Musket \Mus"ket\, n. [F. mousquet, It. moschetto, formerly, a kind of hawk; cf. OF. mousket, moschet, a kind of hawk falcon, F. mouchet, prop., a little fly (the hawk prob. being named from its size), fr. L. musca a fly. Cf. Mosquito.]

[Sometimes written also musquet.]

1. (Zool.) The male of the sparrow hawk. [1913 Webster]

2. A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been completely superseded by the rifle, and is now only of historical interest. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

21 Moby Thesaurus words for "musket": automatic, blowgun, blowpipe, firearm, flamethrower, gat, gun, handgun, heater, peashooter, piece, pistol, repeater, revolver, rifle, rod, sawed-off shotgun, shooting iron, shotgun, six-gun, six-shooter

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

musket

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Musket \Mus"ket\, n. [F. mousquet, It. moschetto, formerly, a kind of hawk; cf. OF. mousket, moschet, a kind of hawk falcon, F. mouchet, prop., a little fly (the hawk prob. being named from its size), fr. L. musca a fly. Cf. Mosquito.]

[Sometimes written also musquet.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of the sparrow hawk.

2. A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been generally superseded by the rifle.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)