firelock

From fire +‎ lock.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪəlɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪ(ə)ɹˌlɑk/
• Hyphenation: fire‧lock

firelock (plural firelocks)

1. (historical) A form of gunlock, in which the priming is ignited by a spark. [from 16th c.]
2. (by extension, historical) A firearm using such a gunlock. [from 17th c.]
   • 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, pages 76–77:

     He looked round for his gun, but in place of the clean well-oiled fowing-piece, he found an old firelock lying by him, the barrel encrusted with rust, the lock falling off, and the stock worm-eaten.

   • 1824, Town and Country Tales, page 115:

     Alfred, surprised to meet his father, whom he thought absent from home, […] stood, holding his firelock in one hand, and his hat in the other […]

   • 1999, Jakob Grimmelshausen, translated by Mike Mitchell, Simplicius Simplicissimus, Dedalus, published 2016, page 48:

     Before we were out of the forest, however, we saw about ten peasants, some armed with firelocks [translating Feuer-rohren], others busy burying something.

• “firelock”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• flockier