broad arrown.
/ˌbrɔːd ˈarəʊ/, U.S. /ˌbrɔd ˈɛroʊ/, /ˌbrɑd ˈɛroʊ/ 1. An arrow fitted with a broad arrowhead. In early use also: †a large arrow launched from a catapult (obsolete). Now chiefly historical.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > arrow > [noun] > other types of arrow
reedOE
broad arrow1372
peacock arrowc1387
bob-tail1545
forehand1545
livery arrow?a1549
standard1557
dog bolt1593
warning-arrow1628
1372 in M. T. Löfvenberg Contrib. Middle Eng. Lexicogr. & Etymol. (1946) 54 (MED) [24 arrows called] brodarwes.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. B.15.17) (1975) B. xx. l. 117 He bar a bowe in his hand and manye brode arewes.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 53 Brood arowe [a1500 King's Cambr. brodarwe], catapulta.
1502 in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 58 For a sheffe and an half of brode arrowes at ij d. the arrowe vj s.
c1565 Adambel Clym of Cloughe & Wyllyam of Cloudesle (Copland) sig. C.iiiv I myselfe with a brode arow Shall cleue the apple in two.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 98 The King sent a broad Arrow into the poore mans heart.
1664 J. Scudamore Homer a la Mode 8 Straight a broad arrow he let go.
1715 A. Pennecuik Geogr., Hist. Descr. Tweeddale 25 A Bow and a broad Arrow when I come to hunt in Yarow.
1753 D. Henry Hist. Descr. Tower of London 58 This Victory was obtained by means of the Broad-Arrow and long Bow.
1839 G. L. Craik & C. MacFarlane Pict. Hist. Eng. II. vi. vi. 872/1 The mark itself was nothing but a slender hazel rod, that was to be cleft in two with a broad arrow.
1899 F. M. Crawford Via Crucis xiv. 216 The mail..might have stopped a broad arrow.
1987 L. Murray Coll. Poems (1991) 288 A hard yarn twangs the tension And fires its broad arrow out of a grim space.
2003 J. M. Gilbert Hunting & Hunting Reserves Medieval Scotl. iv. 62 Broad arrows..had a swallow tail or broad head with two large barbs sloping backwards towards the shaft.
2.
a. A mark resembling a broad arrowhead with the point upwards, used to identify English (later British) royal or government property. Also: such a mark used in some former British colonies for a similar purpose. Cf. arrowhead n. 2a, broad arrowhead n. 2.The use of the broad arrow as a government mark has sometimes been credited to Henry Sidney (1641–1704), 1st Earl of Romney, appointed Master-General of the Ordnance in 1693 (see quot. 1973 and sense 3). However, this is not supported by the evidence.In quot. 1838 in figurative context.
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society > communication > indication > marking > marking to identify > mark of identification > [noun] > mark of ownership > specific
arrowhead1386
broad arrowhead1475
broad arrow1554
rogue's yarn1769
1554 T. Gresham Let. 30 Nov. in Cal. State Papers Foreign, Mary, 1553–8 (1861) 141 (modernized text) The cases have been sent off to-day... There are 50 of them, each marked with the broad arrow.
1627 Proclam. Charles I touching Tobacco 17 Feb. For the other foreine Tobacco, a Seale engrauen with a broad Arrow and a Portcullice.
1687 Charter of James II to Tower of London in Mariner's Mirror (1911) 1 139 Upon all which Boundary houses His Majesty's Mark, the Broad Arrow, by his late Majesty's special command, has been set up.
a1711 W. Crouch Posthuma Christiana (1712) 95 One of the Sheriffs of the City,..having shut the Door, and set the broad Arrow.
1764 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 195/2 Custom-house officers went on board a Kentish hoy..where they found half a ton of tea, which they seized, & put the broad arrow upon the vessel, which is forfeited.
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward I. vi. 129 The same rude resemblance..which certain talismanic scratches, well known to our revenue officers, bear to a broad arrow.
1838 M. F. Tupper Proverb. Philos. 114 The broad arrow of the Great King [i.e. God], carved on all the stores of his arsenal.
1963 Times 15 Aug. 9/6 To this day the broad arrow..decorates Ordnance Survey points all over Britain.
1973 K. Spence Compan. Guide to Kent & Sussex xiii. 239 Henry [Sidney]..as Master of the Ordnance,..adopted the broad arrow or ‘pheon’ of the Sidneys as the mark of government property.
2002 Labour Hist. 82 46 Such slops were probably marked with..a broad arrow indicating that they were government issue.
b. spec. This mark as used, typically in a repeated pattern, on British prison uniforms to identify escapees. Now historical, or in stereotypical representations of prisoners.The broad arrow was first used on the clothing of convicts transported to penal colonies, and was subsequently adopted by some British prisons (see quots. 1827, 1859). Its use became standard throughout the British prison system in the 1870s, and it was finally phased out in the mid 1920s.
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society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > prison uniforms
broad arrow1827
zebra1882
1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales I. iii. 46 The government gangs of convicts..with their white woollen Paramatta frocks and trowsers,..all daubed over with broad arrows.
1859 ‘O. Keese’ (title) The Broad Arrow, being passages from the history of Maida Gwynnham, a lifer.
1873 Good Words Dec. 686/1 The prison dress of grey cloth marked by the broad arrow.
1914 Notes & Queries 20 June 482/2 The broad arrow..has been used in Convict Prisons and Hulks for more than 80 years.
1953 Manch. Guardian 21 Sept. 4/2 The broad arrows of prison garb.
2005 Jrnl. Law & Society 32 243 The prisoners..attired in grotesque ill-fitting garments covered with broad arrows.
3. Heraldry. A charge in the form of a broad barbed arrow or arrowhead. Cf. broad arrowhead n. 1, pheon n. 1.Sometimes equated with pheon, and sometimes used to designate a charge of an arrow or arrowhead which is not engrailed on the inner edge of each barb, as distinct from an engrailed pheon.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > representations of weapons or armour > [noun] > arrow
broad arrowhead1461
pheon1486
broad arrow1572
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 122v He beareth sable, 3. brode arrowes.
1660 Guillim's Display of Heraldrie (ed. 4) iv. xiv. 331 He beareth, Gules, three broad Arrowes, Argent.
1741 T. Wotton Eng. Baronetage III. ii. 416 Out of a Wreath, and Arm,..holding a Broad-Arrow, Argent, plumed and pointed, Or.
?1828 W. Berry Encycl. Heraldica II. sig. D4 v/2 Crest, a demi tiger sa. bezantée, maned and tufted or, holding a broad arrow.
1904 A. C. Fox-Davies Art Heraldry xxxiii. 108/2 (caption) Three broken broad-arrows gold, knit with a lace gules.
2010 Archaeol. Ireland 24 i. 10/3 [Henry] Sidney's arms were relatively simple, with a pheon or broad arrow..quartered with the arms of his grandmother's family.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
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1537 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour (new ed.) i. xxvii. f. 92v In shootynge at..brode arowe markes, is a mediocritie of exercyse of the lower partes of the bodye and legges.
1670 J. Narborough Jrnl. in Acct. Several Late Voy. (1694) i. 66 Flint-stones, neatly made broad-Arrow-fashion.
1831 J. V. L. McMahon Hist. View Govt. Maryland I. i. 20 He..declared he would put ‘the broad arrow mark’, upon the houses of all such as should refuse.
1981 Guardian 14 May 18/8 A three-cylinder broad-arrow shape.
2006 J. Supica & R. Nahas Standard Catal. Smith & Wesson (ed. 3) ii. 105/2 Guns and stocks used in Western Australia may lack broad arrow markings.
C2. With the sense ‘(of a prison uniform) marked with broad arrows’. Cf. broad-arrowed adj. at Derivatives.
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1879 Daily Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 25 Jan. 2/6 He..divested himself of the eccentric ‘broad arrow’ clothing.
1901 Daily Chron. 17 June 5/6 His broad-arrow trousers.
1930 Fortn. Rev. May 698 Ordering attendants to force him into the broad arrow suit.
2002 Hobart (Tasmania) Mercury (Nexis) 22 Apr. Contractors on our share of the highway budget could equip their workforce with broad-arrow uniforms and funny caps.
Derivatives
broad-ˈarrowed adj. (of a prison uniform) marked with broad arrows.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > of specific pattern
round1490
print1820
Rob Roy1837
Fair Isle1851
broad-arrowed1887
argyll1890
arrowed1895
Tattersall1951
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [adjective] > of prison garb
broad-arrowed1887
1887 Harper's Mag. Dec. 729/2 The hero strips off his broad-arrowed coat.
1934 J. A. Lee Children of Poor i. 21 I can..see that shuffling parade of men in broad-arrowed moleskins.
2016 H. Johnston in Y. Jewkes et al. Handbk. Prisons (ed. 2) ii. 24 The dangerous, long-term criminal, clothed in the broad arrowed uniform.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1372