"firearm for infantry" (later replaced by the rifle), 1580s, from Middle French mousquette, also the name of a kind of sparrow-hawk, diminutive of mosca "a fly," from Latin musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms often were given names of beasts (compare dragoon, also falcon, a kind of cannon mentioned by Hakluyt), and the equivalent word in Italian was used to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The French word was borrowed earlier into English (early 15c.) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk."
例文
1. I hunted with a musket two years ago.
2年前に私はボア銃で狩りをしました。
2.Not a bough waved,not the gleam of a musket -barrel betrayed the presence of our foes.
枝が揺れておらず、太陽に照らされて閃光する火銃もないので、敵の位置を知ることはできません。
-金銀島
3.So some seconds passed,till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired.
また数秒後、突然、ジョイスが銃を持って火をつけた。dd>-金銀島
4.While underneath,in a corner,were fowling piece, musket ,and matchlock.
の下、隅には、鳥銃、小銃、火縄銃が積まれている。
5.In olden times one had to charge a musket before firing.