What does bowstringed mean?
Bowstringed is the past tense and past participle of the verb bowstring, meaning to strangle someone with the string of a bow. The word is overwhelmingly tied to one grim chapter of history: in the Ottoman Empire, members of the ruling dynasty who lost succession struggles were traditionally put to death without bloodshed, since royal blood could not be spilled, and strangulation by silk bowstring became the customary method. As a result, bowstringed appears almost entirely in historical writing, biography, and literature dealing with that era, carrying an unmistakably dark, formal connotation. A much rarer sense describes a bow as being fitted or supplied with its string. Outside these contexts the word is essentially obsolete, but it remains a vivid example of how a humble piece of archery equipment gave its name to a chillingly specific form of execution.
Past tense and past participle of bowstring: to kill by strangulation with a bowstring.
"The vizier was bowstringed after falling from imperial favour."
Chiefly used in historical accounts of the Ottoman Empire.
(Rare) Fitted with a bowstring, said of an archery bow.
"He reached for his bowstringed longbow as the hunt began."
In the Ottoman Empire, princes were spared by tradition from having their royal blood spilled — so rivals were quietly bowstringed instead.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bowstringed
The word combines "bow," from Old English boga (related to German Bogen and cognate with forms seen in elbow and rainbow), and "string," from Old English streng (cognate with German Strang). The compound arose in English during the early modern period, when accounts of Ottoman court executions made the practice familiar to European readers. The verb took regular -ed inflection, giving bowstringed.
Related word forms
How bowstringed is actually used
Almost exclusively historical or literary today, strongly associated with Ottoman execution practices; the literal sense of fitting a bow with its string is rare and usually phrased differently in modern usage.
Easily confused with bowstringed
"Bowstring" is the noun for the cord of an archer's bow (or the act as a verbal noun), while "bowstringed" is the verb form describing something that has been killed or fitted in that way.