musket
Americannoun
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a heavy, large-caliber smoothbore gun for infantry soldiers, introduced in the 16th century: the predecessor of the modern rifle.
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the male sparrow hawk, Accipiter nisus.
noun
Etymology
Origin of musket
1580–90; < Middle French mousquet < Italian moschetto crossbow arrow, later musket, originally kind of hawk, equivalent to mosch ( a ) fly (< Latin musca ) + -etto -et
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Every move he made was as sure as Daniel Boone’s musket, and as smooth as the dasher in Mama’s old churn.
From Literature
A family tree hangs in the boardroom and some of the company’s oldest weapons, including a musket from 1830, are displayed in an archive of more than 1,500 pieces.
The couple are seen side by side in period costume, as Anna hands John a cartridge to reload his musket.
One of Whitney’s next ventures was manufacturing muskets for the federal government.
For the guard, being a guard, was armed with a musket.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
