Armguard – A leather pad worn on the inside of the forearm of the bow hand to protect the arm from the buffeting of the bowstring.
Arrow Plate – An inlay just above the handle on the side of the bow where the arrow passes through as it exits the bow.
Ascharm’ A cupboard in which bows, arrows and archery gear are stored.
Back: The surface of the bow furthest from the archer when the bow is held in the shooting position.
Support: Various materials including: fiberglass, cellulose products, rawhide, etc. glued to the back of the bow to improve its launch.
Backed Boiv: A bow that has had a back attached to it.
Spike: Projection of a hunting head that prevents its easy removal.
Barrel Arrow: An arrow whose shaft tapers from the middle toward each end and which has its greatest cross-sectional area in the middle of the shaft.
Boss or Bast: The twisted, coiled straw back of a target to which the face is attached.
Bow Stave: A billet of wood with which a bow is to be made.
Bowyer: bow maker.
Strap: To string the bow.
Belly: The belly of the bow is the side you see when you hold the bow in the shooting position.
Doubling: The act of reinforcing or placing the rope in the bow nocks.
Cut Arrow: An arrow that has its largest cross section in the stack and tapers toward the nock.
Bodkin: Three-bladed broadheaded arrow.
Broadhead – A flat triangular shaped hunting head made of steel.
Butt: A rear butt to which faces are attached, like bales of straw.
Carriage Bow: A bow that has its two limbs joined under the handle in a splint. It can be disassembled for easy transport. (Shoot down).
Release: The inherent ability of a bow to propel an arrow.
Chest Arrow: An arrow that has its greatest cross section toward the nock and tapers from this point toward the nock and pile.
Chrysal: A compression failure, that is, a fracture of the fibers that usually appears as a line through the belly of the arch.
Influence Target: The standard four foot target magnified twelve times and arranged in a horizontal position on the ground.
Cock Feather: The feather on the arrow that is at right angles to the nock. Usually the feather of strange colors.
Crest: colored bands of variable width and spacing, painted on the arrow for identification purposes.
Crossbow: A short bow set crosswise in a stock, pulled by mechanical means and firing a dart on release of the trigger.
Crosswind: A wind blowing across the target.
Curl: A swirl in the grain of an arc pentagram.
Down Wind: A wind blowing towards the target.
Draw: The act of pulling the bowstring to the full length of the arrow.
Drawing fingers: The first three fingers of the hand used to pull the string.
Draw Weight: The force in pounds required to draw a bow to its full draw.
Drift: The lateral movement of the arrow as it travels towards the target due to a crosswind.
End: A unit number of arrows used in scoring. In the shooting match, six arrows constitute a finish.
Eye-‘ The loop or loops in a bowstring.
Field Captain: The officer in charge of a tournament.
Fingertips – Leather finger posts used to protect the tips of the three firing fingers.
Fistmele: The distance from the base of the closed hand to the tip of the extended thumb. It is used as a measure of the proper distance from the handle to the string when
the bow is reinforced or strung.
Fletch: Placing the feathers on an arrow.
Fletcher: An arrow maker. Arrow maker.
Fletching: The feathers that guide the arrow in flight.
Flight Arrow: A long, light arrow with very small feathers or vanes. Used in distance shooting.
Flirt: A jerking or bouncing movement of an arrow from its theoretical line of flight.
Follow the string – a bow that has taken a permanent set in the direction of the drawing.
Floo Floo: An arrow used to shoot with wings. It is usually feathered with a full whorl. The size of the feathers is such that the flight distance is short.
Shoe: A hardwood butt at the butt end of a wooden shafted arrow.
Gold: Bullseye on the regulation four foot circular target. A circle nine and three-fifths inches in diameter.
Grip: The part of the bow that is held in the shooting hand.
Chicken Feathers: The two feathers, usually of the same color, that are not at right angles to the nock of the arrow.
High Bracing: When the fistmel distance exceeds seven inches, it is better to brace an arch high than low.
Hold: Pause at the full draw position before releasing the arrow.
Home: When the arrow is fully drawn with the pyle even with the back of the bow, it is said to be “home”.
Horns: Bow points made of animal horn into which the bowstring nock is cut.
Articulated Bows: Same as a carriage bow.
Kick: A jolt felt when shooting a bow. Usually due to unevenly tillered bow blades.
Lady Paramount – A lady assistant to the field captain. She in charge of the women’s shooting line or division at a tournament.
Laminate Bow: A bow that is built in layers. It can consist of different types of wood, wood and metal, wood and
fiberglass etc.
End: Half of the arc. From the handle or hilt to the tip Upper and lower limbs.
Loose: The act of shooting. Letting the stretched bowstring slide
of the fingers that shoot.
National Archery Association. (NAA): National Association of Target Archers.
National Field Archery Association. (NFAA): National Field Archers Association.
Nocks: The grooves in the tips of the limbs of a bow into which the bowstring fits, also the groove in the fletched end of an arrow.
Nock Point: The point on the bowstring where the arrow nock rests.
Overbowed: A bow with a higher draw weight than the archer can shoot correctly.
Overdraw – To stretch the bow beyond the arrow length for which the bow is designed.
Overstrung: when the fist is exceeded by the use of a bowstring that is too short.
Pair: Two arrows and one spare, also three feathers.
Pennant: A small flag with the fly longer than the hoist. Placed on the target line on a staff to indicate the direction and speed of the wind at the targets.
Petticoat: The outer edge of the last or white ring of the target has no scoring value.
Pyle: The metal tip attached to the head of the arrow shaft, the arrowhead. Anglo-Saxon (pil) meaning dart, also spelled pile.
Pin: A very small knot in bow woods, especially yew or osage.
Pinch: Crush the arch fibers by compression. See Chrysal.
Pinch: To squeeze the arrow between the drawing fingers.
Pin Hole: The center of the target’s gold, i.e. dead center.
Point Blank: The act of aiming directly at the target.
Aim Point: An object that an archer aims at by looking above the arrowhead.
Quiver: A container for arrows. Shape, size and materials vary, can be worn at the waist, over the shoulder, across the bow or on the bow arm.
Quiver, Earth: In the simplest form, a metal rod about 18 inches long, pointed at one end and a loop formed at right angles to the stem at the other end. Inserted
on the ground, the arrows can be dropped through the loop and drawn one at a time.
Scope: The terrain used in archery competitions. Also called Field Course.
Recurve Bow: A bow that bends back from a straight line at the ends of the limbs.
Reflex Bow: Unstrung and held in a shooting position, the limbs of the bow curve away from the archer.
Release: Same as Loose.
Round: A fixed number of shots at a certain distance or set of distances.
Rover: An archer who is dedicated to field shooting. See Roaming.
Roving: Shoot over fields and forests at natural targets.
Run: When just one of the strands that make up the bowstring frays, stretches, or breaks, the string is said to have a run.
Sap Wood: The wood immediately below the bark.
Self: Used in reference to a bow or arrow made from a single piece of wood, that is, self bow, self arrow.
Service: Winding or coiling the bowstring at the hooking points to protect the bowstring from wear.
Shaft: The main body or section of the arrow. The term “feathered shaft” is frequently used in print to designate an arrow.
Shaft: That section of the shaft to which the feathers are attached.
Shaking: Longitudinal crack in a bow stave.
Shooting Glove – A three-fingered glove used to protect the shooting fingers.
Shooting Tab – A flat piece of leather designed to be worn on the shooting fingers for protection.
Whorl: The curved position where the feathers meet the arrow shaft.
Spine: The springy quality in an arrow that allows it to bend as it passes the bow in flight and then return to its original shape.
Stacked Arch-‘ An arch with an oval cross section. The one in which the thickness of the extremities is little greater than the width.
Steele: Same as the shaft.
Tab: See shooting tab.
Tackle: An archer’s equipment: bow, arrows, quiver, tabs, strings, etc.
Takedown: See Chariot Bow.
Rudder: Shape the bow to the proper curvature. To carve an arc.
Toxophyllite: Archery fan or devotee. It derives from the Greek toxen meaning bow and philos meaning love.
Turn: A term used to describe an arc that has a turn to the right.
or to the left of the string. Underboived: A bow that has very little draw weight for the bow.
goalkeeper.
Unit: Fourteen targets from an itinerant field course.
Result: The last shot in an archery contest.
Vane: The web or expanded flat part of a feather. Extended plastic flat surfaces attached to a shaft to serve as a feathering.
Wand: A two-inch-wide wooden stick, placed upright on the ground. Six feet tall. It is used as a mark to shoot at.
Weight: The weight in grains of an arrow. See also Drawing Weight.
Whip Ended: A bow that has limbs that are too weak at the tips.
Beat: See Serve.