A list of all the stupid words we archers have made up to talk about archery
Misc
Anchor – The place on your face you bring your hand back to to shoot
Bareshaft – An arrow without any fletches
Boss – The thing with targets on it that stops the arrows
Bouncer – An arrow that hit and bounced out of the target
Bracing height – The distance from the string to the arrow rest when the bow is at rest
Bubble – The psychological barrier between you and everything around you while you are shooting
BUCS – British Universities and Colleges Sport – The inter-university sports league
BUTC – British University Team Championship, one of the main inter-university archery competitions
Danage – The foamy material our bosses are made of
Detail – A group of archers that shoot at the same time (when there are too many people for everyone to shoot simultaneously)
Draw length – The distance between the string and the front of the bow when at full draw (unique to each archer)
Face – The piece of paper with a target printed on
Fire – A lighter
FITA – Federation Internationale de Tir a L’Arc, the previous name of the World Archery Federation
Full draw – The point at which you have pulled the string as far back as you can, just before releasing
GNAS – The Grand National Archery Society (now known as Archery GB)
Gold – The highest scoring ring on the target
Group – Arrows that hit the target close to each other (shot by one person)
Handedness – In archery, your handedness (left/right) is the hand with which you pull the string back
Hanger – An arrow that hits and then hangs vertically from the target
Loose – The manner in which you let go of the string to shoot
Novice – Someone who hasn’t shot before the start of the current academic year
P.B. – Personal Best, an archer’s best score at a certain round
Poundage/Weight – The peak amount of force required to pull your bow
Robin hood – An arrow that hit and went through another arrow already in the target (specifically, the arrow must be in the 10, otherwise it’s just bad luck)
Round – A scored set of shots at a certain distance with a certain number of arrows (rounds page)
SEAL – South East Archery League Southampton Empire Archery League
Serving – The coloured thread wrapped around the ends and middle of a bowstring
Sightmark – The numerical height setting of your sight for a certain distance
Spider – The x in the middle of the target
Stacking – When bow limbs require more force to bend further towards the end of the draw
Stance – The way you stand to shoot
String (verb) – To put a string on a bow
String picture – Where in your field of view the string appears while you are aiming
Stringwalking – Changing where your arrows go by changing where you put your hand on the string rather than where you aim
SUAC – Southampton University Archery Club
Tiller – The perpendicular distance from the string to the bottom of the limb, or the difference in that distance between the two limbs
Toxophilia – Coolest philia known to man
Visualisation – A psychological technique in which you imagine how the shot is supposed to go before making it.
Windage – The left/right adjustment of a sight.
Parts of a bow
For more information see: recurve bows page
Riser – The main structural element of the bow. The bit you hold on to, and everything else is plugged in to.
Grip – The shaped part of the riser that your hand touches
Limb – The bendy wooden/carbon bits that the string is attached to
Rest – The bit the arrow rests on
Button – The springy plunger that the arrow rests against
Sight – The bit you aim at the target with
Clicker – A springy strip of material that rests on the arrow and falls off the tip once the arrow is drawn a certain distance
Limb bolt – The bolt that holds the limbs in
Limb adjustment bolts – The bolts that determine the alignment of the limbs
Shelf – The cutout in the riser, where the arrow would fall if it wasn’t on the rest.
Longrod – The long stabilisation rod that extends from the front of the riser
Extender – A short extension to a long rod
V-Bar – A V-shaped bar that allows side-rods to be attached between the longrod and riser
Side rods – Short stabilisation rods that extend sideways from the bottom of the longrod
Endweights – Weights at the end of longrods and siderods
Dampener – A flexible rubber part between a stabiliser and its endweights which absorbs vibration.
Cams (Compound) – The wheel-like rotating things attached to the ends of limbs that provide compound’s draw pattern.
Cables (Compound) – Two “strings” connected to both cams which pull on the limbs.
Blade/Launcher (Compound) – A type of arrow rest which uses a thin lizard-tongue metal plate.
Drop-away (Compound) – A type of arrow rest which drops away when firing.
Whisker-Biscuit (Compound) – A type of arrow rest which fully contains the arrow inside of flexible fibers.
Parts of an arrow
For more information see: arrows page
Shaft – The main structural element of the arrow. May be made of wood, aluminium, carbon or a composite.
Nock – The plastic clip that holds the arrow onto the string
Bushing – The thing the nock is inserted into, which is itself inserted into the shaft
Pin – An alternative to a bushing, instead nocks fit over a pin on the end of the shaft.
Pile – The point. Glued into the end of the shaft.
Fletchings – The three feathers / vanes glued to the back end of the shaft.
