Musket

(müskit.) [Fr. mousquet.] (Mil.) Formerly, along, heavy gun introduced from Spain, and used in the 16th cent. It is represented in Fig. 486, from a Dutch painting by L. Gheyn (1551), which shows the mode of firing, the use of the rest (rendered nece ary Fig. 486.-MUSKET. by the weight of the piece), and the bandoleers, bullet bag, powder-flask, and the match-cord or twisted tow with which it was fired.-Musketoon was a smaller kind of musket, as its name implies. [s. 627]