crossbow

Etymology

It is formed from English cross + bow,^[2][3][4][5] so called from its shape, the bow being fixed across the stock;^[2][3] the Middle English form was crosbowe.^[4][6][7] The first element was Old English cros, probably taken from Old Norse, which had it from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (“stake, cross”);^[3] the second continues Old English boga.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The weapon: 1415, in an inventory, according to the OED, revised in 2025.^[2] The Historical Thesaurus, from the older OED, dates it to 1432,^[8] Etymonline to the mid 15th century^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1400–50.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the weapon was unknown in antiquity but common in medieval Europe.^[3] From 1472 the word was also used for a soldier armed with a crossbow, usually in the plural, a sense now chiefly historical.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) described it as a missile weapon made by setting a bow athwart a stock, and quoted Shakespeare's Henry V, "The master of the cross-bows, lord Rambures".^[9] Its missile was a square-headed quarrel,^[4][10] and the OED notes that it is now typically a bolt.^[2]

Timeline

• 1415 – a bow fixed across a wooden stock, with a groove for the missile and a trigger.^[2] The Historical Thesaurus dates it to 1432.^[8]
• 1472 – a soldier armed with a crossbow, usually in the plural.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A weapon made of a short bow fixed crosswise on a wooden stock, with a groove for the bolt or quarrel, a mechanism to draw back the string and a trigger to release it: The hunter steadied his crossbow against a fence post.^[10][4][2]
2. (chiefly historical) A soldier armed with a crossbow; a crossbowman, usually in the plural.^[2][5]

Word family

• crossbowman

Related words

• cross
• bow

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins