gun

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

gun, n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin; cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon) fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E. mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.].

•  A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are called small arms. Larger guns are called cannon, ordnance, fieldpieces, carronades, howitzers, etc. See these terms in the Vocabulary.  [1913 Webster]

  "As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
  When fire is in the powder runne."  [1913 Webster]

  "The word gun was in use in England for an engine to cast a thing from a man long before there was any gunpowder found out."  [1913 Webster]
•  A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon.  [1913 Webster]
•  Violent blasts of wind.  [1913 Webster]

  " Guns are classified, according to their construction or manner of loading as rifled or smoothbore, breech-loading or muzzle-loading, cast or built-up guns; or according to their use, as field, mountain, prairie, seacoast, and siege guns."  [1913 Webster]

Armstrong gun, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong. -- Big gun or Great gun, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence (Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big guns to tackle the problem. -- Gun barrel, the barrel or tube of a gun. -- Gun carriage, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or moved. -- Gun cotton (Chem.), a general name for a series of explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity. Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See Pyroxylin, and cf. Xyloidin. The gun cottons are used for blasting and somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for making collodion. See Celluloid, and Collodion. Gun cotton is frequenty but improperly called nitrocellulose. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester of nitric acid. -- Gun deck. See under Deck. -- Gun fire, the time at which the morning or the evening gun is fired. -- Gun metal, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron. -- Gun port (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a cannon's muzzle is run out for firing. -- Gun tackle (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from the gun port. -- Gun tackle purchase (Naut.), a tackle composed of two single blocks and a fall. Totten. -- Krupp gun, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named after its German inventor, Herr Krupp. -- Machine gun, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns, mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier models, such as the Gatling gun, the cartridges were loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel. Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such weapons, with accurate aim. The Gatling gun, Gardner gun, Hotchkiss gun, and Nordenfelt gun, named for their inventors, and the French mitrailleuse, are machine guns. -- To blow great guns (Naut.), to blow a gale. See Gun, n., 3.

gun, v. i. 

 To practice fowling or hunting small game; -- chiefly in participial form; as, to go gunning.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

gun, n. & v.
--n.
1 any kind of weapon consisting of a metal tube and often held in the hand with a grip at one end, from which bullets or other missiles are propelled with great force, esp. by a contained explosion.
2 any device imitative of this, e.g. a starting pistol.
3 a device for discharging insecticide, grease, electrons, etc., in the required direction (often in comb.: grease-gun).
4 a member of a shooting-party.
5 US a gunman.
6 the firing of a gun.
7 (in pl.) Naut. sl. a gunnery officer.
--v. (gunned, gunning)
1 tr. a (usu. foll. by down) shoot (a person) with a gun. b shoot at with a gun.
2 tr. colloq. accelerate (an engine or vehicle).
3 intr. go shooting.
4 intr. (foll. by for) seek out determinedly to attack or rebuke.

Idiom

go great guns colloq. proceed forcefully or vigorously or successfully. gun-carriage a wheeled support for a gun. gun-cotton an explosive used for blasting, made by steeping cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. gun crew a team manning a gun. gun dog a dog trained to follow sportsmen using guns. gun-shy (esp. of a sporting dog) alarmed at the report of a gun. gun-site a (usu. fortified) emplacement for a gun. jump the gun colloq. start before a signal is given, or before an agreed time. stick to one's guns colloq. maintain one's position under attack.

Derivative

gunless adj. gunned adj.

Etymology

ME gunne, gonne, perh. f. the Scand. name Gunnhildr

THESAURUS

gun

AA gun, Armstrong, BAR, BB gun, Benet-Mercie, Beretta, Big Bertha, Bren, Bren gun, Browning, Cain, Colt, Garand, Garand rifle, Garling, Gatling, Gatling gun, Hotchkiss, Krupp, Lancaster, Lee-Enfield, Lee-Metford, Lewis, Lewis gun, Long Tom, Luger, Mannlicher, Marlin, Martini-Henry, Mauser, Maxim, Minie, Mossberg, Nimrod, Oerlikon, Paixhans, Parrott, Remington, Savage, Smith and Wesson, Snider, Spandau, Springfield, Stevens, Thompson submachine gun, Vickers, Vickers-Maxim, Webley-Scott, Winchester, Y-gun, adventurer, air gun, antiaircraft gun, antitank gun, antitank rifle, apache, archer, arquebus, arrest, artillerist, artilleryman, assassin, assassinator, atom gun, atomic cannon, atomic gun, automatic, automatic pistol, barrel, bazooka, beat, bell, bloodletter, bloodshedder, blowgun, blowpipe, blunderbuss, bolt, bolt-action rifle, bomb thrower, bombard, bombardier, bomber, bowman, bowshot, bravo, breech, breechloader, brown Bess, bruiser, bulldog, bullet, burker, burp gun, butcher, butt, button man, caliver, cane gun, cannibal, cannon, cannoneer, carabineer, carbine, carronade, chamber, charge, chase, chassepot, check, checkmate, cock, condottiere, course, crack shot, culverin, cutoff, cutthroat, cylinder, dart gun, dead shot, dead stop, deadeye, deadlock, desperado, detonate, detonation, discharge, dog, drive, drop, eject, ejection, end, endgame, ending, eradicator, escopeta, executioner, exterminator, falcon, falconet, fell, field gun, fieldpiece, final whistle, fire, fire off, firearm, firelock, flamethrower, flintlock, flush, follow the hounds, forty-five, forty-four, fowl, fowling piece, free lance, full stop, fusil, fusillade, garroter, gat, go hunting, good shot, goon, gorilla, grinding halt, gun carriage, gun for, gunfire, gunman, gunner, gunsel, gunshot, gunslinger, hackbut, halt, hammer, handgun, harpoon gun, harquebus, hatchet man, hawk, head-hunter, heater, hedgehog, hellion, hired gun, hired killer, hireling, hit, hit man, holy terror, homicidal maniac, homicide, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, horse pistol, hound, howitzer, hunt, hunt down, hunter, jack, jacklight, killer, let fly, let off, load, lock, lockout, machine gun, machine gunner, machine pistol, magazine, man-eater, man-killer, manslayer, marksman, markswoman, massacrer, matador, matchlock, mercenary, mortar, mountain gun, mug, mugger, murderer, muscle man, musket, musketeer, musketoon, muzzle, muzzle-loader, needle gun, peashooter, pedrero, pelt, pepper, pesticide, petronel, pick off, piece, pistol, plug, plug-ugly, poison, poisoner, pom-pom, popgun, pot, potshoot, potshot, prime, professional killer, prowl after, receiver, repeater, revolver, riddle, ride to hounds, rifle, rifleman, rod, rodman, roughneck, run, salvo, sawed-off shotgun, sear, semiautomatic, sharpshooter, shikar, shoot, shoot at, shoot down, shooter, shooting iron, shot, shotgun, sight, sit-down strike, six-gun, six-shooter, skysweeper, slaughterer, slayer, snipe, sniper, soldier of fortune, sport, spray, stalemate, stalk, stand, standoff, standstill, start, stay, still-hunt, stock, stoneshot, stop, stoppage, strangler, strike, strong-arm man, submachine gun, swivel, take a potshot, targetshooter, tattoo, terror, thirty-thirty, thirty-two, thug, torpedo, tough, toxophilite, track, trail, trapshooter, trigger, trigger man, ugly customer, volley, walkout, wind-gun, work stoppage, zip gun

ROGET THESAURUS

gun

Arms

N arm, arms, weapon, deadly weapon, armament, armaments, armature, panoply, stand of arms, armor, armory, apparatus belli, ammunition, powder, powder and shot, cartridge, ball cartridge, cartouche, fireball, villainous saltpeter, dumdum bullet, explosive, gunpowder, guncotton, mercury fulminate, picrates, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN, high explosive, trinitrotoluene, TNT, dynamite, melinite, cordite, lyddite, plastic explosive, plastique, pyroxyline, sword, saber, broadsword, cutlass, falchion, scimitar, cimeter, brand, whinyard, bilbo, glaive, glave, rapier, skean, Toledo, Ferrara, tuck, claymore, adaga, baselard, Lochaber ax, skean dhu, creese, kris, dagger, dirk, banger, poniard, stiletto, stylet, dudgeon, bayonet, sword-bayonet, sword-stick, side arms, foil, blade, steel, ax, bill, pole-ax, battle-ax, gisarme, halberd, partisan, tomahawk, bowie knife, ataghan, attaghan, yataghan, yatacban, assagai, assegai, good sword, trusty sword, naked sword, cold steel, club, mace, truncheon, staff, bludgeon, cudgel, life preserver, shillelah, sprig, hand staff, quarter staff, bat, cane, stick, knuckle duster, billy, blackjack, sandbag, waddy, gun, piece, firearms, artillery, ordnance, siege train, battering train, park, battery, cannon, gun of position, heavy gun, field piece, mortar, howitzer, carronade, culverin, basilisk, falconet, jingal, swivel, pederero, bouche a feu, petard, torpedo, mitrailleur, mitrailleuse, infernal machine, smooth bore, rifled cannon, Armstrong gun, Lancaster gun, Paixhan gun, Whitworth gun, Parrott gun, Krupp gun, Gatling gun, Maxim gun, machine gun, pompom, ten pounder, small arms, musket, musketry, firelock, fowling piece, rifle, fusil, caliver, carbine, blunderbuss, musketoon, Brown Bess, matchlock, harquebuss, arquebus, haguebut, pistol, postolet, petronel, small bore, breach-loader, muzzle-loader, revolver, repeater, Minis rifle, Enfield rifle, Flobert rifle, Westley Richards rifle, Snider rifle, Martini-Henry rifle, Lee-Metford rifle, Lee-Enfield rifle, Mauser rifle, magazine rifle, needle gun, chassepot, wind gun, air gun, automatic gun, automatic pistol, escopet, escopette, gunflint, gun- lock, hackbut, shooter, shooting iron, six-shooter, shotgun, Uzzi, assault rifle, Kalashnikov, bow, crossbow, balister, catapult, sling, battering ram, gunnery, ballistics, missile, bolt, projectile, shot, ball, grape, grape shot, canister shot, bar shot, cannon shot, langrel shot, langrage shot, round shot, chain shot, balista, ballista, slung shot, trebucbet, trebucket, bullet, slug, stone, brickbat, grenade, shell, bomb, carcass, rocket, congreve, congreve rocket, shrapnel, mitraille, levin bolt, levin brand, thunderbolt, pike, lance, spear, spontoon, javelin, dart, jereed, jerid, arrow, reed, shaft, bolt, boomerang, harpoon, gaff, eelspear, oxgoad, weet-weet, wommerah, cattle prod, chemical mace, en flute, nervos belli pecuniam infinitam.

Propulsion

N propulsion, projection, propelment, vis a tergo, force from behind, push, shove, ejaculate, ejection, throw, fling, toss, shot, discharge, shy, launch, release, projectiles, ballistics, archery, propeller, screw, twin screws, turbine, jet engine, missile, projectile, ball, discus, quoit, brickbat, shot, arrow, gun, ballista, countdown, windup, shooter, shot, archer, toxophilite, bowman, rifleman, marksman, good shot, crack shot, sharpshooter, propelled, propelling, propulsive, projectile.

Snap

N snap, rapping, decrepitation, crepitation, report, thud, burst, explosion, blast, boom, discharge, detonation, firing, salvo, volley, squib, cracker, firecracker, cherry bomb, M, gun, cap, cap gun, popgun, implosion, bomb burst, atomic explosion, nuclear explosion (arms), gunpowder, dynamite, gun cotton, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, plastic explosive, plastique, TNT, cordite, trinitrotoluene, picric acid, picrates, mercury fulminate (arms), whack, wham, pow, rapping, Int, kaboom!, whamo!, Heewhack!, pow!.