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shotgun

[shot-guhn]

Origin

noun

a smoothbore gun for firing small shot to kill birds and small quadrupeds, though often used with buckshot to kill larger animals.

Football. an offensive formation, designed primarily for passing situations, in which the backfield is spread out with the quarterback positioned a few yards behind the center and the other backs, as potential pass receivers, positioned as slotbacks or flankers.

adjective

of, pertaining to, used in, or carried out with a shotgun: a shotgun murder; shotgun pellets.

covering a wide area in an irregularly effective manner without concern for details or particulars; tending to be all-inclusive, nonselective, and haphazard; indiscriminate in choice and indifferent to specific results: He favored the shotgun approach in his political attacks.

seeking a desired result through the use or inclusion of a wide variety of elements.

having all the rooms opening one into the next in a line from front to back: shotgun apartment; shotgun cottage.

gained or characterized by coercive methods.

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Shotgun is one of our favorite verbs.

So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:

to run away hurriedly; flee.

to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

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verb (used with object)

to fire a shotgun at.

Idiom

ride shotgun,

(formerly) to ride atop a stagecoach as a shotgun-bearing guard.

to protect or keep a watchful eye on something: riding shotgun over the nation's economy.

Origin:
1770–80, Americanism; shot¹ + gun¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To shotgun

Collins

World English Dictionary

shotgun (ˈʃɒtˌɡʌn)

—n
1.	a. a shoulder firearm with unrifled bore designed for the discharge of small shot at short range and used mainly for hunting small game
	b. (as modifier): shotgun fire
2.	American football an offensive formation in which the quarterback lines up for a snap unusually far behind the line of scrimmage

—*adj*
3.	chiefly (US) involving coercion or duress: a shotgun merger
4.	chiefly (US) involving or relying on speculative suggestions, etc: a shotgun therapy

—vb , -guns, -gunning, -gunned
5.	(US) (tr) to shoot or threaten with or as if with a shotgun

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

shotgun

1828, Amer.Eng., from shot in the sense of "lead in small pellets" (1770) + gun. As distinguished from a rifle, which fires bullets. Shotgun wedding first attested 1927, Amer.Eng.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

shotgun definition

mod.
broad; general. : A shotgun approach to a problem like this is useless. You must get specific.
exclam.
a phrase called out by someone who claims the privilege of riding in a car's passenger seat. (Usually Shotgun!) : Whoever yelled “shotgun” has to sit holding the cake all the way.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

shotgun

In addition to the idiom beginning with shotgun, also see ride shotgun.