broad arrowhead

English

Etymology

From Middle English brode arowe hed, brode arowe hede, brode arrowe head.

Noun

broad arrowhead (plural broad arrowheads)

1. Synonym of broad arrow (“type of arrowhead”).
   • 1879 December 5, [Eustace Clare Grenville Murray], “[Tales and Sketches.] Mrs. Bennion’s Disappearance. (From London Week.) (Concluded from our last.) Chapter III.”, in The Armidale Express, and New England General Advertiser, Armidale, N.S.W., page 2, column 1:

     A blue check gown, thick worsted stockings, and heavy-nailed shoes formed her costume, which was covered with a number of broad arrowheads, and had nothing in the way of ornament but a red badge on one of the sleeves—a good conduct badge.

   • 1913 May 23, “Old Convict Ship. The Success Is the Sole Survivor of a Hideous Traffic.”, in Redcliff Review, volume 3, number 21, Redcliff, Alta., page [3], column 3:

     On every one of her sails are painted broad arrowheads, the distinguishing mark of the English convict’s garb, and her interior is divided into an array of cells, “tiger dens,” “black holes” and bilboes, save in that part reserved for the crew.

   • 1996, “bench mark”, in David Hey, editor, The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, Oxford, Oxon, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, page 38, column 2:

     Below the horizontal notch is the broad arrowhead that was used from the Middle Ages onwards to mark the property of the sovereign.

References

• “broad arrowhead, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.