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To snap; to project quickly. The use of the elastic switch to fillip small missiles with. Tylor.

-- Fire pot. (a) (Mil.) A small earthen pot filled with combustibles, formerly used as a missile in war. (b) The cast iron vessel which holds the fuel or fire in a furnace. (c) A crucible. (d) A solderer's furnace. -- Fire raft, a raft laden with combustibles, used for setting fire to an enemy's ships. -- Fire roll,…

A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various means. Muskets, rifles, carbines,…

A short club with a knobbed end used as a missile weapon by Kafir and other native tribes of South Africa.

cting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, shooting or dropping missiles upen assailants attacking the base of the walls. Also, the construction of such defenses, in general, when of this character. See Illusts. of Battlement and Castle.

That toward which a missile is directed; a thing aimed at; what one seeks to hit or reach. France was a fairer mark to shoot at than Ireland. Davies. Whate'er the motive, pleasure is the mark. Young.

One skillful to hit a mark with a missile; one who shoots well.

Missile. "The missive weapons fly." Dryden. Letters missive, letters conveying the permission, comand, or advice of a superior authority, as a sovereign. They are addressed and sent to some certain person or persons, and are distinguished from letters patent, which are addressed to the public.

A shield of basket work formerly used by archers as a shelter from the enemy's missiles.

To strike with something thrown or driven; to assail with pellets or missiles, as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail. The children billows seem to pelt the clouds. Shak.

Figuratively: To shower shot or other missiles, or blows, upon; to pelt; to fill with shot, or cover with bruises or wounds. "I have peppered two of them." "I am peppered, I warrant, for this world." Shak.

The white spot on a target, at which an arrow or other missile is aimed. [Obs.] Jonson.

A body projected, or impelled forward, by force; especially, a missile adapted to be shot from a firearm.

ring-shaped piece of iron, to be pitched at a fixed object in play; hence, any heavy flat missile used for the same purpose, as a stone, piece of iron, etc. (b) pl.

Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of a rifle ball. Sir K. Digby.

To strike, hit, or tough with a missile; as, to reach an object with an arrow, a bullet, or a shell.

An ancient military engine for hurling stones and other missiles. Book scorpion. (Zoöl.) See under Book. -- False scorpion. (Zoöl.) See under False, and Book scorpion. -- Scorpion bug, or Water scorpion (Zoöl.) See Nepa. -- Scorpion fly (Zoöl.), a neuropterous insect of the genus Panorpa. See Panorpid. -- Scorpion…

use to be driven, with force, as an arrow or a bullet; -- followed by a word denoting the missile, as an object. If you please To shoot an arrow that self way. Shak.

The act of shooting; discharge of a firearm or other weapon which throws a missile. He caused twenty shot of his greatest cannon to be made at the king's army. Clarendon.

An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end and a light stick to the other. The missile being lodged in a hole in the strap, the ends of the string are taken in the hand, and the whole whirled rapidly round…