trebuchet

[ treb-yoo-shet, treb-yoo-shet ]

/ ˈtrɛb yʊˌʃɛt, ˌtrɛb yʊˈʃɛt /

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noun

a medieval engine of war with a sling for hurling missiles.

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Also tre·buck·et

[tree-buhk-it, treb-yoo-ket]. /ˈtriˌbʌk ɪt, ˌtrɛb yʊˈkɛt/.

Origin of trebuchet

1300–50; Middle English <Middle French, equivalent to trebuch(er) to overturn, fall (tre(s) across, over (<Latin trāns-trans-) + buc trunk of body <Germanic; compare Old English būc belly) + -et-et

Words nearby trebuchet

treble, treble chance, treble clef, treble staff, Treblinka, trebuchet, trecento, tre corde, tredecillion, tree, tree-and-branch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use trebuchet in a sentence

Trebuchet, treb′ū-shet, n. a military engine like the ballista.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various
To these engines the besieged opposed the first trebuchet, and another mounted in the barbican.
Annals of a Fortress|E. Viollet-le-Duc
Such was the principle of the "trebuchet," the enormous engines which carried devastation and destruction to medieval castles.
British Castles|Charles H. Ashdown
Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 (of 7) -- Notes to the Canterbury Tales|Geoffrey Chaucer

The medival trebuchet was a sling wielded by a gigantic arm of wood.
Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages|Edward Lewes Cutts

British Dictionary definitions for trebuchet

trebuchet

trebucket (ˈtriːbʌkɪt)

/ (ˈtrɛbjʊˌʃɛt) /

noun

a large medieval siege engine for hurling missiles consisting of a sling on a pivoted wooden arm set in motion by the fall of a weight

Word Origin for trebuchet

C13: from Old French, from trebuchier to stumble, from tre- trans- + -buchier, from buc trunk of the body, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German būh belly, Old English buc

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

trebuchet

Origin of trebuchet

Words nearby trebuchet

Words related to trebuchet

How to use trebuchet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for trebuchet

trebucket (ˈtriːbʌkɪt)

Word Origin for trebuchet