birdbolt
English
Etymology
bird + bolt
Noun
birdbolt (plural birdbolts)
- A short blunt arrow for killing birds without piercing them.
- (figuratively) Anything that smites without penetrating.
- c. 1601–1602, Shakespeare, William, Twelfth Night, act 1, scene 5, lines 86–88:
- To be generous, / guiltless and of free disposition, is to take those / things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets:
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