a. [f. ARROW + -Y.]
1. Consisting of, or abounding in, arrows.
1671. Milton, P. R., III. 324. Sharp sleet of arrowy showers.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 11. The arrowy throne of rising Moon.
1810. W. Taylor, in Month. Mag., XXIX. 210. On the helmet rings the arrowy hail.
1864. Ld. Derby, Iliad, I. 6. On man the last, Was poured the arrowy storm.
2. Like an arrow: a. in shape or appearance.
1637. Heywood, Dialogues, 301. And thrild their arrowie Javelins after him.
1852. Th. Ross, Humboldt’s Trav., II. xxiv. 486. The arrowy branches of the palm-trees.
1877. A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, vi. 151. Clustered cupolas and arrowy minarets.
b. in swift or darting motion; swift as an arrow.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. lxxi. By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone.
1837. Howitt, Rur. Life, III. i. (1862), 260. Flew along with arrowy swiftness.
1855. Longf., Hiawatha, XX. 72. Homeward shoots the arrowy swallow.
c. in action, effect, etc.; darting, piercing, keen.
1785. Cowper, Task, VI. 782. The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.
a. 1822. Shelley, in Casquet Lit. (1877), IV. 363/1. Violets … dart their arrowy odour through the brain.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 63. Rain that comes chilling and arrowy like hail in January.
1861. W. Collier, Hist. Eng. Lit., ix. 234. Sharp arrowy wit.
1868. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, 59. Arrowy words, each one hitting its mark.
