Etymology: The original meaning is presumably ‟sling”, that is, a cord with a leather cup near the middle into which a stone is placed. The two ends of the cord are held in the hand and the stone twirled until it is moving rapidly. Then, when it is at the forward extreme of its loop, one end of the cord is released, launching the stone. Elders remember seeing such slings in use in their youth for hunting grouse. The term was presumably then extended to slingshots, which were introduced by colonists. Then, since the string of a slingshot is elastic, the term was extended to include elastic bands.

Related Words:   Firearms   Hunting

marjoh  soptho