arbalest
Americannoun
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a powerful medieval crossbow with a steel bow, used to shoot stones, metal balls, arrows, etc.
noun
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a large medieval crossbow, usually cocked by mechanical means
Other Word Forms
- arbalester noun
- arbalister noun
Etymology
Origin of arbalest
before 1100; < Old French arbaleste < Old Provençal < Late Latin arcuballista ( arc, ballista ); replacing Middle English, late Old English arblast < Old French
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.
Holding the arbalest with one hand, Daoud vaulted into the saddle.
From The Saracen: Land of the Infidel by Shea, Robert
"By St. Denis, I fancy not those bolts," exclaimed De Lacy, as a quarrel from an arbalest glanced along his helmet near the eye hole.
From Beatrix of Clare by Underwood, Clarence F.
He then lay down beside him, with one hand on his arbalest, and drew the bear-skin over them, hair inward.
From The Cloister and the Hearth by Reade, Charles
"To my mind the long-bow is a better weapon than the arbalest, but it may be ill for me to prove it."
From The White Company by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
Though now I carry but an arbalest, the gun is my mistress, and my patron is the gunner’s saint, St. Barbara.
From A Monk of Fife by Lang, Andrew
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.