sabot

noun sa·bot \ sa-ˈbō , ˈsa-(ˌ)bō , for sense 1b also ˈsa-bət \

Editor's Note: The evolution of sabot

Definition of sabot

1 a : a wooden shoe worn in various European countries

b (1) : a strap across the instep in a shoe especially of the sandal type

(2) : a shoe having a sabot strap

2 : a thrust-transmitting carrier that positions a missile in a gun barrel or launching tube and that prevents the escape of gas ahead of the missile

3 : shoe 6

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Recent Examples of sabot from the Web

The sabot falls away as the dart exits the barrel and heads downrange toward its target.

— kyle mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Pennsylvania Jogger Stumbles Upon Anti-Tank Round," 25 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sabot.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The evolution of sabot

The term sabot may have first been introduced into English in a 1607 translation from French: "wooden shoes," readers were informed, are "properly called sabots." The gun-related sense appeared in the mid-1800s with the invention of a wooden gizmo that kept gun shells from shifting in the gun barrel. Apparently, someone thought the device resembled a wooden shoe and named it sabot (with later generations of this device carrying on the name). Another kind of French sabot—a metal "shoe" used to secure rails to railway ties—is said to be the origin of the word sabotage, from workers destroying the sabots during a French railway strike in the early 1900s. The word sabot is probably related to savate, a Middle French word for an old shoe.