Spearthrower

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hand-held tool used as a lever to increase the throwing distance and penetrating force of a spear or dart, an atlatl; a woomera.

    "1988, Joyce A, Tyldesley, S. R. Snape, Nazlet Tuna: An Archaeological Survey in Middle Egypt, British Archaeological Reports International Series: 414, page 50, The broad spearthrowers and the long spearthrowers, depicted in ‘early’ and ‘late’ styles respectively, can likewise be related to Cundy′s analysis."

  2. 2
    The separate handle of an atlatl.

Example

More examples

"1988, Joyce A, Tyldesley, S. R. Snape, Nazlet Tuna: An Archaeological Survey in Middle Egypt, British Archaeological Reports International Series: 414, page 50, The broad spearthrowers and the long spearthrowers, depicted in ‘early’ and ‘late’ styles respectively, can likewise be related to Cundy′s analysis."

Etymology

From spear + thrower.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.