arquebus

American  

[ahr-kwuh-buhs] / ˈɑr kwə bəs /

Also harquebus,

noun

plural

arquebuses

1. any of several small-caliber long guns operated by a matchlock or wheel-lock mechanism, dating from about 1400.

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arquebus British  

/ ˈɑːkwɪbəs /

noun

1. Also called: hackbut.   hagbut.  a portable long-barrelled gun dating from the 15th century: fired by a wheel-lock or matchlock

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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

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

It had been the golden age of the arquebus and the viol, of sculptors and musicians, of poets and humanists, of fratricidal conflicts and of love-songs, of mignons and martyrs.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 7 "Fox, George" to "France" by Various

You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks.

From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Coster, Charles de

The Franc-Taupin polished the barrel of an arquebus just taken, tarnished and defaced, from the forge.

From The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer A Tale of the Sixteenth Century by Sue, Eug?ne