sabot
/ˈsabəʊ
/noun
1A kind of simple shoe, shaped and hollowed out from a single block of wood, traditionally worn by French and Breton peasants.He said they were called sabots, or klompens - and were the root of the word sabotage - when Dutch militant workers had thrown them into the gears to stop factory production as protest over something....
- During the First World War it housed Belgian refugees, who made sabot clogs in the workshop of Arthur Simpson, renowned furniture designer and wood-carver.
- Women in Brittany, of course, all wear sabots, you understand.
2A device which ensures the correct positioning of a bullet or shell in the barrel of a gun, attached either to the projectile or inside the barrel and falling away as it leaves the muzzle.The shells were held in the centre of the barrel by sabots arranged around their circumference, which fell away after the missile left the barrel....
- In order to transmit the energy from the charge to the sub-calibre projectile a sabot is needed, which acts as a ‘sling’ either to drive an armour-piercing core harder, or to throw a sub-calibre projectile further.
- Modern guns will use a sabot or a pistol bullet, which come pre-packaged.
3A box from which cards are dealt at casinos in gambling games such as baccarat and chemin de fer. Also called shoe.The croupier took two cards from the sabot....
- After the players have placed their bets, the dealer picks out three cards from the sabot putting them before him.
Derivatives
saboted
- The capped and saboted peasant women who waited on us were not more simple in their ways.
Origin
Early 17th century: French, blend of savate 'shoe' and botte 'boot'.