Like any sport, you're going to hear jargon from time to time, so we've here's a brief glossary of terms.
| Armguard |
A protection against the bowstring's strike, worn on the inside of the left forearm. It is usually of heavy leather padded with felt. |
| Arms |
The two limbs of a bow. |
| Arrow Plate |
A piece of horn, shell or leather just above the handle on the left side of a bow, where the arrow passes as it leaves the bow. |
| Arrowshaft |
The wooden shaft or steel of an arrow |
| Back |
The outer or flat side of a bow. |
| Backed Bow |
A bow which has been backed with rawhide, wood, fibre or sinew. |
| Backing |
Any substance which is used for backing bows. |
| Barrelled |
A barrelled arrow is heavier in the middle and tapers toward each end. |
| Belly |
The belly of a bow is the rounded side, held towards you when shooting. |
| Bow Stave |
The stick, stave or piece of wood from which a bow is made. |
| Bowyer |
A maker of bows. |
| Brace |
To string a bow. |
| Bracer |
Another name for an armguard. |
| Broadhead |
A large flat hunting head. |
| Butt |
A hillock or mound of earth or sod on which target faces are attached to be shot at. |
| Cast |
The ability of a bow to throw or cast an arrow. |
| Chrysal or Crisal |
A crushed line of fibres running across the grain, usually in the belly of a bow. |
| Clout |
A small white faced target with a black bull's eye used in archery golf and clout shooting. |
| Cock Feather |
The feather placed at right angles to the nock. Usually of a different colour from the other two. |
| Draw |
Pulling an arrow the proper distance. |
| Eye |
The loop at one or both ends of a bowstring. |
| Fistmele |
The distance between handle and string when the bow is strung. It is an old Saxon measurement. The distance from the base of the hand when clenched to the tip of the extended thumb. |
| Fletch |
Putting the feathers on an arrow. |
| Fletcher |
An arrowmaker. |
| Flight Arrow |
An arrow used for distance shooting. It is long and light and has very small feathers. |
| Flight Shooting |
Distance shooting; to see how far you can send an arrow. |
| Flirt |
An arrow flirts when it jumps out of its steady line of flight. |
| Follow the String |
When a bow takes a set or bend in the drawing direction, it is said to have a set or to follow the string. |
| Foot |
The piece of hardwood spliced to an arrowshaft. |
| Footed Arrow |
An arrow which has been footed with a piece of hardwood at the head end. |
| Grip |
The same as a handle of a bow. |
| Handle |
Where the bow is held when being shot. |
| Horns |
The tips of a bow made of cow, steer or stag horns in which the notches for the string are cut. |
| Loose |
To let go the string with the shooting fingers; to shoot the arrow. |
| Nocking Point |
That point on a bowstring where the arrow is nocked or placed when you are ready to shoot. |
| Nocks |
The grooves cut in the wood of the bow itself or in horn, fibre or metal tips, in which the loop of the bowstring fits. The notch in arrows. |
| Overbowed |
A bow too strong for its user. |
| Overshoot |
To shoot beyond your mark. |
| Overstrung |
When the string is too short for the bow. |
| Pile |
The head of an arrow its point. |
| Quiver |
A receptacle for holding arrows. They are of various shapes, sizes and materials. Some are worn at the waist and some at the shoulder. |
| Release |
To let the arrow and string go; to shoot an arrow. |
| Round |
The number of shots at given distances, as in the Windsor or York Rounds. |
| Roving |
The act of shooting over fields and woodland with no particular target stumps, trees, bunches of leaves, etc., being the marks. |
| Sap Wood |
The wood right under the bark. It is white in yew, about the same colour as the heartwood in both osage and lemonwood. |
| Self Bow |
A bow made of one piece of wood; a single stave. |
| Serving |
Whipping or winding with thread. |
| Shaft |
The arrow. |
| Shaftment |
That portion of the arrow to which the feathers are glued. |
| Spine |
That quality in an arrow that permits it to get around the bow and straighten itself efficiently. Spine is not stiffness alone, but some other elusive quality. |
| Tiller |
A device that holds the bow and string at various stages of draw, in order to determine the evenness of the arc in the two limbs of the bow. |
| Underbowed |
A bow too weak for its user. |
| Weight |
i. In actual grains, the weight of an arrow.
ii. The number of pounds pull a bow has. |
| A bolt from the blue |
The phrase refers to a crossbow bolt or arrow falling out of the sky. Due to the quiet with which a bow operates, such an event would be an abrupt surprise to all. |
| Bolt upright |
If an arrow was bolt upright, that meant it was true enough to fly straight. |
| Brace yourself |
The phrase brace yourself comes from bracing a bow, which means to put the string on and get ready for action. |
| Braced for action |
Someone who is always braced for action might be considered highly strung. |
| Butt of a joke |
Archery targets used to be called butts, so to be the butt of a joke is to be the target of ridicule. |
| Cock up |
The cock feather must face away from the bow; if it doesn't the arrow won't fly straight - a cock-up |
| Drawing the longbow |
Bragging |
| Flirting |
As when the tail of an arrow flicks from side to side as it heads for the target |
| Gadding about |
The term for erratic arrow flight |
| Having another string to your bow |
|
| Highly strung |
|
| keep it under your hat |
Medieval archers used to keep a spare, dry hemp bowstring under their hats. |
| Matched up |
Matched arrows are easier to shoot accurately |
| Never cast a clout till May is out |
Cast = flight of the arrow;
Clout = a long-distance shoot (180yds). |
| Parting shot |
The origins lay in horse archery: as the horse archer rode by enemies firing, the last shot almost behind them was called the Parthian shot. |
| Playing fast and loose |
When something is on or off, depending on the mood. |
| Quarrel |
In the 1200s a quarrel was a four-fletched crossbow arrow. |
| Rule of thumb |
Various definitions, but the way fistmele is measured on a longbow - clenched fist with thumb raised |
| Second String |
This derives from the fact that medieval archers would carry a second string in the event that their "first string" snapped. |
| Straight as an arrow |
|
| Underhand |
Underhand means "surreptitious" or on the sly, but also "with the hand below the elbow or shoulder". Roger Ascham (c1515-1568) wrote: "Thus the underhande [shaft] must have a small breste, to go cleane awaye oute of the bowe." To shoot underhand was and is a common archery term. |
| Wide of the mark |
Medieval shoots used to use a tall, thin board - a mark - as a target, with the highest score at the centre. If you missed, your arrow was wide of the mark. |
