▪ I. javelin, n.
(ˈdʒævəlɪn, ˈdʒævlɪn)
Also 6 iavelyn(e, -ynge, -inge, -en, Sc. ievilling, (geweling, iaivelin), 6–7 iaveling, -ine, 7 javlin.
[a. F. javeline (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.); from the radical javel-, found also in javelot.]
1. a. A light spear thrown with the hand with or without the help of a thong; a dart.
| 1513 [see javelin spear in 4]. 1530 Palsgr. 233/2 Iavelyn a speare, jauelot. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xix. 10 Saul..had a iauelynge in his hande... And Saul thought with the iauelinge to sticke Dauid fast to the wall. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 616 (Globe) With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 658 Others from the Wall defend With Dart and Jav'lin. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 227 When the hunters approach him [the lion], they either shoot or throw their javelins. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. i. 2 The arrow—either discharged from the bow or thrown as a javelin from the hand. |
b. Her. A charge consisting of a short spear with a barbed head.
| 1882 Cussans Handbk. Her. vii. (ed. 3) 122 When a plain Spear is intended, it must be blazoned as a Javelin. |
† c. As rendering of L.
jaculus, a serpent that darts on its prey;
cf. dart n. 4.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan ix, Fierce from afar a darting javelin shot, For such, the serpent's name has Afric taught. |
d. fig.| 1850 Mrs. Browning An Island v, Where the grey rocks strike Their javelins up the azure. 1856 Eliz. Warner Hills Shatemuc 242 The speaker was a well dressed and easy mannered man of the world, but with a very javelin of an eye. 1867 Whittier Tent on Beach 197 Piercing the waves along its track With the slant javelins of rain. |
† 2. a. A pointed weapon with a long shaft used for thrusting; a pike or half-pike; a lance.
Obs.| 1520 Rutland Papers (Camden) 43 And lx of his [the king's] gard on horsbacke, with javelyns. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 235 b, Every man havyng a iavelyn or slaughsword to keepe the people in aray. 1576 Extracts Aberdeen Reg. (1848) II. 27 Ane halberd, dence aiks, or geweling. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Javeline, a weapon of a size between the Pike and Partisan. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 422 And see thy javelin's point be bright, Thy falchion's temper true. |
b. One who bears a ‘javelin’;
= javelin-man 1.
| 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 338 There were the halls where the judges, robed in scarlet and escorted by javelins and trumpets, opened the king's commission twice a year. |
† 3. A fish:
app. the pilchard or anchovy (both caught in immense numbers at Venice, and preserved for exportation).
Obs. rare.
| 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 244 Javelings or Sea-darts are plentiful in the Venetian Gulf, and all the Adriatic Sea. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
javelin-bearer,
javelin-head,
javelin-spear;
javelin-darting,
javelin-proof adjs.;
javelin-bat, a South American vampire,
Phyllostoma hastatum;
javelin-fish, a species of hæmulonid fish (
Pomodasys hasta) (Funk);
javelin-snake, a snake-like lizard of the genus
Acontias = dart-snake (
dart n. 4, 8); also applied to various species of
Bothrops, an American genus of Crotalidæ or rattlesnakes;
javelin-throwing, the throwing of a javelin as an athletic field event; also
ellipt. as
javelin.
| 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iv. i. 212 It has been asserted that..the Vampire and the *Javelin Bat..could destroy a man by sucking his blood. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Iauelyn bearer, lancearius. |
| 1813 Byron Br. Abydos i. ix, Nor mark'd the *javelin-darting crowd. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Iauelyn head, sicilites. |
| 1866 Conington æneid ii. 664 Screened by a pent house *javelin-proof. |
| 1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 529/1 These bones are absent in the fourth subgenus, Acontias (*Javelin-Snake) of Cuvier. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §502 The Acontias, or Javelin Snake, of Southern Africa, is nearly allied to our Slow-worm. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. i. 257 The most formidable species is the Javelin Snake properly so called, or Yellow Viper of Martinique (Bothrops Lanceolatus). |
| 1513 Douglas æneis xii. iv. 14 The braid hed brangland on the *ievilling speyr. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 7 Apr. 3/1 Professors in a university to teach *javelin-throwing. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 3 May 10/2 Very pretty was the javelin-throwing, the long thin spear being launched high into the air. 1958 Times 20 Aug. 2/6 Mrs. Zatopkova..won the women's javelin with a new European record of 183 ft. 9½ in. 1964 J. J. Walsh Understanding Paraplegia xix. 128 Throwing and catching a medicine ball, javelin-throwing, and shot-putting, were all of use. 1974 Country Life 14 Feb. 292/1 The big breakthrough..came from young Charles Clover in the javelin as he threw 278 ft 71/4 in. |
▪ II. javelin, v. (
ˈdʒævəlɪn,
ˈdʒævlɪn)
[f. prec. n.] trans. To strike or pierce with or as with a javelin.
| 1859 Tennyson Vivien 934 Out of heaven a bolt..struck, Furrowing a giant oak, and javelining With darted spikes and splinters of the wood The dark earth round. 1898 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 502/2 The lightning began to javelin the pines about the cottage. |