1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Linstock

LINSTOCK (adapted from the Dutch lontstok, i.e. “matchstick,” from lont, a match, stok, a stick; the word is sometimes erroneously spelled “lintstock” from a supposed derivation from “lint” in the sense of tinder), a kind of torch made of a stout stick a yard in length, with a fork at one end to hold a lighted match, and a point at the other to stick in the ground. “Linstocks” were used for discharging cannon in the early days of artillery.