arquebus
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of arquebus
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French harquebusche (with intrusive -r- ), from Middle Dutch hākebusse, equivalent to hāke “hook“ + busse “gun” (literally, “box”), from Late Latin buxis for Latin buxus “box tree, boxwood; flute made from boxwood”; see box 1
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.
See Examples For:
The Spanish conquistadors who invaded Mexico, for example, put greater faith in crossbows and cold steel than the arquebus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Unlike the arquebus shouldered by foot soldiers, the pistol was often viewed with suspicion and disapproval.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
By the fifteenth century, the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire were using firearms like the arquebus, an early long gun, in battle.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
FOR all the centuries of refinement that separate a modern rifle from a Renaissance arquebus, the basic idea has not changed.
From Economist ● May 7, 2015
"Peradventure he intends to assail the enemy from the tops with musket and arquebus," mused Sir Richard, and he continued to watch his young friend ascending from branch to branch.
From The Golden Galleon BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF MASTER GILBERT OGLANDER, AND OF HOW, IN THE YEAR 1591, HE FOUGHT UNDER THE GALLANT SIR by Leighton, Robert
The Spaniard brought only 11 ships, some 450 men, 16 horses and a modest collection of cannons, crossbows and arquebuses, precursors to the musket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Armorers did a brisk business in swords, helmets and arquebuses, forerunners of the musket.
From Time Magazine Archive
More immediately threatening was the Partridge army�a real one � whose men carried new arquebuses and long Swiss pikes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Holst, the clerk of the bailiwick of Flensborg, here arrived in a coach with two arquebuses larger and longer than halberds.
From Memoirs of Leonora Christina Daughter of Christian IV. of Denmark; Written During Her Imprisonment in the Blue Tower at Copenhagen 1663-1685 by Ulfeldt, Leonora Christina
Half a dozen arquebuses and pistols decorated the mantel-piece, giving the room something of the air of an armoury.
From My Lady Rotha A Romance by Weyman, Stanley J.
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.
