bowstring

From bow +‎ string.

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

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.

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

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.