bowstring

English

Etymology

From bow +‎ string.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊ.stɹɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊ.stɹɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bow‧string

Noun

bowstring (plural bowstrings)

1. The string of an archer's bow.
   • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 191:

     For an instant he glanced along the polished shaft, drawing the bowstring far back, that the arrow might pierce through the heart for which it was aimed.

2. (historical) The string of an archer's bow, as used by the Turks for strangling offenders.

Derived terms

• (string of an archer's bow): bowstring bridge, bowstring girder, bowstring hemp, bowstring knot

Translations

string of an archer's bow

• Altai:

  Southern Altai: кириш (kiriš)

• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: وَتَر (ar) m (watar)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: please add this translation if you can

• Armenian: աղեղնալար (hy) (aġeġnalar)
• Azerbaijani: kiriş
• Belarusian: цеціва́ f (cjecivá)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: тетива́ f (tetivá)
• Burmese: လေးကြိုး (my) (le:krui:)
• Cahuilla: 'alxawill
• Catalan: corda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 弓弦 (gung¹ jin⁴), 弦 (jin⁴)

  Dungan: гунщян (gunxi͡an)

  Mandarin: 弓弦 (zh) (gōngxián), 弦 (zh) (xián)

• Chuvash: хирлӳ (hirlü)
• Coptic: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: tětiva (cs) f
• Danish: buestreng c
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: boogpees (nl) f, boogstreng f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: vibunöör
• Finnish: jänne (fi)
• French: corde (fr) f
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: ლარი (ka) (lari), ლამბი (lambi)
• German: Bogensehne (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: νευρά f (neurá)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: ज्या (hi) f (jyā), प्रत्यंचा (hi) f (pratyañcā)
• Hungarian: íjhúr (hu)
• Icelandic: bogastrengur m
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: corda (it) f
• Japanese: 弓弦 (ゆづる, yuzuru, ゆみづる, yumizuru, ゆんづる, yunzuru), 弦 (ja) (つる, tsuru)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: адырна (adyrna)
• Khmer: បន្លោះ (km) (bɑnlɑh), ចាប (km) (caap)
• Korean: 궁현(弓弦) (gunghyeon), 활줄 (hwaljul), 활시위 (hwalsiwi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ژێ (jê)

  Northern Kurdish: jih (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жаанын жиби (jaanın jibi)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: templė f
• Lü: ᦉᦻᦂᦳᧂ (ṡaayk̇ung)
• Macedonian: тетива f (tetiva)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Malayalam: ഞാൺ (ml) (ñāṇ), വിൽഞാൺ (vilñāṇ)
• Manchu: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: प्रत्यंचा f (pratyañcā)
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хөвч (mn) (xövč)

  Mongolian script: ᠬᠥᠪᠴᠢ (köbči)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: buestreng m

• Nuosu: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: please add this translation if you can
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: тѧтива f (tętiva)

• Old English: bogan strenġ m
• Pacoh: tarxáng
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: زِه (zih)

  Iranian Persian: زِه (zeh)

  Middle Persian: 𐭦𐭩𐭧 (zyḥ /⁠zīh⁠/)

• Plautdietsch: Boageseid f
• Polish: cięciwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: corda de arco f
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: cörda f
• Romanian: coardă (ro) f
• Russian: тетива́ (ru) f (tetivá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тѐтива f

  Latin: tètiva (sh) f

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: tetiva f
• Slovene: tetiva f
• Spanish: cuerda (es) f
• Swedish: bågsträng c
• Tajik: зеҳ (zeh)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tatar: кереш (tt) (kereş)
• Telugu: అల్లె (te) (alle)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tocharian B: wäntalyi
• Turkish: kiriş (tr), yay kiriş
• Turkmen: kiriş
• Tuvan: кириш (kiriş)
• Ukrainian: тятива́ f (tjatyvá)
• Unami: hatapiatàkw, hakisapi, tënikàn
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: kamalak ipi
• Vietnamese: dây cung
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

bowstring (third-person singular simple present bowstrings, present participle bowstringing, simple past and past participle bowstrung or bowstringed)

1. (transitive) To strangle with a bowstring.
   • 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade:

     When the day broke […] it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung—a thing very little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.

   • 1909, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), A Municipal Report

     I have seen (on one of my imaginary tours) the Sultan of Turkey bowstring with his own hands one of his wives who had uncovered her face in public.