Plural of hackbut; early firearms with hooked supports that were used by soldiers in the 16th and 17th centuries.
From Dutch 'haakbus' (hook-gun), where 'haak' means hook and 'bus' means gun. These weapons were called this because they required a hooked or forked rest to help support the gun's weight when firing, since they were quite heavy and difficult to manage.
Hackbuts were so heavy and slow to reload that soldiers using them had to stand in tight formations protected by pikemen with long spears—this combination of firearms and pikes basically invented the modern military unit structure.
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