trebuchet

• trepeget (obsolete)

From Old French trebuchet, trebuket et al. (modern trébuchet), from trebuchier (“to overthrow, topple”), from tre- + *buchier, from Old French buc (“trunk of the body”), from Old Frankish *būk (“belly, trunk, torso”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, abdomen, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Cognate with Old High German būh (“belly”), Old English būc (“belly, trunk”). More at bouk.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛbəʃɛt/, /ˈtɹɛb.jə.ʃeɪ/, /ˈtɹɛb.ju.ʃeɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: trěb’yo͞o-shet, IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛb.juˌʃɛt/, /ˈtɹɛb.jəˌʃeɪ/

trebuchet (plural trebuchets)

1. A medieval siege engine consisting of a large pivoting arm heavily weighted on one end.

   Hypernym: catapult

   Coordinate terms: onager, mangonel

   Medieval trebuchets are said to have been capable of launching 90-kg projectiles over distances of more than 300 meters.

   • 2003, Helen Nicholson, Medieval Warfare, Macmillan International Higher Education, →ISBN, page 95:

     With counterweight trebuchets at its disposal, a besieging force at last had the advantage in sieges, and it was probably the appearance of the trebuchet which prompted the changes in castle design from the mid-twelfth century onwards which were described in the previous chapter: the move from rectangular to round or multiform towers […]

2. A torture device for dunking suspected witches by means of a chair attached to the end of a long pole.

trebuchet (third-person singular simple present trebuchets, present participle trebucheting, simple past and past participle trebucheted)

1. To shoot with a trebuchet.

• trebuchet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Burchette

From the verb trebuchier.

• IPA^(key): /tɾəbyˈʃɛt/

trebuchet oblique singular, m (oblique plural trebuchez or trebuchetz, nominative singular trebuchez or trebuchetz, nominative plural trebuchet)

1. trebuchet, bird trap
2. fall (instance of falling)
3. place where a fall occurs
4. trap; ambush

• English: trebuchet
• French: trébuchet