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BOLA (BOH-luh)

A rope with weights attached, used especially in South America to catch cattle or game by entangling their legs.

Common clues: Cattle catcher; Vaquero's weapon; Weight-laden lasso; Gaucho’s gadget; Weapon of two balls and a cord

Crossword puzzle frequency: once a year

Frequency in English language: 65328 / 86800




A hunter mounted on a horse using bolas


Bolas (from Spanish bola, "ball", also known as boleadoras) are a throwing weapon similar to the surujin made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs. They are most famously used by the South American gauchos, but have been found in excavations of pre-Hispanic settlements, especially in Patagonia, where indigenous peoples used them to catch guanaco and ñandu.




Gauchos use boleadoras to capture running cattle or game. Depending on the exact design, the thrower grasps the boleadoras either by one of the weights or by the nexus of the cords. He gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the boleadoras. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animal's legs, but when thrown with enough force might even inflict damage (e.g. breaking a bone).








This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bolas".


BOLA (61) 27 We- >1 08 Gaucho's weapon

5 Th- >1 04 Gaucho's gadget

4 We+ >1 05 Vaquero's weapon

3 Th LAT 00 Gaucho's cow-catcher

04 Cattle catcher

2 Th >1 00 Gaucho weapon

07 Gaucho's device

2 We >1 07 Two-balled weapon

1 Mo LAT 03 Cattle-catching weapon

1 Mo NYS 05 Cattle-catching weapon on the pampas

1 Sa LAT 99 Cord tie

1 We CSy 98 Cord with weights on each end

85 Cow-catcher

1 Th WaP 00 Gaucho gear

1 We CSy 05 Gaucho's cattle catcher

1 Th NYS 02 Gaucho's cattle-catcher

00 Gaucho's cowcatcher

97 Gaucho's item

00 Gaucho's lariat

1 Fr LAT 97 Gaucho's missile

1 Th WSJ 05 Gaucho's throw

1 We NYS 03 Gaucho's tool

1 Fr CSy 09 Hurled weapon

1 Fr LAT 07 Pampas weapon

1 Mo LAT 03 South American weapon that's thrown