javelin
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: jăv'lǐn
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒæv.(ə.)lɪn/
rhymes: -ævlɪn
Forms: form: javelins
form: javelining
form: javelinning
form: javelined
form: javelined
form: javelinned
form: javelinned
Etymology: From Middle English chafeveleyn, gavelong, from Old French javelline, diminutive of javelot, diminutive of *javel, from Vulgar Latin *gabalus, from Gaulish gabulum (compare Old Irish gabul (“fork”), Welsh gafl), from Proto-Celtic *gablā (“fork, forked branch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-. The Old French term was also borrowed into Middle Low German as gaveline, and into Middle High German as gabilot. Cognate with gavelock, gaffle.
Senses: examples: text: Furrowing a giant oak, and javelining / With darted spikes and splinters of the wood
ref: 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 142:
text: Eventually ostriches arrived and with arrows I shot them in the burning arena with arrows tipped with small bronze crescents Saw flies buzz at the array of javelinned lions Saw the looks on faces crookedly aghast when before them I hoisted a hacked off ostrich head and wagged my own and grinned
ref: 1985, Christopher Middleton, “Commodus”, in Selected Writings, Manchester: Carcanet Press, published 1989, →ISBN, section 4 (From Serpentine (1985)), page 145:
glosses: To pierce with a javelin.
examples: text: He will have questions of all sorts javelined at him from the benches on both sides, from above the gangway and from below it.
ref: 1926, “The Exchequer”, in Aids to the Study of European Governments: Brief Readings, Reprints of Constitutions, Chronologies, Diagrams, Questions, and Topics for Special Study (with References) Prepared for Use in Government 1 at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Co-operative Society, →OCLC, section XII (Parliamentary Finance), page 106:
text: There is a thing no man may name; / It comes like beauty, goes like flame. / It haunts dim labyrinths of time / And enters every poet’s rhyme. / Its cry is heard upon the wind / When it is high and javelinned, / And on still nights its steps are heard, / Soft as the footfalls of a bird.
ref: 1938 May 4, W. E. Bard, “The Unknown”, in The Atlanta Journal, volume LVI, number 70, Atlanta, Ga., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 3:
text: The year the tornado swept through, it scattered the debris of two garages and their contents outward for hundreds of yards. An 8-foot 2-by-4 was javelinned through my bedroom wall; its blunt end stared at me just three feet short of my bed.
ref: 1998 August 16, Marjorie Daniel, “Essay: Nature’s Broom”, in The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Oh., →ISSN, →OCLC, “Sunday Magazine” section, page 6:
text: good morning city. another day of digging. wrapping. numbering. dnaing. […] of reciting a poem by li po. about forever. about wrapping forever into a ball. about wrapping forever into a ball and javelinning it out to sea. the beautiful beautiful sea.
ref: 2009, Bruce Weber, “untitled poem for the twin towers”, in The Breakup of My First Marriage: Poetry, New York, N.Y.: Rogue Scholars Press, →ISBN, page 6:
text: To retrieve the mophead she would have to immerse her hand into the bucket’s stagnant grey water and kitchen-floor debris. At the thought of doing so, she javelinned the mop handle onto the floor, the speed and violence of which action, afterward, made her feel deranged.
ref: 2022, Jem Calder, “Serenity Prayer”, in Reward System, London: Faber & Faber, →ISBN, “A Restaurant Somewhere Else” section:
glosses: To throw like a javelin.
examples: text: For answer the ship righted as she rolled upon another great swell, leaned as far the other side, and crashed, bows first, into a cleft rock under water which held her as in a vise while her jib boom flew up in splinters, and her foretopgallant and royal mast, with yards and gear and sails, tore loose aloft and javelined down until brought up short by the involved rigging.
ref: 1922 October 7, Captain [Aylward Edward] Dingle, “Ocean Magic”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 195, number 15, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 72:
text: The ants broke loose and attacked. In an attempt to beat them off, Ejeka lost grip of his whip which javelinned earthward.
ref: 1967, Clement Agunwa, “Performing a Duty Unassigned”, in More Than Once: A Novel, London: Longmans, →OCLC, page 68:
text: Jagged bolts of lightning javelined down from the sky, attempting to skewer him with their electrical touch.
ref: 2010 March, Thomas E. Sniegoski, chapter 17, in Where Angels Fear to Tread (Remy Chandler; 3), New York, N.Y.: Roc, →ISBN, page 272:
text: One man dropped his rifle from high up and it javelined down, with the muzzle burying itself deep in the ground.
ref: 2017, Iain Hollis, “Life begins at 40”, in Box of Frogs: Memoirs of a Canoeing Cyclist, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, page 66:
glosses: To fall like a javelin.
Related terms: discus
hammer