Also 4–5 boumon. [f. BOW sb.1 + MAN.]
1. A man who shoots with a bow; esp. a fighting man armed with a bow.
1297. R. Glouc., 378. Spermen auote & bowmen, & al so arblastes.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5536. He was boumon of the best.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 492. You are a prety bow man but your luck is very ill.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, I. i. 3. Were there such bowmen as were in the old time.
1611. W. Barksted, Hiren (1876), 105. Saturn wounded by loues little bowman.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, III. 375. Heavy infantry, with bowmen and slingers.
† 2. Some kind of fish. Obs.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, IV. iii. 63. Conger, Lampson, Bowman, Soles.
3. Bowman’s root: a name given to certain plants: Gillenia trifoliata, Euphorbia corollata, and Isnardia alternifolia.
