arblast

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UK/ˈɑːblɑːst/US/ˈɑɹblæst/

noun

A wooden crossbow with a special drawing mechanism, used to fire bolts, stones, etc.

OriginMiddle English arblast ← Old English arblast ← Old French arbaleste →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounarblast (plural arblasts)

plural arblasts · alternative arbalest · alternative arbalist

  1. historicalA wooden crossbow with a special drawing mechanism, used to fire bolts, stones, etc.

    “[…] Here be two arblasts, comrade, with windlaces and quarrells—to the barbican with you, and see you drive each bolt through a Saxon brain.”

    1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XIV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 281

Origin

  1. Latinarcus“bow”
  2. Late Latinarcuballista
  3. Old Frencharbaleste
  4. Old Englisharblast
  5. Middle Englisharblast
  6. Englisharblast

Inherited from Middle English arblast, from late Old English arblast, from Old French arbaleste (modern French arbalète), from Late Latin arcuballista, from Latin arcus (“bow”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

arblast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arblast

MLA

“arblast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arblast. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arblast,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arblast.

Source: arblast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.