MATCHLOCK

matchlock

(noun) an early style of musket; a slow-burning wick would be lowered into a hole in the breech to ignite the charge

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

matchlock (plural matchlocks)

Early type of firearm, using a smoldering piece of cord to fire the powder in the firing pan.

The gunlock used in such a weapon, having a slow smouldering match, see: slow match.

Source: Wiktionary


Match"lock`, n.

Definition: An old form of gunlock containing a match for firing the priming; hence, a musket fired by means of a match.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

6 October 2024

DATELESS

(adjective) of such great duration as to preclude the possibility of being assigned a date; “dateless customs”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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