Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Firelock   Listen
noun
Firelock  n.  An old form of gunlock, as the flintlock, which ignites the priming by a spark; perhaps originally, a matchlock. Hence, a gun having such a lock.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Firelock" Quotes from Famous Books



... collars, warm wraps and coats, all suggesting abundant means of robbing winter of its rigor. On hooks above the sliding-doors are suspended a modern rifle and a double-barrelled shot-gun, and above these is a firelock musket that did good ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... for his gun, but in place of the clean, well-oiled fowling-piece, he found an old firelock lying by him, the barrel incrusted with rust, the lock falling off, and the stock worm-eaten. He now suspected that the grave roisterers of the mountain had put a trick upon him, and, having dosed him with liquor, had ...
— Short Stories Old and New • Selected and Edited by C. Alphonso Smith

... grasp, and he was dead. Adair with a sigh, for the marine had been his servant, let go his hand and sprang on. In vain the British and their allies fired away at every loophole and embrasure where a man's head or firelock was to be seen. The enemy rattled away as rapidly as ever, and no impression seemed to be made on the walls, while numbers of the storming-party were falling one after the other around. Now a poor fellow would spring up into the air shot through the head, and now would fall down with a groan, and ...
— The Three Midshipmen • W.H.G. Kingston

... they met only friendly glances. This heart then embraced the whole world, and beat so quickly and joyously! I often did not know what to do with myself from sheer mirth and vivacity, and it seemed as if I must burst into a thousand pieces like an over-loaded firelock, only instead of scattering far and wide, mount straight up to Heaven. Those days were so happy, and yet so sad—I felt it ten times as much in Delft, when you were kind to me. And now, now? I still have wings, I still might fly, but here I creep ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... smooth bore, rifled cannon, Armstrong gun^, Lancaster gun, Paixhan gun, Whitworth gun, Parrott gun, Krupp gun, Gatling gun, Maxim gun, machine gun; pompom^; ten pounder. small arms; musket, musketry, firelock^, fowling piece [Fr.], rifle, fusil^, caliver^, carbine, blunderbuss, musketoon^, Brown Bess, matchlock, harquebuss^, arquebus, haguebut^; pistol, postolet^; petronel; small bore; breach-loader, muzzle-loader; revolver, repeater; Minis rifle, Enfield rifle, Flobert ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... was uttering these words, a whiz in a whin-bush near to where we were standing, and the sound of a gun, startled us, and on looking round we saw five men, and one of the black-cuffs with his firelock still at his shoulder, looking towards us from behind a dyke that ran along the bottom of the brae. There was no time for consultation. We fled, cowering behind the whin-bushes till we got round a turn in the hill, which, ...
— Ringan Gilhaize - or The Covenanters • John Galt

... corpulent with good feeding. He has changed his name in traveling. Boblincoln no more, he is the reedbird now, the much-sought-for tidbit of Pennsylvanian epicures, the rival in unlucky fame of the ortolan! Wherever he goes, pop! pop! pop! every rusty firelock in the country is blazing away. He sees his companions falling by thousands around him. Does he take warning and reform? Alas! not he. Again he wings his flight. The rice swamps of the south invite him. He gorges ...
— McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... given a hint that I was also addicted to the angle. Of course there is no comparison between the two pursuits, the rod and line seeming but very poor trumpery to one who has had the honour of carrying a noble firelock. There is a time, however, for all things; and we return to any favourite amusement with the greater zest, from being compelled to relinquish it for a season. So, if I shot birds in winter with my firelock, I caught fish in summer, or attempted so to do, with my angle. I was not quite so successful, ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... and the men executed with agility and precision some of the ordinary military movements. They then practised individually at a mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the management of the pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, sitting, leaning, or lying prostrate, as they were commanded, and always with effect upon the target. Next, they paired off for the broadsword exercise; and, having manifested ...
— Waverley • Sir Walter Scott

... with frequent firing; that they saw each other at the same instant, and that the Indian said to the white man, in his broken English, "Me kill you quick!" at the same time hastily loading his piece; to which Chamberlain coolly replied, "Maybe not." His firelock had a large touch-hole, so that the powder could be shaken out into the pan, and the gun made to prime itself. Thus he was ready for action an instant sooner than his enemy, whom he shot dead just as Paugus pulled trigger, and sent a bullet ...
— A Half Century of Conflict - Volume I - France and England in North America • Francis Parkman



Words linked to "Firelock" :   muzzle loader, flintlock



Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org