sagittaries

Noun

sagittary (plural sagittaries)

1. (archaic) A centaur, half-human and half-horse.
   • the dreadful Sagittary / Appals our numbersc. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
2. (capitalized, often) A mythical compound creature, resembling a centaur (half-human, half-horse) or a half-human, half-lion, often armed with a bow and arrows.
   • Gules, three Sagittaries - or, three torteaux. Stephen's cognizance was a Sagittary, because he entered England when the Sun was in that sign, and was greatly indebted for his success to mounted archers.1825, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, Encyclopaedia of antiquities, and elements of archaeology, classical and mediaeval, page 650
3. (archaic) An archer; by extension, a coin used in ancient Persia and Greece featuring an archer.
   • Born till Crassus perished by them, at which time a Sagittary was blazoned in their Royal Standard: [...] Darius being stamped on the one side and a Sagittary (his coat-armour) on the other; memorized by Plutarch in the life of Agesilaus, who complained that his design of conquering Asia was...1677, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Years Travels Into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great, page 301