linstock

American  

[lin-stok] / ˈlɪnˌstɒk /

noun

1. a staff with one end forked to hold a match, formerly used in firing cannon.

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linstock British  

/ ˈlɪnˌstɒk /

noun

1. a long staff holding a lighted match, formerly used to fire a cannon

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Etymology

Origin of linstock

1565–75; earlier lyntstock < Dutch lontstock match-stick, with lint replacing lont by association with the material commonly used as tinder

Example Sentences

His eye travelled along the tube;—the magician Botello stood on the broken wall at its side, and the linstock he held in his hand was descending to the vent.

From Calavar or The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico by Bird, Robert Montgomery

He applied the flaming linstock and fired the piece.

From Captain Kyd, Vol. II or, The Wizard of the Sea by Ingraham, Jonathon Holt

The watchful artilleryman stood at his cannon's breech, with the lighted linstock in his hand, which he kept alive by constant motion.

From Edmond Dantès by Flagg, Edmund

Jonas Evans, who had been an old artilleryman, takes the place of a wounded gunner, lifts the big sixty-eight pound balls, rams them home, and handles the linstock as coolly as if on parade.

From Neville Trueman, the Pioneer Preacher : a tale of the war of 1812 by Withrow, W. H. (William Henry)

He had still the linstock of his gun in his own hand.

From A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Charles