catapulta

plural catapultae · plural catapultæ

1. A Roman catapult (weapon for launching projectiles).

   This pantomime over, Bentley recoiled, with the spring of a Roman catapulta, to his natural pursuits.

   1863, Thomas de Quincey, Richard Bentley and Other Writings, page 128

   2 more examples

   The projectile machines, or antient artillery, used by our ancestors about the time of the Norman invasion, were the scorpion, catapulta, balista, and onager of the Romans, with divers other species of the same machines, under a variety of different appellations.

   1801, Francis Grose, chapter 12, in A History of the English Army, volume 1, page 366

   The catapulta was formerly an engine of war, used by the Romans for casting javelins and stones against castellated walls. A modern form of catapulta has been constructed, with a view to do away with the necessity of bowling the ball.

   1863, "An Old Cricketer", The Cricket-Bat; and how to use it, page 90