a medieval weapon consisting of a bow fixed transversely on a stock having a trigger mechanism to release the bowstring, and often incorporating or accompanied by a mechanism for bending the bow.
Origin
1400-50;late Middle Englishcrossbowe. See cross, bow2
Examples from the web for crossbow
On the floor of his apartment is a radio-controlled toy tank, and on the wall is a crossbow that shoots rubber-tipped darts.
Deer taken with crossbows will be registered as taken with a crossbow.
Authorizes the department of environmental conservation to promulgate standards authorizing hunting with a crossbow.
It is legal to hunt bear from a raised platform or tree stand when using a firearm, bow or crossbow.
The closure will delay by one day the scheduled opening of archery and crossbow deer hunting on the area.
The crossbow and eventually the longbow supplanted it as sniper weapon.
British Dictionary definitions for crossbow
crossbow
/ˈkrɒsˌbəʊ/
noun
1.
a type of medieval bow fixed transversely on a wooden stock grooved to direct a square-headed arrow (quarrel)