The Collaborative International Dictionary
Throwing stick \Throw"ing stick`\ (Anthropol.) An instrument used by various savage races for throwing a spear; -- called also throw stick and spear thrower. One end of the stick receives the butt of the spear, as upon a hook or thong, and the other end is grasped with the hand, which also holds the spear, toward the middle, above it with the finger and thumb, the effect being to bring the place of support nearer the center of the spear, and practically lengthen the arm in the act of throwing. In Mexico, one such device is called the atlatl.
Wiktionary
n. A simple weapon, consisting of a stick that is thrown, often so that it spins in flight.
WordNet
n. a sling-like device used in various primitive societies to propel a dart or spear [syn: throwing board, spear thrower, dart thrower]
a curved piece of wood; when properly thrown will return to thrower [syn: boomerang, throw stick]
Wikipedia
The throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly, hitting the target with one of the ends, maiming or killing it. The difference between a throwing stick and a javelin is in their shapes and lengths. A javelin is almost always a straight shaft with either a pointed tip or a spearhead attached to the front end. A throwing stick can be straight like a pointed wooden shaft or curved like the boomerang, and is much shorter than the javelin. It became obsolete as slings and bows became more prevalent. Throwing sticks shaped like returning boomerangs are designed to go straight to a target. Their surfaces are not shaped unevenly like airfoils, but are symmetrical on both sides, and do not exhibit curved flight. There were some throwing sticks placed in pharaohs' tombs
Usage examples of "throwing stick".
He even allowed Centaine to watch while he whittled a primitive pen-like flute on which he accompanied him self with piercing blasts when he danced, or while he carved the decorations into the heavy throwing stick which he used to knock the rocketing coqui francolin out of the air in a puff of pretty feathers or the blue-headed lizards from the uppermost branches of the camel-thorn trees, but when he worked on the gemsbok skin he went off to a discreet distance and he worked alone.
The bronze man still carried the atlatl, the spear-throwing stick.
Buzzard stalked away deliberately, hooked his second bird to the throwing stick, and flung it into the sky.