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MUSKET
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("musket" is a kind of...):
muzzle loader (an obsolete firearm that was loaded through the muzzle)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "musket"):
blunderbuss (a short musket of wide bore with a flared muzzle)
culverin (a medieval musket)
fusil (a light flintlock musket)
matchlock (an early style of musket; a slow-burning wick would be lowered into a hole in the breech to ignite the charge)
Derivation:
musketeer (a foot soldier armed with a musket)
Context examples:
It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black mouth of Ben Gunn's cave and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Then, leaving Joyce to guard them—one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets—Hunter and I returned to the jolly-boat and loaded ourselves once more.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Dr. Livesey take the north side, if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to load muskets.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Pork, powder, and biscuit was the cargo, with only a musket and a cutlass apiece for the squire and me and Redruth and the captain.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
We put old Redruth in the gallery between the cabin and the forecastle, with three or four loaded muskets and a mattress for protection.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
'As for you, Benjamin Gunn,' says they, 'here's a musket,' they says, 'and a spade, and pick-axe. You can stay here and find Flint's money for yourself,' they says.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Not one of the men ashore had a musket, and before they could get within range for pistol shooting, we flattered ourselves we should be able to give a good account of a half-dozen at least.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's side awhile in consultation; and when they had talked to their hearts' content, it being then a little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols, girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket over his shoulder crossed the palisade on the north side and set off briskly through the trees.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
