Nearby Words
Synonyms

pistol

[pis-tl] Origin

pis·tol

[pis-tl] noun, verb, -toled, -tol·ing or (especially British) -tolled, -tol·ling.
noun
1.
a short firearm intended to be held and fired with one hand.
verb (used with object)
2.
to shoot with a pistol.

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Pistol is one of our favorite verbs.
So is kibitz. Does it mean:
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
chat, to converse

Origin:
1560–70; < Middle French pistole < German, earlier pitschal, pitschole, petsole < Czech píšt’ala literally, pipe, fife, whistle (presumably a slang term for a type of light harquebus employed during the Hussite wars), akin to pištět to squeak, peep

pis·tol·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
pistol (ˈpɪstəl)
 
n
1.  a short-barrelled handgun
2.  hold a pistol to a person's head to threaten a person in order to force him to do what one wants
 
vb , -tols, -tolling, -tolled, -tols, -toling, -toled
3.  (tr) to shoot with a pistol
 
[C16: from French pistole, from German, from Czech pišt'ala pistol, pipe; related to Russian pischal shepherd's pipes]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pistol
"small hand-held firearm," c.1570, from M.Fr. pistole "short firearm" (1566), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be from Ger. Pistole, from Czech pis'tala "firearm," lit. "tube, pipe," from pisteti "to whistle," of imitative origin, related to Rus. pischal "shepherd's pipe." But earlier form pistolet
EXPAND
(1550) is from M.Fr. pistolet "a small firearm," also "a small dagger," which may be the literal sense; though some connect this word with It. pistolese, in reference to Pistoia, town in Tuscany noted for gunsmithing. Pistol-whip is first recorded 1942.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

pistol definition


  1. n.
    a person who is bright, quick, or energetic. (Implying hot as a pistol or quick as a pistol.) : Ask that pistol to step over here for a minute, would you?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

pistol definition


[IBM] A tool that makes it all too easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot. "Unix "rm *" makes such a nice pistol!"
[Jargon File]

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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