Definition

1. Noun:
   • An obsolete firearm with a long barrel: An early type of portable gun, supported on a tripod or a forked rest, used from the 15th to the 17th centuries. It was a precursor to the musket.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The museum displayed a 16th-century arquebus alongside other early firearms.
  • Soldiers armed with arquebuses formed the front line of the infantry.
  • Loading an arquebus was a slow and meticulous process.

Advanced Usage

• Historical Context: The term is primarily used in historical, military, or museum contexts to describe early gunpowder weaponry.
  • The effectiveness of the Spanish tercio was partly due to its integrated use of pikes and arquebuses.

Variants and Related Words

• Harquebus: An alternative spelling of "arquebus."
• Arquebusier (noun): A soldier armed with an arquebus.
  • The arquebusiers took up their positions behind the earthworks.

Synonyms

• Matchlock: A type of firearm ignition mechanism, often used synonymously with early arquebuses, though technically a specific mechanism.
• Culverin: A term for an early cannon or firearm; can sometimes refer to a heavier type of early gun.
• Musket: A later, more developed type of long-barreled firearm that succeeded the arquebus.

Related Phrases

• To discharge an arquebus: To fire an arquebus.
  • The order was given to discharge their arquebuses.

Noun

1. an obsolete firearm with a long barrel