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In the early era of firearms, cannons of lesser size such as the falconet were sometimes named for birds of prey. Following this pattern, Italians applied moschetto or moschetta, meaning "sparrow hawk," to a small-caliber piece of ordnance in the 16th century. Spaniards borrowed this word as mosquete, and the French as mosquet, but both applied it to a heavy shoulder firearm rather than a cannon; English musket was borrowed soon thereafter from French. The word musket was retained after the original matchlock firing mechanism was replaced by a wheel lock, and retained still after the wheel lock was replaced by the flintlock. As the practice of rifling firearms—incising the barrel with spiral grooves to improve the bullet's accuracy—became more common, the term musket gradually gave way to the newer word rifle in the 18th century.
Examples of musket in a Sentence
Rob Wieland, Forbes, 13 Sep. 2024
The town's population grew in the 1820s as a result of the lead mining boom, where the mine became one of the most productive in the region, manufacturing the musket balls used in the Civil War, according to the city's website.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 3 Sep. 2024
This image provided by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, shows a lead musket ball that was excavated in the summer of 2023 by archaeologists.
—CBS News, 17 May 2024
Also, even though the 16th Amendment – which ushered in the federal income tax – didn’t pass until 1909, Mr. Jacobs happily deducted the cost of his musket and other accoutrements as business expenses.
—Roy Rivenburg, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Aug. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Musket.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/musket. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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musket
noun
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