subs. (American).—A large clasp-knife: a knife (BARTLETT) from ten to fifteen inches long, and about two inches broad, so named after its inventor, Colonel Bowie; they are worn as weapons by persons in the South and South-western States only, and concealed in the back part of the coat or in the sleeve: see ARKANSAS-TOOTHPICK.
1843. DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxiii. ‘No stakes, no dungeons, no blocks, no racks, no scaffolds, no thumbscrews, no pikes, no pillories,’ said Chollop. ‘Nothing but revolvers and BOWIE KNIVES,’ returned Mark; ‘and what are they? not worth mentioning.’
1849. C. KINGSLEY, Alton Locke, xxvii. I took the precaution of bringing my BOWIE and revolver with me, in case the worst came to the worst.
1854. MARTIN and AYTOUN, Bon Gualtier Ballads, ‘The Death of Jabez Dollar.’ And in his hand, for deadly strife, a BOWIE-KNIFE he bears.
1855. B. F. STRINGFELLOW, Speech in St. Joseph, Missouri (BARTLETT). I advise you, one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas … and vote at the point of the BOWIE-KNIFE and revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as our case demands it.
1856. Punch, 6 Dec., 229. Song of Border Ruffian (BARTLETT).
| There ’s some men here as I have got to shoot, | |
| There ’s some men here as I have got to stick, | |
| Let any on you jest my words dispute, | |
| I’ll put this BOWIE-KNIFE into him, slick. |
1862. New York Tribune, 12 June. He has already made 12,000 pikes and a number of BOWIES.
