spearcaster

English

WOTD – 11 December 2015

Athlete Abraham Green (1913–1999), throwing the javelin in the Maccabiah Stadium in Tel Aviv in 1938

Three Indigenous Australian weapons from Ridpath's Universal History (1897): a knife, club, and spear with a spearcaster

Etymology

spear (“long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon”) +‎ caster (“that which casts; one who casts”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɪəkɑːstə/, /ˈspɪəkæstə/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

spearcaster (plural spearcasters)

1. A sling-like device used to impart greater impetus to a thrown spear.
2. A soldier or guard armed with a spear used as a ranged weapon.
   • 1963, Analog Science Fact / Science Fiction LXXI, 69:

     She felt near fainting with relief. Not that the blaster solved many problems. It wouldn’t get them out of a city aswarm with archers and spearcasters.

3. A track-and-field athlete who throws a spear or spears; a javelinist, a javelin thrower.
   • 1969, Francis Xavier Cretzmeyer [et al.], Bresnahan and Tuttle’s Track and Field Athletics, 7th edition edition, Saint Louis, Mo.: C. V. Mosby Co., →OCLC, page 242:

     Those spearcasters using the front carry feel relieved of the responsibility of thinking about the javelin during the run.

Translations

sling-like device

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

spearman fighting at range

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

athlete who throws spears — see javelin thrower

Anagrams

• teraparsecs