A GLOSSARY
of the Terms and Phrases used in archery
of the Terms and Phrases used in archery
A.
| Arrow sheaf, | an implement used in military archery; being a ease furnished with twenty-four arrows. |
| Arrowsmith, | a maker of arrows; more commonly called fletcher. |
| Ascham, | a sort of cupboard, or case to contain bows, and sometimes arrows, and other implements of archery. |
B. | |
| Back of a bow, | the exterior or flat side. |
| Belly of a bow, | the interior rounded side. |
| Belt, | see page 139. |
| Bend, | the space between the bent bow and its string. Bow-arm, the arm employed in holding the bow. |
| Bow, backed, | a bow, the back of which is a distinct piece glued upon the body. |
| Bow, self, | a bow made of one entire piece of wood. |
| Bow-shot, | the distance an arrow flies from the bow. |
| Brace, | to bend a bow. |
| Bracer, | see page 136. |
| Butt, | a mound of earth whereon to place a mark. |
| Butt-shooting, | shooting at butts. |
C. | |
| Cast, to, | to become warped. |
| Cast, | as a substantive, denotes the power of elasticity, or spring of a bow; as one of slow or quick cast. |
| Chrysal, or crysal, | a kind of pinch in a bow (in appearance like the canker of a worm.) |
| Clout, | a small target placed near the ground |
| Clout-shooting, | shooting at clouts |
| Cock feather, | that feather of the arrow which is uppermost, and of the darkest colour. |
| Come round, or "come round compass." | A bow is said to "come round," or "come round compass," when it forms a proper curve or circle in drawing. a bow is said to come, when it sinks or bends too much in any part. |
| Compass, to keep, | to observe a due elevation. |
| Compass, to shoot, or, to shoot a round compass, | is to shoot the arrow in a curved or parabolic line. |
| Cut the mark, | an arrow cuts the mark when it flies straight towards it, but falls under it. |
D. | |
| Dead shaft, | a heavy dull arrow. |
| Drawing the string, | the act which immediately precedes loosing. |
| Drawing through the bow, | signifies drawing so far that the point or the arrow comes within the belly of the bow. |
| Drawing arm, | hand, fingers, those employed respectively in drawing the bow. |
| Drawing feather, | slipping it from the quill. |
E. | |
| Elevation, | the act of raising the bow to the mark. |
| End, | the position of the mark. |
| Eye of the string, | generally that part only which occupies the upper horn of the bows |
F. | |
| Fast, | the word anciently used to stop a person when proceeding between the archer and his mark. |
| Fletcher, | an arrow maker. |
| Flight-shooting, | shooting with the lightest kinds of arrows, (called, flights,) and at the greatest distances. |
| Following the string, | a bow is said to follow the string, when, by use, it has lost somewhat of its original straightness, and obtained a curve or inclination forwards. |
| Footing, | the position of the feet in shooting. |
| Fret, | that part of the wood which is eaten or corroded; also that rising or protuberance occasioned in weak bows by a strain in bending. |
G. | |
| Gall, | (see knot-gall.) |
| Game, in, | that is, in good shooting cue. |
| Gone, | an arrow is said to be gone, when, from its flight, it may be judged lo fall wide of the mark. |
| Grease-pot, | see page 139. |
H. | |
| Handle of the bow, | that part which is holden in shooting, and which is covered with a sort of shag. |
| High-feathered, | having the feathers in arrows left long and deep. |
| Hit, | a stroke on the target or mark. |
| Holding, | the act of holding the string when the bow is drawn up); sometimes also applied to the bow. |
| Home, at, | when an arrow hits the mark. |
| Home, drawn, | when an arrow is drawn as far as it ought to be, see Page 154. |
| Horns of the bow, | the extremities, which are tipped with horn. |
I. | |
| lnches, | or distance allowed round the butt-mark, withinwhich an arrow must fall in order to count. |
K. | |
| Keeping a length, | Shooting the exact distance. |
| Knot-gall, | a tumour or hurt in trees, occasioned, as is thought, by its boughs, or those of another tree, rubbing against the part |
L. | |
| Length, | the distance to be shot. |
| Limb of the bow, | that part which extends from either side of the handle to the horns |
| Loose, Loosing, | see page 156. |
| Low feathered, | when the feathers of an arrow are cut short and shallow |
M. | |
| Mark, | any object shot at |
| Mark, | a roving, a mark shot at in roving. |
| Marker, | a person who marks the fall of the arrow in the butt or target. |
N. | |
| Nock, | an ancient word still used by archers for notch; nocks, therefore, are the notches in the horns of bows and arrows. |
| Nock, to, | to place the nock of the arrow on the string, or the string in the nock of the arrow. |
| Noose, | that end of the string which is fastened in a noose at the lower horn. |
O. | |
| Over-arrow, | an arrow which flies over the mark. |
| Over-bowed, | when an archer's bow is beyond his power. |
| Over-hand, | shooting over-hand, is to look at the mark over the bow-hand. |
P. | |
| Pair, a, of arrows, | in archery, signifies three arrows. [1] |
| Petticoat, or spoon, | the ground of the target beyond the outer white; usually painted green. |
| Piecing of an arrow, | the spliced wood at the pile end of the shaft. |
| Pile, | the head of an arrow; usually made of steel or iron. |
| Pinch, | a small fret. |
| Pin, | a peg used to fasten the butt with. |
| Pins, | small knots in wood, which as they sometimes run very deep into, and even quite through the wood, may not unfrequently be driven out. |
| Point blank shot, | an horizontal shot. |
| Popinjay, | a wooden bird, used as a mark. |
| Prick-mark, | the white mark shot at. |
| Prick-shooting, | shooting at prick-marks. |
| Pricker, | a sort of needle with which the target-card is pricked or marked. |
Q. | |
| Quiver, | a case in which arrows are carried or deposited. |
R. | |
| Rood, | in archery, 7.5 yards. |
| Round Compass, | (see Compass.) |
| Rovers, | casual marks, or those aimed at at uncertain distances. |
| Roving, | shooting at rovers. |
S. | |
| Score, | twenty yards. |
| Self-bow, | (see Bow. ) |
| Set the shaft in the bow, | to pull the shaft so far, that the point of the arrow touches the belly of the bow. |
| Shaft, | an arrow wanting the head only. |
| Shaft-arm, hand, | those used in drawing the arrow. |
| Shaftment, | that part or the arrow on which the feathers are placed. |
| Shake, | a longitudinal crack or rent in wood; often caused by the wind or weather, or by the bow, or wood, being kept too dry or hot. |
| Sheaf, | of arrow arrows. a quiver, or case, containing twenty-four |
| Shoot, | as a substantive, an arrow-shot. |
| Short-arrow, | one which fails short of the mark. |
| Shoulder of the pile | |
| of an arrow, | the rising part near its point. |
| Sinking a bow, | reducing its force or stiffness by shooting heavy arrows with it. |
| Snake, | an arrow is said to snake, when it works itself under the grass. |
| Spell, | a rising of the ends of the grain in the wood of a bow. |
| Spoon, | (see Petticoat.) |
| Spring of a bow , | its elastic quality. |
| Stand in the bow, | an arrow stands in the bow, if it be placed so as to fly from it steadily. |
| Stele, | an arrow without feather or head |
| Stopping, | the extreme point, or solid bead or the pile of an arrow. |
T. | |
| Tab, | a piece of flat leather lying in the inside of the band, and used instead of the fingers of the shooting-glove. |
| Target, | a mark to shoot at, consisting of diverse-coloured circles. |
| Target-card, | a card coloured in the same manner as the target, containing the names of the shooters, and used for scoring their respective hits. |
| Tassel, | (see page 139.) |
| Tiller, | an instrument used by bowyers in altering a bow, having a large notch at the top of it to hold the handle of the bow, and small notches cut horizontally down its surface at given distances, in which the string is fixed, by drawing down wards, for the purpose of trying the bow previously to scraping it. |
| Tillering, | trying the bend of the bow by the tiller; or altering it by scraping. |
U. | |
| Under bowed, | when an archer uses a bow that is too weak for him to shoot well with. |
| Under-hand shooting, | an archer shoots under-hand, when he looks at his mark under his bow-hand. |
W. | |
| Weight of a bow, | the weight, or power, which a bow requires to draw it properly up. |
| Weight of an arrow, | its bulk ascertained by weighing it. |
| Wen, | an excrescence in the wood of a bow. |
| Wide arrow, | one which falls wide of the mark. |
| Wind, down, | when the wind blows from the shooter directly down to the mark. |
| Wind, up, | when it blows from the mark to the shooter. |
| Wind, side, | when it blows across the line of the mark. |
THE END
J. And C. Adlard, printers
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