archery
(ˈɑːtʃərɪ)
[a. OF. archerie, f. archier.]
1. The practice or art of shooting with bow and arrow; skill as an archer. Also fig.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. 44 Myht nevyr man fynde My pere of archerye. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 309 Gud yomen for Archery. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 2 Sir Boy let me see your Archerie. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lxxii, Doomed to die..by Love's sad archery. 1859 J. Lang Wand. India 25 An Archery meeting or a pic-nic. |
2. collect. An archer's weapons; bows, arrows, etc.
| 1440 Promp. Parv., Archerye, Sagittaria, arcus. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth III. 77 [Their bows] as well as their arrows, were..far inferior to the archery of merry England. 1882 Pall Mall G. 3 July 8/2 An archery manufacturer. |
3. collect. A company or corps of archers.
| c 1465 Chevy Chase (Percy Fol.) 85 He rod uppon a corsiare Throughe a hondrith archery. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxii, Signal for England's archery To halt and bend their bows. |
† 4. A feudal service; (see quot.) Obs.
| 1691 Blount Law Dict., Archery was a Service of keeping a Bow for the Use of the Lord, to defend his Castle [per Serjeantiam Archeriæ, Coke On Litt. 107 a.] |