harquebus

Meaning

Noun

• An obsolete matchlock firearm.
• A portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket. When used in the field it was supported upon a tripod or trestle.

Origin

• From French harquebuse, borrowed from Middle Low German hakebusse or Middle Dutch hakebus, hagebus (modern Dutch haakbus), from hôk + busse, from Old Saxon hōk + *buhsa, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz + *buhsā.