marksman n : someone skilled in shooting [syn: sharpshooter, crack shot}]

Marksman \Marks"man\, n.; pl. Marksmen. [Earlier markman; mark + man.]
1. One skillful to hit a mark with a missile; one who shoots well.

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A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting,

Another term for a marksman is a sharpshooter, which was used in the early 19th Century. It is derived from the German word Scharfschütze. An equally-likely etymology is that the word "sharpshooters" is a contraction of "Sharps shooters" which would refer to Union Army snipers who employed Sharps rifles in the Civil War.

In the Middle Ages, the first use of the term 'marksman' was given to the royal archers, or bowmen, of a palace guard, which was an elite group of troops chosen to guard a royal palace. This was approximately around the 10th century, although records of some 9th century English Kings show the listings of groups of marksmen specifically chosen for their military.

One of the first true appearances of units of sharpshooters was during the American Revolution.

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