birdbolt

English

Etymology

From bird +‎ bolt.

Noun

birdbolt (plural birdbolts)

1. A short blunt arrow for killing birds without piercing them.
2. (figuratively) Anything that smites without penetrating.
   • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, 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: