CROSSBOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crossbow mean? 

• CROSSBOW (noun)
  The noun CROSSBOW has 1 sense:

1. a bow fixed transversely on a wooden stock grooved to direct the arrow (quarrel)

  Familiarity information: CROSSBOW used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CROSSBOW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A bow fixed transversely on a wooden stock grooved to direct the arrow (quarrel)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("crossbow" is a kind of...):

bow (a weapon for shooting arrows, composed of a curved piece of resilient wood with a taut cord to propel the arrow)

 Context examples 

And yet it says nothing for your weapon, mon gros camarade, for it was by turning yourself into a crossbow that you did it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A sunburnt and black-eyed Brabanter had stood near the old archers, leaning upon a large crossbow and listening to their talk, which had been carried on in that hybrid camp dialect which both nations could understand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“He is the best marksman of all the crossbow companies and it was he who brought down the Constable de Bourbon at Brignais. I fear that your man will come by little honor with him.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)