bowstring

bow +‎ string

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊstɹɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊstɹɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: bow‧string

bowstring (plural bowstrings)

1. The string of an archer's bow.
2. (historical) The string of an archer's bow, as used by the Turks for strangling offenders.

• (string of an archer's bow): bowstring bridge, bowstring girder, bowstring hemp, bowstring knot

bowstring (third-person singular simple present bowstrings, present participle bowstringing, simple past and past participle bowstrung or bowstringed)

1. (transitive) To strangle with a bowstring.
   • 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade:

     When the day broke […] it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung—a thing very little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.

   • 1909, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), A Municipal Report

     I have seen (on one of my imaginary tours) the Sultan of Turkey bowstring with his own hands one of his wives who had uncovered her face in public.