crossbowsman

English

Etymology

From crossbow +‎ -s- +‎ -man.

Noun

crossbowsman (plural crossbowsmen)

1. Alternative form of crossbowman.
   • 1898 July, C. J. Willdey, “The Constable Nun’Alvares”, in The Scottish Review, volume XXXII, Paisley, London: Alexander Gardner, […], page 46:

     Nuno had two thousand lances and crossbows on horseback, and five hundred infantry and foot crossbowsmen, and on the northern frontier the king had twice as many.

   • 1925, David Graham, Common-Sense and the Muses, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 72:

     The palace, fenced with portcullises and spikes of iron, was guarded by archers and crossbowsmen, who shot at any that approached by night.

   • 1925 May, Melville Chater, “Through the Back Doors of Belgium: Artist and Author Paddle for Three Weeks Along 200 Miles of Low-Countries Canals in a Canadian Canoe”, in The National Geographic Magazine, page 518, column 2:

     Then we were invited inside, and found ourselves at a competitive shoot in the guild house of St. Joris, patron saint of kruisboogschutters, i. e., crossbowsmen.

   • 1975, Ronald C. Adams, Alfred N. Daniel, Lee Rullman, Games, Sports, and Exercises for the Physically Handicapped, 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea & Febiger, →ISBN, page 178, column 2:

     When shooting, the crossbowsman holds the stock like a rifle.

   • 1980, “Military History”, in Robert E. Horn, Anne Cleaves, editors, The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, 4th edition, Beverly Hills, Calif., London: SAGE Publications, published 1983, →ISBN, part II (Academic Listings), page 501, column 1:

     The counters represent appropriate kinds of arms for the time and change during the game to reflect the development of new arms (crossbowsmen are replaced by arquebusiers, for example).

   • 1985, Robert Muchembled, translated by Lydia Cochrane, Popular Culture and Elite Culture in France, 1400–1750, Baton Rouge, La., London: Louisiana State University Press, →ISBN, page 115:

     There were fraternities of archers, crossbowsmen, and, somewhat later, cannoneers and joueurs de trait à poudre (firearmsmen), all of which had statutes and held annual contests of skill at which the winner was given the title of roi or empereur.

   • 1997, J[ulie] V[ictoria] Jones, The Barbed Coil, Warner Books, →ISBN, page 83:

     Camron’s crossbowsmen would shoot him the instant he left Marcel’s house, and even if by some miracle they missed, the whole city would be after him by dark.

   • 2006, Graham McNeill, The Empire, Games Workshop, →ISBN, page 84:

     Averland Crossbowsman