fire-stick

fire-stick (plural fire-sticks)

A mid-19th Century British cavalry fire-stick.

1. A gun or cannon, especially a rifle. Originally used by or ascribed to members of non-European cultures or anthropomorphized animals describing firearms.

   A troop of soldiers, armed with fire-sticks, entered the valley.

   I knocked the man down, and he ran into the woods, leaving his fire-stick on the ground.

   • 1904 W.A. Fraser, "The Narrative of Buffalo and Bison," Metropolitan, vol. 20, no. 11, pages 195–196:

     "Arna means by the fire-stick a gun," explained Sa'-zada.

• thunderstick