Hist. Forms: sing. 7 strelits, 7, 9 strelitz, often incorrectly as pl.; pl. 7 strelsey, strelsies, strelitzi, 7, 9 strelitzes. [a. Russian стрѣлецъ striele·ts, archer (pl. стрѣлцы strieltsy), agent-n, f. стрѣлять strielyati to shoot with the bow, f. стрѣла striela arrow.] A soldier belonging to a body of Russian troops composed of infantry raised by the Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1533–84) and abolished by Peter the Great in 1682. Also attrib.
1603. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 155. 5000 attend aboute the citty of Mosco, or where the emperour shall abide, and two thousande, Stremaney Strelsey, or gunners at the stirroppe, about his owne person.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 7. Our Musketiers, or Strelits. Ibid., 78. The Strelitz, who are spying up and down.
a. 1670. [S. Collins], Pres. St. Russia (1671), 111. With these he [the Czar] pays his Strelsies or Janzaries.
1799. W. Tooke, View Russian Emp., II. 471. Without mentioning the strelitzes.
1833. R. Pinkerton, Russia, 300. The officers and common soldiers of the Strelitzi.
1841. Penny Cycl., XX. 259/1. The first acts of his [sc. Ivan IV., 1533–84] reign were the institution of the corps of Strelitzes (archers), the first regular army of Russia.
1841. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. iv. 112. Peter the Great disbanded and annihilated the Strelitz or Russian janissaries.
1904. Whishaw, Tiger of Muscovy, xxxi. A Strelitz soldier lay sleeping at the door leading to the corridor…. To the Strelitz the Tsar said: ‘Go quickly,… and follow the Boyar Nagoy.’
