A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels.

A crossbow is a weapon bow mounted on a stick ( called a tiller or stock ) with a mechanism in it which holds the drawn bow string.

The crossbow prod is very short compared to ordinary bows, resulting in a short draw length.

A recurve crossbow is a bow that has tips curving away from the archer.

A compound crossbow is a modern crossbow and is similar to a compound bow.

But in a crossbow the string is held back mechanically, so there is no advantage in providing a let off.

" Ballista " is still the root word for crossbow in Romance languages such as Italian ( balestra ).

The Chinese repeating crossbow, Chu Ko Nu, is a handheld crossbow that accomplishes the task with a magazine containing a number of bolts on top.

A bullet crossbow is a type of handheld crossbow which rather than arrows or bolts shoots spherical projectiles made of stone, clay or lead.

His crossbow is drawn with a rack-and-pinion " cranequin ", so it can be used while riding.

There is an optimum weight for bolts to achieve maximum kinetic energy, which varies depending on the strength and characteristics of the crossbow, but most could pass through common chain mail.

This kind of quiver is attached under the front of the crossbow, parallel to the string and is designed to be quickly detached and reattached.

A major cause of the sound of shooting a crossbow is vibration of various components.

According to Needham, though there is no way of answering the question of whether the crossbow first arose among the cultures neighboring ancient China before the rise of Chinese culture in their midst, or whether it spread outwards from China to all the environing peoples, the former seems the more probable hypothesis given linguistic evidence, which posits that the Chinese word for ' crossbow ' came from an Austroasiatic language.

The earliest Chinese document mentioning a crossbow is in scripts from the 4th – 3rd century BC attributed to the followers of Mozi.

The earliest reasonably reliable date for the crossbow in the Greek world is from the 5th century BC.

In the American south, the crossbow was used for hunting when firearms or gunpowder were unavailable because of economic hardships or isolation.

Legality of using a crossbow for hunting varies widely, especially in United States, however, and is beyond the scope of this article.

Also during the 1960s, part of the national forest was designated a Primitive Weapons Area ( renamed Pioneer Weapons Area ) and set apart for hunting with longbow, crossbow, or muzzle-loading firearms ( either flintlock or percussion ).

There are also pieces that depict the courtly life-helmets for jousting tournaments, a crossbow for hunting, a ceremonial gorget, and an anvil that was used to manufacture such pieces.

In 2008, McWilliams became an avid outdoorsman, hooking sharks and tarpon, while hunting deer and elk by rifle, shotgun, and crossbow.

The weapons used for hunting would mostly be the same as those used for war: bow and arrow or crossbow, lance or spear, and sword.

Shortbows and longbows were the most commonly used weapon ; the crossbow was introduced around the time of the First Crusade ( 1100 ), but was not generally used for hunting until the second half of the 15th century.

1st c. AD ), who referred to the now lost works of the 3rd century BC engineer Ctesibius, this weapon was inspired by an earlier hand crossbow, called the gastraphetes ( belly shooter ), which could store more energy than the Greek bows.

Along with polearm weapons made from farming equipment, the crossbow was also a weapon of choice for insurgent peasants such as the Taborites.

The disadvantage is the greater weight and clumsiness compared to a bow, as well as the slower rate of fire and the lower efficiency of the acceleration system, but there would be reduced elastic hysteresis, making the crossbow a more accurate weapon.

1st c. AD ), who referred to the now lost works of the 3rd century BC engineer Ctesibius, this weapon was inspired by an earlier foot-held crossbow, called the gastraphetes, which could store more energy than the Greek bows.

In many editions of the game technology is at best quasi-medieval ( in the first edition, the crossbow is described as " the ultimate weapon " for most Gamma World societies ).

The sword in this time period was the most personal weapon, the most prestigious, and the most versatile for close combat, but it came to decline in military use as technology, such as the crossbow and firearms changed warfare.

* The steel crossbow is first used as a weapon of war.

The crossbow was an important military advance on the older short bow and was the favoured weapon by the time of Richard I ; many crossbows and vast numbers of quarrels were needed to supply royal forces, in turn requiring larger scale iron production.

While with a crossbow or bow a soldier could conceivably kill silently, this was of course impossible with an explosion-driven projectile weapon like the arquebus.

Her weapon is a " Feather Bow " ( a crossbow that fires sharp feathers ).

At the centre there are two crossbow darts was-the crossbow being the favourite weapon of the peasants.

Närke was renowned for its warlike peasants and when coat-of-arms for the province was granted for the funeral of King Gustav Vasa in 1560 two crossbow darts was the central symbol-the crossbow being the favourite weapon of the peasants.

The crossbow was the preferred long-range weapon of this period, due to several reasons.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, after the crossbow had become obsolete as a military weapon, crosslet loopholes were still sometimes created as a decorative architectural feature with a Christian symbolism.

His weapon of choice is a specially designed crossbow.

Skills include defense, crossbow accuracy, mêlée weapon accuracy, spell-casting accuracy, enemy assessment, weapon and armor repair, barding, haggling, lockpicking, scouting for ambushes, and stealth.

The crossbow, invented by Chinese in the 4th century BC, and by Greeks in the 5th century BC, was considered the most important weapon of the Chinese armies.

This gave an additional advantage, as this made the crossbow " capture-proof " as even if China's barbarian enemies captured them they would not be able to reproduce the weapon.

This weapon became the standard crossbow used during the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties.