Life-arrow
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech noun
Quick meaning: Life-arrow is a noun meaning (historical) A stick with a line attached that was fired from a musket to a ship that had foundered.
Meaning
(historical) A stick with a line attached that was fired from a musket to a ship that had foundered.
Example Sentences
Colonel Delvigne, of the French army, invented a life-arrow, to be fired from an ordinary musket.
Numerous life-arrows, kites and similar devices have been invented to carry lines to wrecked vessels, but none has proved superior to the Lyle gun.
There was a contrivance for rendering the rope visible to the crew, and another to assist those on shore to descry the exact position of the ship in distress. The life-arrow, a cue-shaped stick of mahogany, with the thinner end projecting beyond the end of the barrel, is fired from an ordinary musket, and can carry 80 yards with a mackerel line attached.
Word Forms
- life-arrows
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include arrowhead, arrowpoint, arrow, arrow-hole, prickshaft, pile.
Related Dictionary Tools
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.