arrow

A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow.

Contraction

  1. Contraction of ever + a, sometimes used with a redundant a or an.
    • though he hath lived here this many years, I don't believe there is arrow a servant in the house ever saw the colour of his money. - 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 153:

Origin

Representing pronunciation.

Noun

  1. A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow.
    • The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of...
    • Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must...
  2. A sign or symbol used to indicate a direction (e.g.→).
    • Consider now the arrow with initial point A and terminal point B; this arrow we shall designate by #92;overrightarrow#123;AB#125;. If a#95;1,a#95;2,a#95;3, and b#95;1,b#95;2,b#95;3 are the coordinates of A and B,...
  3. A directed edge.
  4. A morphism.
  5. A dart.
    • The second arrow flew through the air in a drunken parabolic curve and nestled just below the previous dart. Twenty! “Good arrows!” came from all around the room. Total silence came from the opposition corner. - 2014,...
  6. The -> symbol, which has specific meanings in various programming languages.
  7. The inflorescence or tassel of a mature sugar cane plant.
    • When the bulb of the “blowing ball” is operated, a gentle spray, much like what happens in Nature when a sugar cane arrow is shaken by the wind or gently tapped, is given out at the free end of the capsule and can be...

Origin

From Middle English arwe, from Old English earh (“arrow”) (oblique form ēarw-), from Proto-West Germanic *arhu (“arrow”), from Proto-Germanic *arhwō (“arrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érkʷo- (“bow, arrow”). Cognate with Faroese ørv, ørvur (“arrow”), Icelandic ör (“arrow”), örvar (“arrows”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 (arƕazna, “dart”), Asturian and Leonese arcu (“arrow”), Aragonese, Galician, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish arco (“arrow”), Catalan, French, and Romanian arc (“arrow”), Latin arcus (“bow”). Doublet of arch, arc, arco, and arcus.

Forms

arrows

Synonyms

streal arc directed edge

Related

← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↚ ↛ ↜ ↝ ↞ ↟ ↠ ↡ ↢ ↣ ↤ ↥ ↦ ↧

Derived

arrow arum arrowback arrow bag arrow bamboo arrow board arrow crab arrow-finger arrowgrass arrow-head arrowhead arrowheaded arrow-hole arrow in the quiver arrowleaf arrowless arrowlet arrowlike arrowmaker arrow of love arrow of time time's arrow arrow paradox arrowpoint arrow point

Verb

  1. To move swiftly and directly (like an arrow).
    • Above his head, a startled bird arrows up, into the sun. - 2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 279:
  2. To let fly swiftly and directly.
    • Jermain Defoe dinked in an equaliser and Gareth Bale hit the crossbar for the hosts before Elliott Bennett arrowed in Norwich's winner. - 2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport:
  3. To develop an inflorescence.
    • The more vigorous and luxuriant the vegetation of a field of canes, the less will the tendency to flowering be shewn; whereas nearly all the canes will be found to arrow if the soil be poor and the vegetation meagre. -...
    • In some sugar cane countries efforts are made to harvest the cane crops before the period of arrowing, and in Barbados it is thought that a considerable loss occurs in the yield of sugar if the harvest be delayed and...
    • It is easily grown and arrows freely. It appears to be of moderate merit only, but might be cautiously tried on a small scale. - 1905, Sugar-Cane Experiments in the Leeward Islands:
  4. To navigate using the arrow keys.
    • Arrow left until you reach the start of the text you want to delete.
  5. To single out or nominate (someone) to be responsible for something, especially an undesirable task.
    • Just because I never come for meeting … my boss arrow me to do this job. - 2011, Susan Tsang, Audrey Perera, Singapore at Random, →ISBN, page 36:

Forms

arrows arrowing arrowed