gun
/ˈɡʌn/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of gin
Forms guns gunning gunned
- noun A device for shooting projectiles or ditto (a shooter), functioning through stored energy: a firearm, cannon, harpoon gun/spear gun, raygun, etc, not a bow and arrow, or slingshot. “Guns were considered improvements of crossbows and catapults.”
- noun A very portable, short firearm, for hand use, which fires bullets or projectiles, such as a handgun, revolver, pistol, or Derringer.
- noun A less portable, long firearm that fires bullets or projectiles; a rifle, either manual, automatic or semi-automatic; a flintlock, musket or shotgun.
- noun (military) A cannon with relatively long barrel, operating with relatively low angle of fire, and having a high muzzle velocity.
- noun (military) A cannon with a 6-inch/155mm minimum nominal bore diameter and tube length 30 calibers or more.
- noun (figurative) A firearm or cannon used for saluting or signalling. “21-gun salute”
- noun Any implement designed to fire a projectile from a tube. “air-pressure pellet gun”
- noun A device or tool that projects a substance. “squirt gun”
- verb (transitive) To shoot with a gun.
- verb (transitive) To cause to speed up. “He gunned the engine.”
- verb (informal) To offer vigorous support to (a person or cause). “We're all gunning for you.”
- verb (informal) To strongly desire or seek, and make a great effort to obtain (something which one is 'gunning for' or 'gunning to do').
- verb To seek to attack someone; to take aim at someone; used with for. “He's been gunning for you ever since you embarrassed him at the party.”
- verb To practice fowling or hunting small game; chiefly in participial form: to go gunning.
- verb (ambitransitive, US, prison slang, of a male prisoner) Synonym of gun down (“to masturbate while making sustained eye contact with someone — typically a female prison officer — as a form of intimidation”).
- noun (obsolete, slang) A magsman or street thief.
- proper noun A Gbe language spoken in parts of Benin and Nigeria.
Synonyms
gun down artillery heavy weapon ordnance gunman gunslinger hired gun gun for hire triggerman hit man hitman torpedo shooter grease-gun accelerator accelerator pedal gas pedal gas throttle
Etymology
From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war (compare Nordic Gunn, a female name meaning “battle”). The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".
Related to ganef.
From gunna, from gonna, from going to.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various means. Muskets, rifles, carbines, and fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are called small arms.
- noun A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon.
- verb To practice fowling or hunting small game; --chiefly in participial form; as, to go gunning.
Etymology [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin; cf. Ir., Gael.) A LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon) fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E. mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gun”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details