firelock
a gun having a lock in which the priming is ignited by sparks struck from flint and steel, as the flintlock musket.
Origin of firelock
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use firelock in a sentence
Their firelocks, and the useful portions of their military equipment, were alone preserved.
The British Expedition to the Crimea | William Howard RussellThe earliest English troops raised as artillery personel were called the Regiment of Firelocks.
All the firelocks which they have as yet got immediately about here have been sent down at my own expense.
Private Papers of William Wilberforce | William WilberforceIf dogs could have carried firelocks they would have been taken.
Montreal 1535-1914, Volume II (of 2) | William Henry AthertonThe rifles had, however, been all taken by the troops, who had exchanged their own firelocks for them.
With Wolfe in Canada | G. A. Henty
British Dictionary definitions for firelock
/ (ˈfaɪəˌlɒk) /
an obsolete type of gunlock with a priming mechanism ignited by sparks
a gun or musket having such a lock
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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