noun
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an obsolete gunlock in which the charge is ignited by a spark produced by a flint in the hammer
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a firearm having such a lock
Etymology
Origin of flintlock
Vocabulary lists containing flintlock
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.
The spread of the flintlock was a watershed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
We were also dealing with old flintlock pistols, though.
From Salon • Aug. 4, 2024
The rules were geared more for semiautomatic pistols than flintlock weapons, but re-enactors who fear being arrested if they publicly re-stage battles from the colonial era to the Civil War are staying off the field.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 28, 2022
With a flintlock, one pulls the trigger, and a piece of steel hits the flint, which is just a very hard rock.
From Washington Times • Jan. 18, 2020
Give the men flintlock pistols and horses and they could have come straight out of a children’s book.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
