Gun definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms

pick off, accelerate, cannon, firearm, heater, musket, piece, pistol, rifle, rod, speed, weapon

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Gun - 12 dictionary results

gun

1 [guhn]

noun, verb, gunned, gun⋅ning.

–noun

1.	a weapon consisting of a metal tube, with mechanical attachments, from which projectiles are shot by the force of an explosive; a piece of ordnance.

2.	any portable firearm, as a rifle, shotgun, or revolver.

3.	a long-barreled cannon having a relatively flat trajectory.

4.	any device for shooting something under pressure: a paint gun; a staple gun.

5.	Slang. a person whose profession is killing; professional killer: a gangland gun.

6.	British. a member of a shooting party.

7.	electron gun.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to shoot with a gun (often fol. by down): The guards gunned down the fleeing convict.

9.	to cause (an engine, vehicle, aircraft, etc.) to increase in speed very quickly by increasing the supply of fuel.

–verb (used without object)

10.	to hunt with a gun.

11.	to shoot with a gun.

—Verb phrase

12.

gun for,

a.	to seek with intent to harm or kill.

b.	to seek; try earnestly to obtain: He is gunning for a raise.

—Idioms

13.	give the gun, Slang. to put into motion or speed up: We gave the motor the gun and drove off.

14.

jump the gun, Slang.

a.	to begin a race before the starting signal.

b.	to begin prematurely; act too hastily.

15.	spike someone's guns, to frustrate or prevent someone from accomplishing a plan: Our competitors planned a surprise reduction in their rates, but we discovered it and were able to spike their guns.

16.	stick to one's guns, to maintain one's position in the face of opposition; stand firm: They stuck to their guns and refused to submit. Also, stand by one's guns.

17.	under the gun, under pressure, as to meet a deadline or solve a problem: We're all under the gun with these new sales quotas.

Origin:
1300–50; ME gunne, gonne, appar. short for AL Gunilda, gonnyld, name for engine of war; cf. ON Gunna, short for Gunnhildr woman's name

Language Translation for : Gun

Spanish:

arma de fuego; pistola,

German:

das Gewehr, das Geschütz,

Japanese:

銃

View 30 other languages »

gun

2 [guhn]

–verb

pp. of gin ³ .

gun.

gunnery.

gin

3 [gin]

–verb (used without object), verb (used with object), gan, gun, gin⋅ning. Archaic.

to begin.

Origin:
1150–1200; ME ginnen, OE ginnan, aph. var. of onginnan, beginnen to begin

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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gun (gŭn) Pronunciation Key
n.

A weapon consisting of a metal tube from which a projectile is fired at high velocity into a relatively flat trajectory.
A cannon with a long barrel and a relatively low angle of fire.
A portable firearm, such as a rifle or revolver.
A device resembling a firearm or cannon, as in its ability to project something, such as grease, under pressure or at great speed.
A discharge of a firearm or cannon as a signal or salute.
One, such as a hunter, who carries or uses a gun.
1. A person skilled in the use of a gun.
2. A professional killer: a hired gun.
The throttle of an engine, as of an automobile.

v. gunned, gun·ning, guns

v. tr.

To shoot (a person): a bank robber who was gunned down by the police.
To open the throttle of (an engine) so as to accelerate: gunned the engine and sped off.
Maine To hunt (game).

v. intr.
To hunt with a gun.
Phrasal Verb(s):
gun for

To pursue relentlessly so as to overcome or destroy.
To go after in earnest; set out to obtain: gunning for a promotion.

Idiom(s):
go great guns To proceed or perform with great speed, skill, or success.

Idiom(s):
hold a gun to (someone's) head To put pressure on someone.

Idiom(s):
under the gun Under great pressure or under threat.

[Middle English gonne, cannon, short for Gunilda, woman's name applied to a siege engine, from Old Norse Gunnhildr, woman's name : gunnr, war; see g^when- in Indo-European roots + hildr, war.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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gun

1339, gunne "an engine of war that throws rocks, arrows or other missiles," probably a shortening of woman's name Gunilda, found in M.E. gonnilde "cannon" and in an Anglo-L. reference to a specific gun from a 1330 munitions inventory of Windsor Castle ("...una magna balista de cornu quae Domina Gunilda ..."), from O.N. Gunnhildr, woman's name (from gunnr + hildr, both meaning "war, battle"); the identification of women with powerful weapons is common historically (cf. Big Bertha, Brown Bess, etc.); meaning shifted with technology, from cannons to firearms as they developed 15c. Great guns (cannon, etc.) distinguished from small guns (such as muskets) from c.1408. First applied to pistols and revolvers 1744. Meaning "thief, rascal" is from 1858. The verb meaning "to shoot with a gun" is from 1622; the sense of "to accelerate an engine" is from 1930. Gun-shy is 1884, originally of sporting dogs. Son of a gun is originally nautical. Gun-metal (commonly an alloy of copper and zinc) used attributively of a dull blue-gray color since 1905. Gunboat is from 1793; gunboat diplomacy is from 1927, originally with reference to China.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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gun
noun
1.	a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
2.	large but transportable armament [syn: artillery]
3.	a person who shoots a gun (as regards their ability) [syn: gunman]
4.	a professional killer who uses a gun
5.	a hand-operated pump that resembles a revolver; forces grease into parts of a machine [syn: grease-gun]
6.	a pedal that controls the throttle valve; "he stepped on the gas" [syn: accelerator]
7.	the discharge of a firearm as signal or as a salute in military ceremonies; "two runners started before the gun"; "a twenty gun salute"
verb
1.	shoot with a gun

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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gun

In addition to the idiom beginning with gun, also see at gunpoint; big cheese (gun); great guns; hired gun; hold a gun to someone's head; jump the gun; smoking gun; son of a bitch (gun); stick to one's guns; under the gun.

gun jargon
(ITS, from the ":GUN" command) To forcibly terminate a program or job (computer, not career). "Some idiot left a background process running soaking up half the cycles, so I gunned it."
Compare can.
(1995-02-27)

gun

vt. [ITS, now rare: from the `:GUN' command] To forcibly terminate a program or job (computer, not career). "Some idiot left a background process running soaking up half the cycles, so I gunned it." Usage: now rare. Compare can, blammo.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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Gun

Gun\, n. [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.]

1. 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. Larger guns are called cannon, ordnance, fieldpieces, carronades, howitzers, etc. See these terms in the Vocabulary.

As swift as a pellet out of a gunne When fire is in the powder runne. --Chaucer.

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. --Selden.

2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon.

3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.

Note: 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.

Armstrong gun, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.

Great gun, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence (Fig.), a person superior in any way.

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 ethereal salt 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, sometimes in volleys, by machinery operated by turning a crank. Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute 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

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

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