linstock Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈlɪnstɒk)
Also 6 linestoke, lyn(t)stock, (limstock), 6–7 lint stocke, 6–8 lin(t)stock, 9 lent-stock.
[In 16th c. lint-, linestocke, ad. (with assimilation to lint and line n.1) Du. lontstok, f. lont match (see lunt n.) + stok stick.]
A staff about three feet long, having a pointed foot to stick in the deck or ground, and a forked head to hold a lighted match.
| 1575 Churchyard Chippes 95 b, He..in his hand, a smoking lyntstock broght And so gaue fier. 1592 Stow Ann. (an. 1563) 1116 A linestoke fell into a barrel of powlder, and set it on fire together with the vessell. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. i, Their master gunner..confronts me with his linstock, readie to giue fire. 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1684/1 Then thirty Gunners with their Linstocks..followed by thirty Negroes..with their Brown-bills. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Lintstock. 1804 Naval Chron. XII. 63, 1 lent-stock; 12 handspikes. 1808 Scott Marm. i. ix, The gunner held his linstock yare. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Hamilton Tighe, The linstock glows in his bony hand. |
| fig. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 19 The match of furie is lighted, fastned to the linstock of rage. |