bois d'arcn.
North American.
The wood of the osage orange, used by American Indians for making bows.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > production and development of arms > [noun] > process in bow- or arrow-making > material for bows
yewOE
bowstaff1436
bois d'arc1805
bow-wood1805
stave1891
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > wood of fruit trees > others
service tree1545
cornel-wood1600
manchineel1683
bois d'arc1805
apple1815
crab-wood1849
peach wood1850
plum1902
persimmon1989
1805 J. Sibley in Deb. Congr. U.S. (1852) II. App. 1138 At this place Mr. Dunbar obtained one or two slips of the ‘bois d'arc’, (bow wood, or yellow wood).
1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Bow-dark tree (Fr. bois d'arc), a western tree, the wood of which is used to make bows with.
1853 R. B. Marcy & G. B. McClellan Explor. Red River 98 The bows [of the Comanches] are made of the tough and elastic wood of the bois d'arc, or osage orange.
1858 Texas Almanac 69 The surface is rolling,..supplied with elm, ash..and especially bois d'arc.
1877 R. I. Dodge Hunting Grounds Great West 348 The best wood [for bows] is the Osage Orange (bois d'arc of the old French trappers, corrupted into ‘bow dark’ by plains Americans).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1805