à rouet

English

Adjective

à rouet (not comparable)

1. (firearms, historical) Having a small wheel fixed to the pan of firelocks for discharging them.
   • 1875, P. L. Jacob ·, The Arts in the Middle Ages, and at the Period of the Renaissance, page 104:

     The earliest pistols were made with wheels (à rouet), and the barrel did not measure more than a foot in length.

   • 1937, Franklin Henry Hooper, The Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 5, page 69:

     Soon the petronel was replaced by the arquebuse à rouet, and a little later on by the wheel-lock pistol, which was first used by the German cavalry at the battle of St. Quentin, in 1557.

   • 2008, David Hackett Fischer, Champlain's Dream, page 617:

     In 1639–42, the average value of an arquebus à rouet was 80 livres; flintlock muskets were valued at 6 livres.