musketeer Look up musketeer at Dictionary.com
"soldier armed with a musket," 1580s, from Fr. mousquetaire, from mousquette (see musket).
musket Look up musket at Dictionary.com
"firearm for infantry," 1580s, from M.Fr. mousquette, a kind of sparrow-hawk, dim. of mosca "a fly," from L. musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms were often given names of beasts (cf. dragoon), and the equivalent word was used in It. to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The M.Fr. word was borrowed earlier (early 15c.) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk."
fusilier Look up fusilier at Dictionary.com
1680, "soldier armed with a musket," from Fr. fusilier, from O.Fr. fusil "musket," earlier "steel for a tinderbox," from V.L. *focilis (petra) "(stone) producing fire," from L. focus "hearth," in V.L. "fire." Retained by certain regiments of the British army that were formerly armed with fusils.
dragoon Look up dragoon at Dictionary.com
1622, from Fr. dragon "carbine, musket," because the guns the soldiers carried "breathed fire" like a dragon. The verb is from 1689, lit. "to force by the agency of dragoons" (which were used by the Fr. kings to persecute Protestants).
flintlock Look up flintlock at Dictionary.com
1680s as a type of musket-firing mechanism, from flint + lock (1).
Betsy Look up Betsy at Dictionary.com
fem. pet name, a dim. of Bet, itself short for Elizabet or Elizabeth. Betsy as the typical a pet name for a favorite firearm is attested in Amer.Eng. by 1856 (cf. Brown Bess, by 1785, British army slang for the old flintlock musket).
fusillade Look up fusillade at Dictionary.com
"simultaneous discharge of firearms," 1801, from Fr. fusillade, from fusiller "to shoot," from fusil "musket" (see fusilier).
bandolier Look up bandolier at Dictionary.com
1570s, "shoulder belt (for a wallet)," from Fr. bandouiliere (16c.), from It. bandoliera or Sp. bandolera, from dim. of banda "a scarf, sash," a Gmc. loan-word related to Goth. bandwa (see band (2)). In some cases, directly from Spanish to English as bandoleer. Meaning "ammunition belt for a musket" is from 1590s; hence bandolero "highwayman, robber" (1832), from Spanish, lit. "man who wears a bandoleer."
fuse (n.) Look up fuse at Dictionary.com
also fuze, 1640s, from It. fuso "spindle" (so called because the originals were long, thin tubes filled with gunpowder), from L. fusus "spindle," of uncertain origin. Influenced by Fr. fusée "spindleful of hemp fiber," and obsolete English fusee "musket fired by a fuse." Meaning of "device that breaks an electrical circuit" first recorded 1884, so named for its shape, but erroneously attributed to fuse (v.) because it melts.
brown Look up brown at Dictionary.com
O.E. brun "dark, dusky," only developing a definite color sense 13c., from P.Gmc. *brunaz (cf. O.N. brunn, Dan. brun, O.Fris., O.H.G. brun, Du. bruin, Ger. braun), from PIE *bher- (3) "shining, brown" (cf. Lith. beras "brown"), related to *bheros "dark animal" (cf. beaver, bear (n.), and Gk. phrynos "toad," lit. "the brown animal"). The O.E. word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," now preserved only in burnish. The Gmc. word was adopted into Romanic (cf. M.L. brunus, It., Sp. bruno, Fr. brun). Brown-bag (v.) "to bring lunch or liquor in a brown paper bag" is from 1960s. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, first recorded 1785.