musket

[ muhs-kit ]

/ ˈmʌs kɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR musket ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a heavy, large-caliber smoothbore gun for infantry soldiers, introduced in the 16th century: the predecessor of the modern rifle.

the male sparrow hawk, Accipiter nisus.

Nearby words

muskeg, muskego, muskegon, muskegon heights, muskellunge, musket, musketeer, musketry, muskie, muskingum, muskmelon

Origin of musket

1580–90; < Middle French mousquet < Italian moschetto crossbow arrow, later musket, orig. kind of hawk, equivalent to mosch(a) fly (< Latin musca) + -etto -et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for musket

I told the sentry I had been ordered to relieve him, and he handed over his musket without a word.
In the Days of Washington|William Murray Graydon
As I pulled the trigger of my musket I tried to shout, but my throat was as dry as a furnace and I could only gasp.
For The Honor Of France|Thomas A. Janvier
Upon this a musket with small shot was fired at his legs, on which he scampered off to the huts.
Captain Cook|W.H.G. Kingston
Each Frenchman seized his musket and fled to a hole nearby, called "the redoubt."
Montreal 1535-1914 under the French Rgime|William Henry Atherton

He dropped his musket as if it had stung him, and then, doubling up as if he were a hare, set off from the face of the square.
With Wellington in Spain|F. S. Brereton

British Dictionary definitions for musket

musket

/ (ˈmʌskɪt) /

noun

a long-barrelled muzzle-loading shoulder gun used between the 16th and 18th centuries by infantry soldiers

Word Origin for musket

C16: from French mousquet, from Italian moschetto arrow, earlier: sparrow hawk, from moscha a fly, from Latin musca

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