arquebuse, arquebuss, harquebuse

[Fr. arquebuse; O. Fr. harquebus; Sp. & Port, arcabuz; Ital. archibuso; Dut. haakbus, from haak hook, and bus box, urn, barrel of a gun. This is preferable to the old view, to which Planche adheres, that arquebus is Fr. arc - a - bouche or arc- a - bousa = bow with a mouth or aperture or opening.] ARQUEBUSE. An old hand-gun, longer than a musket, and of larger calibre, supported on a rest by a hook of iron fastened to the barrel. It was an improvement on the old hand-gun, which was without a lock. Henry VII., in establishing the yeomen of the guard in 1485, armed half of them with arquebuses, whilst the weapons of the other half were bows and arrows. ( James : Mil. Dict . Planche: Costume, .) "A harquebuse , or ordnance, will be farther heard from the mouth of the piece than backwards or on the sides."- Bacon . "Each arm'd, as best becomes a man, With arquebu and ataghan." Byron: The Giaour. ar-quě-bus-i-er, * har-quě-bŭs'-si-er, [Fr. arquebusier . In Dan. arquebuseer ; Port . arcabuzeiro .] A soldier whose offensive weapon is an arquebuse. S. "He compa ed them in with fifteen you sand arquebusiers, whom he had brought with him well appointed."-Knolles. ". the appearance and equipment of the harque bu iers "-Planche: Brit. Costume (1847), p. 284. ar-quer-īte, s . [From the mines of Arquero, in Coquimbo, a department of Chili, where it abounds.] According to the British Museum Catalogue, a variety of Amalgam; but Dana makes it a distinct species, which he places between amalgam and gold amalgam. appearance it resembles native silver, and is composed of about 865 of silver, and 135 of mercury. Its sp. gr. is 10.8.