birdbolt

English

Etymology

bird +‎ bolt

Noun

birdbolt (plural birdbolts)

  1. A short blunt arrow for killing birds without piercing them.
  2. (figuratively) Anything that smites without penetrating.
    • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 1, scene 5, lines 86–88:
      To be generous, / guiltless and of free disposition, is to take those / things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets:
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