Crossword clues for ballista
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ballista \Bal*lis"ta\, n.; pl. Ballist[ae]. [L. ballista, balista, fr. Gr. ba`llein to throw.] An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ancient war engine, late 14c., from Latin ballista, literally "a throwing machine," from Greek ballein "to throw" (see ballistics).
Wiktionary
n. An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
WordNet
Wikipedia
The ballista ( Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ballistra and that from βάλλω ballō, "throw"), plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon that launched a large projectile at a distant target.
The earliest mention of ballista in literature occurs in the Bible, as invented and used under the reign of King Uzziah: "And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong."
Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a prod (the bow part of a modern crossbow), the springs consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions projected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller precision weapon, the scorpio, and possibly the polybolos.
Usage examples of "ballista".
Ozhobar covered the ballista with a tarpaulin and led Karis back to the warmth of the forge.
A second ballista loosed its load, punching a great gap in the Daroth line.
Vint stood back and watched three men smoothly drawing the deadly arms of the first ballista into position.
Then the second ballista blasted lead shot into them at point-blank range, lifting three warriors from their feet and slamming them into their comrades.
From the alley alongside the ballista Forin and his fifty axemen charged into the fray.
Forin and his men ran left and right, opening a gap through which a ballista could send its murderous ammunition slashing into the Daroth ranks.
Teldin quickly gauged the distance to the closest vessel, a wasp ship, and decided it would be within ballista distance within half an hour.
Three elves manning a ballista fell under the scro onslaught, one elf tumbling over a rail to fall into the phlogiston like a limp doll.
He screamed as a heavy ballista bolt shot from the armada and the steel-tipped missile pierced the roof of the Armory.
They had not yet trapped the Lion against the ballista, but they would in a moment.
Lion had salvaged bolts from the ballista and these he handed to his fellows.
Lions and men-at-arms, a few of whom held the long ballista bolts inclined forward like spears.
Four hundred ballista battleships and over a thousand javelin destroyers converged to form a deadly noose around the planet that had once been inhabited by free humans, before the Honru Massacre.
Listening to the speech from the bridge of his own ballista, Primero Quentin Butler nodded.
The flagship ballista and the accompanying human warships closed in on their fateful confrontation, reaching the line that would trigger the senseless slaughter of millions of humans inside the Bridge.