n. A heavy portable matchlock gun invented during the 1400s. Also called hackbut. [Obsolete French harquebuse, from Old French, alteration of Middle Dutch hakebus : hake, hook; see keg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + busse, gun (from Late Latin buxis, box; see BOX1).] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.