missile

Definition

Any object used as a weapon by being thrown or fired through the air, such as stone, arrow or bullet.

Etymology

From Latin missile (“thrown weapon, projectile”), neuter of missilis (“throwable, capable of being thrown”), from mittere (“to send”). From 1611. Compare Middle French missile (“projectile”), from 1636.

Example Sentences

• "The Rhodians, who used leaden bullets, were able to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers, who used large stones."
• "And I saw askant the armies, / I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle-flags, / Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc’d with missiles I saw them, / And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody, / And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs, (and all in silence,) / And the staffs all splinter’d and broken."
• "Riot officers and police on horseback were deployed to disperse the crowns, but they came under attack from bottles, fireworks and other missiles."

Related Words