throwing stick

throwing stick (plural throwing sticks)

1. A wooden tool used to throw a dart, spear or other missile; a spear thrower; (Australia) a woomera. [from 18th c.]
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "What could his sling, his throwing-stick, or his arrow avail him against such forces as have been loose to-night? Even with a modern rifle it would be all odds on the monster."

   • 2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 176:

     On another occasion, Bungaree gave a spear and throwing stick to local people and showed them how to use them at Pumicestone River.

2. A simple weapon consisting of a stick (often curved) that is thrown, often so that it spins in flight; an early type of boomerang. [from 19th c.]

• atlatl
• spear thrower
• throw stick
• woomera