buck-shot
(ˈbʌkʃɒt)
[f. buck n.1 + shot.]
† 1. ? The distance at which a buck may be shot. Obs. rare.
| 1447–8 J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 87 The said Cathedrall Churche stant a buc shote fro and more. |
2. A coarse kind of shot, larger than swan-shot, used in shooting deer or other large game. Also attrib., as in buckshot-cartridge; buckshot-cinder (see quot.); buckshot-rule, a political nickname for government (of Ireland) upheld by a constabulary with loaded rifles, which arose during the Chief-Secretaryship of Mr. W. E. Forster, and was especially associated with his name, though the order that the constabulary should load with buck-shot, instead of ball as formerly, was made under his predecessor Mr. J. Lowther.
| 1776 O. Schuyler in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 252 Should the enemy advance..we shall be at a loss for ball and buckshot. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. iii. iv. 740 A piece about the size of a buckshot is the ordinary dose. 1881 Parnell in Daily News 3 Oct. 6/3 Enemies to buckshot rule. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Buckshot-cinder, cinder from the iron blast-furnace, containing grains of iron. 1885 Suakim iv. 88 To be used at night pending the arrival of buckshot cartridges from England. |