arrowslit

English

Etymology

From arrow +‎ slit.

Noun

arrowslit (plural arrowslits)

1. A slit, as in a castle wall, through which arrows can be fired.

   Alternative form: arrow slit

   Synonyms: arrow-hole, loophole, balistraria

   • 1949, George Orwell, chapter 3, in Nineteen Eighty-Four‎:

     When they met in the church tower the gaps in their fragmentary conversation were filled up. […] They sat talking for hours on the dusty, twig-littered floor, one or other of them getting up from time to time to cast a glance through the arrowslits and make sure that no one was coming.

Translations

a narrow hole through which arrows are shot

Albanian: frëngji (sq) f Bulgarian: бойница (bg) f (bojnica), амбразура (bg) f (ambrazura), мазгал (bg) m (mazgal) (archaic Turkish transliteration) French: meurtrière (fr) f Galician: seteira f German: Schießscharte (de) f Hebrew: חֲרַךְ יְרִי (he) m (khárakh yeri) Italian: arciera (it) f, balestriera (it) f, feritoia (it) f Japanese: 狭間 (ja) (hazama) Occitan: arquèra f Polish: otwór strzelniczy m Portuguese: seteira (pt) f Russian: бойни́ца (ru) f (bojníca), амбразу́ра (ru) (ambrazúra) Slovene: strelnica Spanish: aspillera (es), ballestera f, buhedera f, tronera (es) f, saetera (es) f Walloon: airtchire (wa) f