broad arrowheadn.
/ˌbrɔːd ˈarə(ʊ)hɛd/, U.S. /ˌbrɔd ˈɛroʊˌhɛd/, /ˌbrɑd ˈɛroʊˌhɛd/ 1. Heraldry. A charge in the form of a broad barbed arrowhead. Cf. broad arrow n. 3, pheon n. 1. Now rare.Sometimes equated with pheon, and sometimes used to designate a charge of an arrowhead which is not engrailed on the inner edge of each barb, as distinct from an engrailed pheon.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > representations of weapons or armour > [noun] > arrow
broad arrowhead1461
pheon1486
broad arrow1572
1461 in W. A. Littledale Coll. Misc. Grants & Exempl. Arms (1926) ii. 192 (MED) A Cheveron of golde betwene three brode arrowe heads of the same.
c1475 in F. P. Barnard Edward IV's French Exped. (1925) f. 4 (MED) [The badge of] mr Smyrte gartier A Brode Arowe hed Blake Armyned.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie i. f. 11 Pheons, be commonly called, broade arrowe heades.
1656 W. Dugdale Antiq. Warwickshire 582/2 A Family that..bore for their Armes Nebule Arg. and sable, upon a Fesse gules three broad Arrow heads Or.
1677 R. Thoroton Antiq. Notts. 31/2 Arg. A Lyon Ramp. Sable impales with Arg. 3 Broad Arrow-heads Or, Phæons Sable, upon a Chief Sable, a Hound Argent.
?a1700 ( Grant of Arms to John Cooke (College of Arms MS Grants 1) f. 264v Three hermins of the feild betweene three brode arrowe heades gold.
1734 J. Mottley Stow's Surv. London & Westm. I. i. iv. 22/1 His Arms, being Three broad Arrow-Heads.
?1828 W. Berry Encycl. Heraldica II. sig. I/2 Baterton, or Beckerton, ar. on a chev. sa. three broad arrow-heads of the field.
1988 T. Woodcock & J. M. Robinson Oxf. Guide to Heraldry iv. 74 Pheon is the term now used for a broad arrow head.
2. A mark resembling a broad arrowhead, spec. (in later use) one with the point upwards, used to identify English (later British) royal or government property; = broad arrow n. 2. rare after 16th cent.
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society > communication > indication > marking > marking to identify > mark of identification > [noun] > mark of ownership > specific
arrowhead1386
broad arrowhead1475
broad arrow1554
rogue's yarn1769
1475 in C. Welch Hist. Pewterers of London (1902) I. 47 (MED) Delyuerd, a ponchon of yrn wt þe brode arowe hede fore the forfet marke.
1597 R. Whyte Let. 27 Feb. in A. Collins Lett. & Memorials State (1746) II. 21 Two Letters of yours, sealed with Gold, and the broad Arrow Head, directed to two of the Maydes [of honour].
1913 Dauphin (Manitoba) Herald 10 July On every one of her sails are painted broad arrowheads.
2008 in D. Hey Oxf. Compan. Family & Local Hist. (ed. 2) 282/1 The broad arrowhead that was used from the Middle Ages onwards to mark the property of the sovereign.
3.
a. literal. An arrowhead which is broad and typically barbed. Now chiefly historical.
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the world > space > shape > fact or condition of tapering > condition of tapering to a point > [noun] > pointed object or part
goadeOE
pikeOE
point1390
broad arrowhead1545
spire1551
pick1614–15
stob1637
icicle1644
arrow point1655
spike1718
jagger1825
spear-point1861
spear-head1894
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > arrow > [noun] > head of arrow > broad head
broad arrowhead1545
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 19 The one..hauyng two poyntes or barbes, lookyng backewarde to the stele and the fethers, which surely we call in Englishe a brode arrowe head or a swalowe tayle.
1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. i. f. 7v A broad arrowe head..be perced through the greater parte of the member.
1602 J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 9 They head some of their arrows herewith, much like our broad arrow heads, very workmanly made.
1656 W. Dugdale Antiq. Warwickshire 554/2 An yearly Rent of three broad Arrow heads to the chief Lord of the Fee for all services.
1744 Geogr. Eng. 77 In digging for Iron-Ore, they have frequently found broad Arrow Heads.
1870 C. C. Black tr. A. Demmin Weapons of War i. 55 These remains, together with a large number of broad arrowheads, are preserved in the cabinet of antiquities at Zurich.
1925 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 55 81 The flint..artefacts found may be broadly classified into cores, scrapers,..broad arrowheads, and pigmy points.
2008 W. Sarnecki & D. Nicolle Medieval Polish Armies 966–1500 35 (caption) Nomad-style broad arrowheads from Piemieta.
b. figurative. Any shape, pattern, impression, etc., resembling this; a broad V-shape.
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1849 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 267/1 In the place where in the preceding coin are the folds of the lion's skin across the throat, is a character not known either in the Greek or Roman orthography in the form of a broad arrow head.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. i. 2 At every stationary boat or barge that split the current into a broad-arrow-head.
1929 Manch. Guardian 20 May 16/2 Northward the sky lightened to pale blue and a broad arrow head appeared pointing to the north, one a barb of broken cirrus clouds, the other a prodigious slant of brightness.
1976 Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 102 388 The hindmarginal black bar on the forewing..essentially never forms a broad arrowhead.
2005 T. Holmes Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen iv. 89 Flying their customary broad arrowhead.., the pilots bored in close.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1461