[a. OF. archerie, f. archier.]
1. The practice or art of shooting with bow and arrow; skill as an archer. Also fig.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 44. Myht nevyr man fynde My pere of archerye.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xxvii. 309. Gud yomen for Archery.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. iii. 2. Sir Boy let me see your Archerie.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxii. Doomed to die … by Love’s sad archery.
1859. J. Lang, Wand. India, 25. An Archery meeting or a pic-nic.
2. collect. An archer’s weapons; bows, arrows, etc.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., Archerye, Sagittaria, arcus.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, III. 77. [Their bows] as well as their arrows, were … far inferior to the archery of merry England.
1882. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, 8/2. An archery manufacturer.
3. collect. A company or corps of archers.
c. 1465. Chevy Chase (Percy Fol.), 85. He rod uppon a corsiare Throughe a hondrith archery.
1814. Scott, Ld. Isles, VI. xxii. Signal for England’s archery To halt and bend their bows.
† 4. A feudal service; (see quot.) Obs.
1691. Blount, Law Dict., Archery was a Service of keeping a Bow for the Use of the Lord, to defend his Castle [per Serjeantiam Archeriæ, Coke, On Litt., 107 a.]
