates, whim, calyx, hoisted, nought, pentateuchal, retina, obviated, revelation, stalactite and 193 more...
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Scriptie: Master and Commander
Nice ambient words from the movie. (With apologies to Patrick O'Brian.) Aaaah, life at sea...aboard a hulk of the British navy in 1805...
surprise, acheron, guns, souls, oceans, battlefields, prize, burn, sink, privateer, hammock, lantern and 118 more...
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Words
teeter, headlong, reprobate, canard, ersatz, prevaricate, trenchant, minatory, fatuous, stultify, vitiate, fulminate and 135 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Military Matters
words of mass (or minor) destruction
caltrop, stylet, chassepot, baldric, rewet, blunderbuss, musket, flintlock, howitzer, ordnance, casque, dragoon and 148 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
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NeoVolt's Words
schadenfreude, serendipity, idiosyncrasy, loess, caducous, vagary, schematic, steeple, licentious, tangential, verisimilitude, vernacular and 385 more...
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My Modern Job in the Past
Words I come across at work.
Now stripped of most military terms, which have found a new home on the list Historical Military Terms of Interest. See also (and add to!) hilarious misspe...chaise-marine, delft, delftware, quince, tympan, cresset, navvy, venn diagram, poop deck, apothecary, heliotrope, millinery and 294 more...
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dregs
I have an extreme emotional/physical reaction to these words---and not in a good way
dregs, musket, musk, ramrod, canker sore, "pick your brain", brainfart
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Palabrarium
The delicious wonderful words that I love terribly dearly and without which, the world would be a less inventive and worthwhile place. Also, ostensibly, the reason 1984 and esperanto secretly suck.
panoply, footpad, piccalilli, snickersnee, marl, hispid, greengage, slumgullion, golliwog, mumbletypeg, circumlocution, quiescent and 366 more...
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Firearms
Nicknames for guns.
ratchet, cohete, chopper, gat, strap, long gun, auto, pistol, sidearm, slugthrower, kinetic weapon, revolver and 22 more...
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the armourer
Armour and weapons, and the occasional soldier.
gauntlet, vambrace, ballista, arbalest, trebuchet, sabre, epee, foil, flamberge, katana, dagger, switchblade and 80 more...
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objects
teapot, tea cosy, kettle, bandana, canopy, crockery, cutlery, doormat, easel, loupe, allen key, bric-a-brac and 35 more...
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The Anonymous Borrower's Words
Words from the English translation of Italo Calvino's Baron in the Trees found underlined, in blue biro, by a previous reader of the Vancouver Public Library's copy of the Calvino collection entitl...
sentinel, mane, shod, rapier, tricorne, elm, carob, mulberry, shrub, waft, wren, gaiters and 49 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for musket.
hernesheir It's a bird, of course. Apr 7, 2011
reesetee *now wonders whether chained_bear uses lyrebirds to shoot* Jul 29, 2010
hernesheir A group of lyrebirds is called a musket. A musket of lyrebirds. Lovely. Jul 28, 2010
reesetee But not at people. *hopes* Jul 11, 2008
chained_bear Actually, yes. Well, shooting muskets, yes. Shooting them at people, no. Also cannons. Jul 11, 2008
bilby But shooting people with muskets - easily and safely of course - is in your job description? Jul 11, 2008
chained_bear "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. Jul 10, 2008
reesetee Oh, right. I forgot about that part for a second. :-D Jul 10, 2008
plethora I do! I want an Emmy. Jul 10, 2008
reesetee I do not want your job. Jul 10, 2008
chained_bear 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. Jul 10, 2008