snaphaunce

[snap-hans, -hahns]

noun

1. an early flintlock mechanism for igniting a charge of gunpowder in a gun.

Word History and Origins

Origin of snaphaunce¹

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; snap, cock ¹

Example Sentences

The great creature, sore stricken, charges this way and that; at length, bristling with fifty spears, spouting the red blood from her trunk, and struck by other bullets from the white man’s snaphaunce, she falls heavily to earth.

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As the grim monster charges down upon him, he steadily raises his snaphaunce and fires.

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It was like reintroducing the matchlock or the snaphaunce, but Ruger doted on the single-shot, and that was that.

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Cotgrave has arquebuse à fusil, "a snaphaunce," and explains fusil as "a fire-steele for a tinder-box."

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This is a genuine snaphaunce, not to be confused with the Spanish or Moorish Miguelet or outside-lock flintlock.

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