arblast
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old French arbaleste (modern French arbalète), from Late Latin arcuballista, from Latin arcus (“bow”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
arblast (plural arblasts)
- (historical) A wooden crossbow with a special drawing mechanism, used to fire bolts, stones, etc.
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XIV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 281:
- “ […] Here be two arblasts, comrade, with windlaces and quarrells—to the barbican with you, and see you drive each bolt through a Saxon brain.”