A young man or boy armed with a bow; an archer, particularly in historical or medieval contexts.
Compound of bow (the weapon) plus boy. This term appears in historical and fantasy literature to describe young archers or warriors.
Before firearms, armies of archers were devastating—English bowmen at Agincourt in 1415 devastated French knights with arrows. A 'bowboy' would have been an apprentice to master archers who trained for years to shoot accurately!
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