snaphaunce
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of snaphaunce
First recorded in 1580–90; from Dutch snaphaan (or German Schnapphahn ) originally, “highwayman,” equivalent to snap(pen) “to snatch” + haan “rooster” ( Dutch haan, German Hahn, parallel to English cock meaning both “rooster” and “hammer of a firearm”); source of the final s sound unclear; see snap, cock 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.
It was like reintroducing the matchlock or the snaphaunce, but Ruger doted on the single-shot, and that was that.
From Time Magazine Archive
He took the list Pierre Jarrett and Stephen Gresham had compiled out of his pocket and began reading: "Italian wheel lock pistol, late sixteenth- or early seventeenth-century; pair Italian snaphaunce pistols, by Lazarino Cominazo...."
From Murder in the Gunroom by H. Beam Piper
Trehearne broke in to ask how many English dog-locks there were, and if the snaphaunce Highlander and the big all-steel wheel lock were still there.
From Murder in the Gunroom by H. Beam Piper
By 1625, however, the picture had changed, for the wheel-lock, snaphaunce, and “doglock,” were being used in large numbers, and the matchlock had become obsolete.
From New Discoveries at Jamestown Site of the First Successful English Settlement in America by John L. Cotter
This is a genuine snaphaunce, not to be confused with the Spanish or Moorish Miguelet or outside-lock flintlock.
From A Catalogue of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons at "Restless Oaks" by Henry W. Shoemaker
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.
