▪ I. arrow, n.
(ˈærəʊ)
Forms: 1 earh, 1–5 arwe, arewe, 3 earewe, harewe, 4 aro, aru, arw, arraw, aruwe, 4–6 arow(e, 6–7 arrowe, 6–9 arrow. pl. -s; 1 -an, 2–3 -en, 3–7 -es.
[OE. had two cognate forms, earh for arh:—OTeut. arhwo- neuter, and arwe for arhwe:—*arhwôn weak fem.; akin to ON. ör, örvar:—*arhwâ str. fem., and Goth. arhwazna from arhw (cf. hlaiwasna ‘grave,’ from hlaiw); prob. ‘the thing belonging to the bow,’ arhw being cognate with L. arqu-us, arc-us, bow. (Cf. OHG. fingiri:—*fingrio- the thing belonging to the finger, ring, f. fingar.) A rare word in OE. the ordinary terms being strǽl, and flá, flán, of which the former disappeared after 1200, the latter occurred in Scotch after 1500. But arrow was the ordinary prose word after 1000.]
I. A missile.
1. a. A slender pointed missile shot from a bow, usually feathered and barbed. Sometimes also applied to the bolts, or quarrels, with thickened heads, discharged from the cross-bow.
a 835 Egbert's Penit. Laws iv. §28 Gif hwylc man mid arwan deor ofsceóte. a 1000 Andreas (Gr.) 1333 Earh áttre ᵹemæl. 1083 O.E. Chron., On þære rode sticodon on mæ niᵹe arewan. 1205 Lay. 2476 On arwe him com to heorte. c 1230 Ancr. R. 98 (MS. C) Þach hit reine arewen, ich habe a nede erende. 1297 R. Glouc. 48 Myd arwen & myd quareles so muche folke..me slow. a 1300 Cursor M. 10036 Þe berbikans..wel tas kepe to þat castell, For aro [v.r. arw], scott, and for quarel. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 104 A shef of pocock arwes brighte and kene. c 1530 R. Hilles Commonpl. Bk. (1858) 140 (Proverb) Thys arrow comyth never owt of thyn ownne bow. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 3 A vollie of musket..goeth with more terrour..then doth your vollie of arrowes. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xx. 20, I will shoot three arrowes..as though I shot at a marke. 1782 Cowper Gilpin xxxix, Like an arrow swift he flew Shot by an archer strong. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. iii. 165 From an oak-bough made the arrows, Tipped with flint, and winged with feathers. |
b. fig.c 1230 Ancr. R. 60 Erest heo scheot þe earewen of þe liht eien. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 1147 The arwes of thy crabbed eloquence. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 335 Thou shalt smyte hym with the arowe of penaunce. 1596 Bp. Barlow Three Serm. ii. 59 By the Arrowes of Famine, he meaneth the Canker and Palmer wormes. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 58 The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 941 Love's arrows are but shot at rovers, Tho' all they hit they turn to lovers. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 144 ¶3 A mark to the arrows of lurking calumny. 1854 B. Taylor Hassan 291 Poems of Orient (1866) 101 Slain by the arrows of her beauteous eyes. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. iv. xii. 355 The arrow of conviction rankling in their conscience. |
c. With qualifications:
broad arrow: see III. below.
elf-arrow: see
arrow-head 1 b.
fire-arrow: one which carried some burning substance so as to set fire to thatch, sails, etc.
musket-arrow: one fired from a musket or other fire-arm.
1721 Bailey, Elf-arrows, Flint-stones sharpened and jagged like Arrow-heads, used in War by the ancient Britons. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Elf-arrows, a name given by the people of Scotland, to certain stone weapons which they find, and which had been in use before tools and weapons of iron were used there. 1692 in Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. xxxi. 137 To make Darts or Fire-Arrows. 1819 Pantologia s.v. Arrow, Fire-Arrows were first used in war by the Persians under Xerxes. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. xi. 254 He taketh his words to be musket arrowes..and his breath gunpowder. |
d. Darts slang. A dart (sense 1 d).
1946 Dart (Feltham) 16 Mar. 3/1 The team with the first throw has an advantage of three arrows. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 982/2 Arrow, in good, in good form: dart-players' s[lang]. 1976 Morecambe Guardian 7 Dec. 9/1 Best individual scores: B. Lilly (Royal) 180 in three arrows; B. Norris (Smugglers) 180 in three arrows. 1981 R. Lewis Seek for Justice iii. 94 Freddy's arrows kept hitting the wire. |
2. in
Surveying, Straight sticks shod with iron (originally real arrows), or iron pins, used to stick in the ground at the end of each chain.
[1571 Digges Pantom. F b, Whatsoeuer you mete the space G E withall, whether it be halberd, bill, arrow or staffe.] 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Surveying, He ought likewise to have ten arrows, or small strait sticks, near two feet long, shod with iron ferrils..The leader sticks one of the ten arrows in the ground at the far end of the chain. 1883 Mod. Price List, Arrows, made from No. 11 Steel Wire, the set of ten Arrows..2s. 6d. |
3. A representation or figure of the missile:
a. gen. Any arrow-shaped index, pin, or ornament.
Mod. The spire is surmounted by an arrow. She wore a silver arrow in her hair, etc. |
b. in
Cartography, A mark like an arrow, or arrow-head, used to point out the course or direction of a river, road, railway, etc.
1834 Penny Cycl. II. 156/1 The direction of the earth's motion represented by the arrow. 1882 Everett Deschanel's Nat. Phil. 6 If the directions of all three arrows are reversed, the forces will still be in equilibrium. |
4. Astr. A small constellation of the Northern Hemisphere,
Sagitta.
1727–51 in Chambers Cycl. 1868 Lockyer Heavens 328 The Fox, the Arrow, the Dolphin..contain no remarkable star. |
II. Things resembling an arrow.
† 5. fig. The penis.
Obs.1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxvi. 15 (see margin). So later vers. |
† 6. Geom. The
sagitta, or versed sine of an arc.
1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. 10 Sinus versus..is also called in Latine Sagitta; in English a Shaft or Arrow, for the Demonstrative figure thereof..is not unlike to the string of a bow ready bent, having a Shaft in the middest thereof. 1751 in Chambers Cycl. |
7. The leading shoot of a plant or tree.
† a. The main young shoot of a vine or other tree, or, that which in pruning is left to run up and form the main stem. (Perh. only
transl. L.
sagitta.)
Obs.1580 Baret Alv. A 568 Arrow, the longest twigge that is left in the vine when it is cut. 1745 tr. Columella iii. xvii, Rustics call the utmost or last part of the shoot the Arrow. |
b. The flowering stem of the sugar-cane.
1779 Phil. Trans. LXIX. 278 All canes have not arrows, and the coming out of an arrow depends on the season, and not on the age of the cane. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xix. (1859) 533 The cane-fields then in arrow. 1870 Kingsley in Gd. Words 1 June 382/1 More handsome still..when the ‘arrow,’ as the flower is called, spreads over the cane-piece a purple haze. |
8. in
Fortification (see
quot.).
1816 C. James Milit. Dict. (ed. 4) 247 Arrow is a work placed at the salient angle of the glacis, and consists of two parapets, each above 40 fathoms long; this work has a communication with the covert-way, of about 24 or 28 feet broad, called caponnière, with a ditch before it of about 5 or 6 fathom, and a traverse at the entrance, of 3 fathom thick, and a passage of 6 or 8 feet round it. [Cf. arrow-headed 1.] |
III. broad arrow.
9. lit. One having a
broad arrow-head (see
arrow-head), used for cleaving.
1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 116 (Wright) He bar a bowe in his hand, and manye brode arewes. 1440 Promp. Parv., Brood arowe (v.r. brodarwe), Catapulta. c 1490 Adam Bel 613 in Ritson Anc. P. Poetry 28, I myselfe with a brode arow Shall cleue the apple in two. 1530 Palsgr. 201/2 Broode arrowe, rallion. 1611 Cotgr., Rallion, an arrow with a forked or barbed head; a broad arrow. |
10. a. For
broad arrow-head: The arrow-head-shaped mark, used by the British Board of Ordnance, and placed upon government stores. In
Her. = pheon, which is properly a broad-arrow with the inner edge of the barbs indented.
1551 Grant of arms to John Cooke (20 Feb. 6 Edw. VI), Brode arrowes. 1687 Charter of James II to Tower of Lond., Upon all which Boundary houses, His Majesty's Mark, the Broad Arrow, by his late Majesty's special command, have been set up. 1698 Act 9 & 10 Will. III, xli, Or any other Stores [marked] with the Broad Arrow. 1823 Scott Quentin D. vi, The same rude resemblance..which certain talismanic scratches, well known to our revenue officers, bear to a broad arrow. 1839–44 Tupper Prov. Phil. (1862) 128 The broad arrow of the Great King, carved on all the stores of his Arsenal. 1865 Times 13 Feb., If the broad arrow be found on any stores in Confederate hands, it will be found that they were condemned and sold, or that the mark is forged. |
b. The figure of an arrow-head having the point upwards, with which the clothes of convicts were formerly marked. Also
allusively. Hence
broad-arrowed a., marked with this.
1859 ‘Oliné Keese’ (title) The Broad Arrow, being passages from the history of Maida Gwynnham, a lifer. 1886 P. Robinson Valley Teetotum Trees 50 The tiny double puncture which is the viper's broad-arrow of death. 1896 Daily News 29 July 7/4 Dr. Jameson..was..garbed in the prison shoes and broad-arrowed suit. 1901 Daily Chron. 17 June 5/6 His broad-arrow trousers. 1914 N. & Q. 11th Ser. IX. 482/2 The Prison Commissioners..wrote..that..the broad arrow..has been used in Convict Prisons and Hulks for more than 80 years, and was also used in Australia. 1934 J. A. Lee Childr. of Poor i. 21, I can..see that shuffling parade of men in broad-arrowed moleskins. |
IV. 11. caustic arrow (
Surg.): see
quot. 1890.
1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 384 A tumour around the anus was removed by the insertion of caustic arrows. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., Caustic arrows,..small, pointed cylinders or cones made of chloride-of-zinc paste or other caustics, intended for introduction into the substance of morbid growths. |
V. Combinations.
1. General relations:
a. objective, as
arrow-bearing,
arrow-maker,
arrow-straightener;
b. instrumental, as
arrow-smitten;
c. parasynthetic, as
arrow-leaved,
arrow-pointed,
arrow-shaped;
d. attributive, as
arrow-flight,
arrow-line,
arrow-point,
arrow-range,
arrow-wound.
1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. lii, Woggarwolfe's arrow-bearing page. |
1808 ― Marm. vi. xxvi, Fell England's arrow-flight like rain. |
1812 Withering Bot. Arrangement (ed. 5) III. 972 Arrow-leaved Splachnum. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 397 The Arrow-leaved Polygonum. |
1902 Belloc Path to Rome 246 My undeviating arrow-line to Rome. 1952 J. Fisher Fulmar vii. 148 Fulmars were seen..prospecting by a direct arrow-line. |
1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. i. §4 (1689) 4 Let the Arrow-maker divide this with a Saw. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Arrow-makers are called fletchers. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. x. 83 At the doorway of his wigwam Sat the ancient arrow-maker. |
1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 425 One of those flint arrow-points. |
1766 Complete Farmer s.v. spinage, The prickly spinage with arrow-pointed leaves. 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf i. vi. 75 Arrow-pointed specks of birds in flight. |
1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxi. (1879) 262 Out of arrow-range! Slip the dogs, Syphax! |
1765 J. Lee Introd. Bot. (ed. 2) 473 Sagittatum folium, an Arrow-shaped Leaf. |
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Arrow-straightener. 1919 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. x. 59/1 Certain of their implements are said to be ‘arrow-straighteners’ by distinguished authorities. 1935 Discovery July 207/2 Eskimo carvings in ivory—human figures,..arrow-straighteners, toggles, [etc.]. |
1870 Bryant Homer I. viii. 262 An arrow-wound or gash of spear, Given as he leaps on board. |
2. Special combinations:
arrow-case, a quiver, also
fig.;
arrow-finger, the fore-finger;
† arrow-girdle, a girdle in which arrows were carried;
arrow-leaf U.S.,
= arrow-head 4;
arrowless a., without arrows;
arrow-like a. and adv., like an arrow;
arrow-loop,
arrow-slit, a narrow loop-hole or slit for shooting through;
arrow-plant (see
quot.);
arrow-proof a., proof against arrows;
arrow-shot, the shooting of an arrow; also, the distance to which an arrow is shot, a bow-shot;
arrow-smith, a maker of iron arrow-heads;
arrow-snake, or
javelin-snake, a species of snake (
Acontias jaculus) so called from the spring with which it darts forward;
arrow-stitch, the triangular set of stitches with which the ends of whalebone in stays are sometimes secured;
arrow-stone (
obs. or
dial.), a belemnite;
arrow-weed, (
a)
= arrow-head 4; (
b) a western American composite shrub,
Pluchea sericea;
arrow-wise adv., after the manner of an arrow;
arrow-worm, any worm of the class Chætognatha of small transparent marine worms.
1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxvi. 15 And schal opene the *arowe caas aȝens eche arowe. 1513 Douglas æneis i. viii. 13 On hir schuldir the arrow caice bare sche. 1578 Lanc. Wills (1857) II. 60 An arrowe case of strawe with locke and kay. |
1875 Maine Hist. Inst. ix. 256 You must call the forefinger the ‘*arrow’-finger. |
1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxvii. 11 Pigmeis..hangiden her *arew girdlis [1388 arowe casis] in thi wallis. |
1880 Harper's Mag. June 70 The frog pond with lush growth of *arrow leaves and pickerel weed. 1931 Clute Common Names Plants 22 The starchy tubers of the arrow-leaf (Sagittaria latifolia). |
1881 G. Stables in Boy's Own P. 8 Oct. 22 Plunging *arrow⁓like into the watery ravines. |
1840 Browning Sordello v. 429 She..thrid somehow, by some glimpse of *arrow-loop, The turnings to the galleries below. |
1779 T. Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 156 On cutting an *arrow-plant (a species of pine), I found fresh water drop from it. |
1831 Tatler 1 Nov. 417/2 Our author and his party..were obliged to provide themselves with arms and with *arrow-proof dresses. 1906 Daily Chron. 13 Nov. 6/4 The horsemen..upon horses dressed in thick arrow-proof coats. |
1513 Douglas æneis xi. xii. 27 Wythin ane *arrow schot on athir syde. 1653 Holcroft Procopius iii. 79 Attending the cure of his Wound without Arrow-shot. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. Introd. 1 Tyrrell's arrow-shot. |
1851 Melville Moby Dick III. xvi. 117 From their *arrow-slit in the skull, the priests perceived me. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 92 The lower storey lighted only by an arrow-slit. 1878 Smiles Robt. Dick iv. 31 Perforated here and there with arrow-slits. |
c 1400 Destr. Troy v. 1588 Armurers and *Arowsmythis. 1618 Pulton Coll. Stat. 7 Hen. IV, vii, Because the arrow smithes doe make many faultie heads for arrowes and quarrels. |
1611 Bible Gen. xlix. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder [marg. *arrowsnake] in the path. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 88/2 The Hebrew denomination Kippoz [Isa. xxxiv. 15]..which the learned Bochart..has shown to refer more properly to the acontias or anguis jaculus, the arrow or dart-snake of the Greeks and Romans. |
1846 J. W. Abert in W. H. Emory Notes Mil. Reconn. 434 Some brackish pools..bordered with the..*arrow weed (sagittaria sagittifolia). 1876 Field & Forest II. 55 These Mexican jumping seeds,..are derived from a plant called arrow weed, or Yerba de flecha, and Colliguaja by the Mexicans. |
1889 Cent. Dict., *Arrow-worm. 1952 J. Fisher Fulmar xviii. 428 The arrow-worm Sagitta..was found..in fulmars in Spitsbergen. |
▪ II. arrow, v. rare.
(
ˈærəʊ)
[f. prec. n.] 1. intr. To shoot arrows.
1865 Sir J. K. James Tasso II. xx. lxv, While she arrowed. |
2. To shoot into blossom (said of the sugar-cane).
18.. Simmonds Colon. Mag. (in Hoppe), The West-Indian planter must prevent his sugar-cane from arrowing. |
† 3. trans. To pierce, wound (? confused with
harrow).
Obs.1627 Feltham Resolves i. ii. (1647) 6 By a noble not-caring, arrow the intenders bosome, who will ever fret most, when he finds his designes most frustrate. |
4. intr. To move swiftly through space, like an arrow in its flight; to dart. Also
to arrow one's way.
1827 Blackw. Mag. XXII. 446 About an hour ago did we..see that identical salmon..arrowing up the Tay. 1866 G. J. Whyte-Melville Cerise xliv, Streams..where the otter lurked and vanished, where the noble salmon himself came arrowing up triumphant from the sea. 1905 W. Holman Hunt Pre-Raphaelitism I. 71 Here the kingfisher arrowed his way. 1927 Chambers's Jrnl. 4/1 She [sc. a filly] arrowed over her hurdles like the ‘class’ young lady that she was. 1936 R. Lehmann Weather (1951) i. v. 72 A figure..came arrowing down the last flight in one straight skim. |
5. trans. To send forth like an arrow.
poet.1892 Tennyson Death Œnone [etc.] 39 Shadow-maker, shadow-slayer, arrowing light from clime to clime. |
▪ III. arrow vulgar corruption of
e'er a,
ever a.1749 Fielding Tom Jones v. viii. (D.), ‘I don't believe there is arrow a servant in the house.’ 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 126 (D.), ‘I now carries my head higher than arrow private gentlewoman of Vales.’ |
▪ IV. arrow north. form of
argh a.
Obs. cowardly.