Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A spring-lock of a gun or pistol.
- n. Hence A hand-gun or a pistol made to be fired by flint and steel. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries snaphances were distinguished from fire-locks, the latter being preferred as late as about 1620, at which time the former were greatly improved.
- n. A snappish retort; a curt or sharp answer; a repartee.
- Snappish; retorting sharply.
Wiktionary
- n. A spring lock for discharging a firearm.
- n. The firearm to which it is attached.
- n. obsolete A trifling or second-rate thing or person.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete A spring lock for discharging a firearm; also, the firearm to which it is attached.
- n. obsolete A trifling or second-rate thing or person.
Etymologies
- Dutch snaphaan a gun, originally, the snapping cock of a gun. See snap and hen. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In the late sixteenth century, gunsmiths developed a new lock called a snaphance.”
“A number of the parts are identical in apprearance to a snaphance, which is a form of early flint lock where the pan cover and the steel are separate.”
“The snaphance was a slight improvement upon the wheel-lock.”
“The principle of the snaphance in turn was simplified by the invention of the flintlock, which combined the metal platen and the priming pan cover in one piece.”
“I originally thought the lock may have been refit from an older snaphance, but closer examination suggests it was originally constructed the way it is now.”
“Jamie drew the snaphance pistol from his belt and checked the loading of it, casually, as though there were all the time in the world.”
“Pressing the snaphance of his musket, he fired into the oncoming savages, but failed to hit one.”
“They were apparently fairly well supplied with them, of either the "matchlock" or "snaphance”
The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Complete
“Standish, like the statue of a sentinel in bronze, stood at the door leaning upon his snaphance, listening intently to all, and breathing a deep-throated Amen to the governor's prayer.”
“They'll not jeer long when my snaphance joins in the debate," said”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘snaphance’.
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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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Never For Sale On Craigslist
List of items never for sale on craigslist.
Should you find one of these for sale, let us know. We'll scare you up a coupon for a free day at a gym or something.vectis, soupir, porcupine-machine, electric pig, poke-bonnet, shawm, staddle stone, beating-engine, hicon, figurehead, low-warp loom, radevore and 516 more...
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