MATCHLOCK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Matchlock

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/mˈætʃlˌɑk/ Listen

Matchlock

noun

An early style of musket; a slow-burning wick would be lowered into a hole in the breech to ignite the charge.

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Etymology of 'Matchlock'

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"Matchlock" Quotes from Famous Books

... or back-rider, is common in Arabia, esp. on dromedaries when going to the Razzia: usually the crupper-man loads the matchlock and his comrade ...

— Supplemental Nights, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton

... the Hisma, finding inside only Tibn ("tribulated straw") and charcoal. Another had seen a Kidr Dahab ("golden pot"), in the 'Aligan section of the Wady el-Hakl (Hagul) where it leaves the Hisma; and a matchlock-man had brought down with his bullet a bit of precious metal from the upper part. This report prevails in many places: it may have come all the way from "Pharaoh's Treasury" at Petra, or from the Sinaitic Wady Leja. At the mouth of the latter is the Hajar el-Kidr ...

— The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 • Richard Burton

... they could guess at my intention, I applied a violent blow with the muzzle of my rifle to the stomach of the man nearest to me. He collapsed, while I administered another blow to the right temple of another man who held his matchlock between his legs, and was on the point of striking his flint and steel to set the tinder on fire. He, too, staggered ...

— In the Forbidden Land • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... treasures into eternal hiding. A Spanish sword was like to have cleft my skull, but before I lost my senses I noted Captain Bovill tearing the chart in shreds and using them to hold down the last charges for his matchlock. He was crying, too, in English that some day we would return the road ...

— The Path of the King • John Buchan

... the old fortress. Many a time he had climbed up the bare wall of the banqueting-hall to where a breach revealed a secret staircase built between the walls, and followed the staircase to a long straight passage, and down another staircase, in the hope of finding matchlock pistols. Many a time he had wandered in the dungeons, and listened to ...

— The Lake • George Moore

Words linked to "Matchlock" : musket