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gun

 
Dictionary: gun   (gŭn) pronunciation
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n.
  1. A weapon consisting of a metal tube from which a projectile is fired at high velocity into a relatively flat trajectory.
  2. A cannon with a long barrel and a relatively low angle of fire.
  3. A portable firearm, such as a rifle or revolver.
  4. A device resembling a firearm or cannon, as in its ability to project something, such as grease, under pressure or at great speed.
  5. A discharge of a firearm or cannon as a signal or salute.
  6. 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.
  8. The throttle of an engine, as of an automobile.

v., gunned, gun·ning, guns.

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

phrasal verb:

gun for

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

idioms:

go great guns

  1. To proceed or perform with great speed, skill, or success.
hold a gun to (someone's) head
  1. To put pressure on someone.
under the gun
  1. 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 + hildr, war.]


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: gun
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Weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube from which a missile or projectile is shot by the force of exploding gunpowder or some other propellant. The term is often limited today to the so-called big guns, cannon larger than a howitzer or mortar. It may also be used to refer to military small arms such as the rifle, machine gun, and pistol, as well as to nonmilitary firearms such as the shotgun. Though the Chinese used gunpowder in warfare from the 9th century, guns were not developed until the Europeans acquired gunpowder in the 13th century. The earliest guns (c. 1327) resembled old-fashioned soda bottles; they apparently were fired by applying a red-hot wire to a touchhole drilled through the top. Separating the barrel and the powder chamber resulted in breechloaders, which continued to be used in naval swivel guns and fortress wallpieces well into the 17th century. Small arms, as distinguished from hand cannon, did not exist until the development of the matchlock in the 15th century. See also flintlock, wheel lock.

For more information on gun, visit Britannica.com.

Thesaurus: gun
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verb

    To wound or kill with a firearm. pick off, shoot. Slang plug. See help/harm/harmless.

US Military Dictionary: gun
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n. 1. a weapon incorporating a metal tube from which bullets, shells, or other missiles are propelled by explosive force, typically making a characteristic loud, sharp noise.

2. a gunman: a hired gun.

3. (guns) slang, dated used as a nickname for a ship's gunnery officer.

4. the firing of a piece of artillery as a salute or signal: the boom of the one o'clock gun echoed across the river.

v. gunned, gunning (gun someone down)

shoot someone with a gun: they were gunned down by masked snipers.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Architecture: gun
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1. See spray gun.
2. A pressure cylinder for delivering freshly mixed concrete pneumatically.
3. Shotcrete material delivery equipment; also see shotcrete gun.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: gun
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gun, in general, any weapon that discharges shot, shells, or bullets by the explosion of gunpowder or some other explosive from a straight tube. See firearm; artillery; small arms.

Veterinary Dictionary: gun
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1. weapon for firing a projectile.
2. of the top rank, e.g. gun shearer.

  • balling g. — see balling gun.
  • dart g. — see blow dart.
  • g. dog — one of the group of domestic dogs developed for use in hunting fowl. The dogs work with the hunter by detecting the scent of birds on the ground, then indicating their location (setters, pointers) or flushing them from the undergrowth, or by retrieving the fallen bird (retrievers). Called also sporting dogs.
  • drenching g. — a handheld metal automatic syringe capable of delivering a preset dose of agent, most commonly an anthelmintic, and with a variable dose up to about 4 oz or about 120 ml, via the mouth.
Marine Corps Dictionary: Gun
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Artillery or other weaponry in which the barrel does not contain rifling (lands and grooves) used to spin a projectile for greater accuracy.

Military Dictionary: gun
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(DOD) 1. A cannon with relatively long barrel, operating with relatively low angle of fire, and having a high muzzle velocity. 2. A cannon with tube length 30 calibers or more. See also howitzer; mortar.

Word Tutor: gun
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A weapon that discharges a bullet at high velocity.

pronunciation Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins. — Ayn Rand, (1905-1982), Russian born American writer and philosopher who advocated capitalism, individualism, and objectivism.

Dream Symbol: Gun
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The gun is a symbol of aggression and protection. The dreamer may feel the need for protection from real or perceived danger. The gun can also symbolize aggressive male sexuality.

Wikipedia: Gun
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This article is about the projectile weapon. For other uses, see Gun (disambiguation).

In military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol, but there are exceptions, such as the USAF's GUU5/P. At one time, land-based artillery tubes were called cannon and sea-based naval cannon were called guns. The term "gun" morphed into a generic term for any tube launched projectile firing weapon used by sailors including boarding parties and Marines.

In modern parlance, a gun is a projectile weapon using a hollow, tubular barrel with a closed end—the breech—as the means of directing the projectile (as well as other purposes, for example stabilizing the projectile's trajectory, aiming, as an expansion chamber for propellant, etc), and firing in a generally flat trajectory.

The term "gun" has also taken on a more generic meaning, by which it has come to refer to any one of a number of trigger-initiated, hand-held, and hand-directed implements, especially with an extending bore, which thereby resemble the class of weapon in either form or concept. Examples of this usage include staple guns, nail guns, and glue guns. Occasionally, this tendency is ironically reversed, such as the case of the American M3 submachine gun which carries the nickname "Grease Gun".

Most guns are described by the type of barrel used, the means of firing, the purpose of the weapon, the caliber, or the commonly accepted name for a particular variation.

Barrel types include rifled—a series of spiraled grooves or angles within the barrel—when the projectile requires an induced spin to stabilize it and smoothbore when the projectile is stabilized by other means or is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior barrel diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations. Barrel diameter is reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting the interior diameter of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimeters. Some guns—such as shotguns—report the weapon's gauge or—as in some British ordnance—the weight of the weapon's usual projectile.

A gun projectile may be a simple, single-piece item like a bullet, a casing containing a payload like a shotshell or explosive shell, or complex projectile like a sub-caliber projectile and sabot. The propellant may be air, an explosive solid, or an explosive liquid. Some variations like the Gyrojet and certain other types combine the projectile and propellant into a single item.

USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984.

Contents

Terminology

The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as words borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French canon, itself a borrowing from the Italian cannone, a "large tube" augmentive of Latin canna "reed or cane".[1] Recent scholarship indicates that the term "gun" may also have its origins in the Norse woman's name "Gunnildr", which was often shortened to "Gunna".[2] The earliest recorded use of the term "gonne" was in a Latin document circa 1339. Other names for guns during this era were "schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch translation-"thunder gun") which was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss".[3] Artillerymen were often referred to as "gonners" and "artillers".[4] Early guns and the men who used them were often associated with the devil and the gunner's craft was considered a black art, a point reinforced by the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and accompanying flash.[5]

In military use, the term "gun" refers primarily to direct fire weapons that capitalize on their velocity for penetration or range. In modern parlance, these weapons are breech-loaded and built primarily for long range fire with a low or almost flat ballistic arc. A variation is the howitzer or gun-howitzer designed to offer the ability to fire both low or high-angle ballistic arcs. In this use, example guns include naval guns. A less strict application of the word is to identify one artillery weapon system or non-machine gun projectile armament on aircraft.

The word cannon is retained in some cases for the actual gun tube but not the weapon system. The title gunner is applied to the member of the team charged with operating, aiming, and firing a gun.

Autocannon are automatic guns designed primarily to fire shells and are mounted on a vehicle or other mount. Machine guns are similar, but usually designed to fire simple projectiles. In some calibers and some usages, these two definitions overlap.

A related military use of the word is in describing gun-type fission weapon. In this instance, the "gun" is part of a nuclear weapon and contains an explosively propelled sub-critical slug of fissile material within a barrel to be fired into a second sub-critical mass in order to initiate the fission reaction. Potentially confused with this usage are small nuclear devices capable of being fired by artillery or recoilless rifle.

In civilian use, a related item used in agriculture is a captive bolt gun. Such captive piston guns are often used to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter.[6]

Shotguns are normally civilian weapons used primarily for hunting. These weapons are typically smooth bored and fire a shell containing small lead or steel balls. Variations use rifled barrels or fire other projectiles including solid lead slugs, a Taser XREP projectile capable of stunning a target, or other payloads. In military versions, these weapons are often used to burst door hinges or locks in addition to antipersonnel uses.1

Types of guns

Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver
Marlin Model 1894C — a carbine in .357 Magnum

Military firearms

Machine guns

Handguns

Autocannon

Artillery guns

Tank guns

Hunting guns

Guns for training and entertainment

See also

Citations and notes

  1. ^ Online Etymological Dictionary
  2. ^ Kelly, Jack. (2004). Gunpowder Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics:The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. Basic Books. pg.31
  3. ^ Ibid:pg.31
  4. ^ Ibid:pg.30
  5. ^ Ibid:pg.32
  6. ^ Captive Bolt Stunning Equipment and the Law - How it applies to you (pdf)

References

  • Lee, R.G., Introduction to battlefield weapons, systems & technology, Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK, Brassey's Publishers, Oxford, 1981


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Translations: Gun
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - kanon, gevær, bøsse, tryksprøjte, jæger, tyv, pibe
v. tr. - skyde på, give fuld gas
v. intr. - jage med våben

idioms:

  • big gun    stor kanon
  • go great guns    gå strygende
  • gun carriage    lavet
  • gun dog    jagthund
  • gun down    nedskydning
  • gun for    være ude efter
  • hand gun    håndvåben
  • spike his guns    lamme hans handlekraft
  • submachine gun    maskinpistol
  • under the gun    under bevogtning
  • with guns blazing    med vedvarende beskydning

Nederlands (Dutch)
vuurwapen, stuk geschut, start-/ spuitpistool, jager, gewapende crimineel/ terrorist, het afschieten van een vuurwapen, gaspedaal, schieten, jagen, een dot gas geven

Français (French)
n. - (gén) arme à feu, révolver, fusil, canon, pistolet, gangster, tireur
v. tr. - tirer, mettre les gaz
v. intr. - tirer

idioms:

  • big gun    gros bonnet, huile
  • go great guns    marcher très fort (les affaires), péter le feu (fam)
  • gun carriage    affût de canon, prolonge d'artillerie (pour des funérailles)
  • gun dog    chien de chasse
  • gun down    abattre, descendre (qn)
  • gun for    chercher des crosses à
  • hand gun    pistolet
  • spike someone's guns    mettre des bâtons dans les roues à qn
  • submachine gun    mitraillette
  • under the gun    sous pression
  • with guns blazing    avec des armes à feu crachant des éclairs

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schußwaffe, Geschütz, Gewehr, Pistole, Kanone, Startpistole
v. - erschießen, verfolgen, hochdrehen (Motor)

idioms:

  • big gun    hohes Tier
  • go great guns    in Schwung sein, wie geschmiert laufen
  • gun carriage    (fahrbare) Geschützlafette
  • gun dog    Jagdhund
  • gun down    erschießen, niederschießen
  • gun for    Jagd machen auf, abgesehen haben auf, sich bemühen um
  • hand gun    Faustfeuerwaffe
  • spike someone's guns    jds. feindliche Absichten vereilten
  • submachine gun    Maschinenpistole
  • under the gun    unter großem Druck
  • with guns blazing    schwungvoll

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πυροβόλο όπλο, κανόνι, πιστόλι, περίστροφο, πιστολέτο, (μτφ.) πιστολάς, κουμπουροφόρος
v. - πυροβολώ, γκαζώνω (τη μηχανή)

idioms:

  • big gun    (καθομ.) μεγαλουσιάνος
  • go great guns    (καθομ.) τα πηγαίνω θαυμάσια
  • gun carriage    (στρατ.) κιλλίβαντας πυροβόλου
  • gun dog    κυνηγόσκυλο
  • gun down    σκοτώνω με όπλο
  • gun for    κυνηγώ να σκοτώσω, να τιμωρήσω
  • hand gun    περίστροφο, μικρό όπλο
  • spike his guns    του ανατρέπω τα σχέδια
  • submachine gun    υποπολυβόλο, αυτόματο
  • under the gun    υπό πίεση
  • with guns blazing    πυροβολώντας αδιάκοπα

Italiano (Italian)
arma da fuoco

idioms:

  • big gun    pezzo grosso
  • go great guns    avanzare con energia
  • gun carriage    base di mitragliatrice/cannone
  • gun dog    cane da caccia
  • gun down    abbattere
  • gun for    causare guai
  • spike his guns    guastare i piani di qualcuno
  • submachine gun    fucile mitragliatore
  • under the gun    forzatamente
  • with guns blazing    con tutte le proprie energie

Português (Portuguese)
n. - canhão (m) (Mil.), fuzil (m) (Mil.), revólver (m) (Mil.)
v. - atirar em, atirar, ir à caça

idioms:

  • big gun    pessoa (f) influente ou importante
  • go great guns    agir com grande velocidade e intensidade
  • gun carriage    carreta (f) de canhão (Mil.)
  • gun dog    cão (m) de caça
  • gun down    abater
  • gun for    ir em busca de
  • hand gun    pistola (f) (Mil.)
  • spike his guns    obstruir alguém
  • submachine gun    submetralhadora (f) (Mil.)
  • under the gun    sob a mira de uma arma
  • with guns blazing    com o brilho das armas

Русский (Russian)
пистолет, пушка, ружье, наемный убийца, телохранитель, выстреливать, обстреливать артиллерийским огнем

idioms:

  • big gun    пушка, человек с большим авторитетом
  • go great guns    делать что-л. с большим успехом
  • gun carriage    лафет
  • gun dog    охотничья собака
  • gun down    застрелить кого-л.
  • gun for    охотиться за кем-л., пытаться нанести вред или уничтожить, упорно добиваться, стараться заполучить
  • hand gun    пистолет, револьвер
  • spike his guns    расстроить его замыслы
  • submachine gun    автомат (оружие)
  • under the gun    неохотно, под ружьем
  • with guns blazing    идти напролом

Español (Spanish)
n. - arma, pistola, revólver, fusil, escopeta, carabina, cañón
v. tr. - disparar el arma
v. intr. - cazar con un arma, disparar un arma

idioms:

  • big gun    pez gordo
  • go great guns    obrar con rapidez y eficacia, ir viento en popa
  • gun carriage    cureña, armón de artillería
  • gun dog    perro de caza
  • gun down    matar a tiros, matar de un tiro
  • gun for    andar a la caza de, perseguir, buscar para matar, aspirar
  • hand gun    revólver, pistola
  • spike someone's guns    frustrar o prevenir el plan de otro
  • submachine gun    pistola ametralladora
  • under the gun    bajo presión o ataque
  • with guns blazing    muy violento

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gevär, kanon, revolver, skytt, tryckspruta, gangster (sl.)
v. - skjuta, bestycka, sätta fart (sl.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
枪, 向...开枪, 开大油门, 用枪射击, 加油门快速前进

idioms:

  • big gun    有影响力的重要人物
  • go great guns    高速高效地干
  • gun carriage    炮架
  • gun dog    猎狗
  • gun down    枪杀, 开枪打伤
  • gun for    用枪搜索捕杀
  • hand gun    手枪
  • spike his guns    挫败某人, 破坏某人计划
  • submachine gun    小型轻机枪, 冲锋枪
  • under the gun    在武装警备人员严密监视之下
  • with guns blazing    很努力的..., 热烈的...

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 槍
v. tr. - 向...開槍, 開大油門
v. intr. - 用槍射擊, 加油門快速前進

idioms:

  • big gun    有影響力的重要人物
  • go great guns    高速高效地幹
  • gun carriage    炮架
  • gun dog    獵狗
  • gun down    槍殺, 開槍打傷
  • gun for    用槍搜索捕殺
  • hand gun    手槍
  • spike his guns    挫敗某人, 破壞某人計劃
  • submachine gun    小型輕機槍, 衝鋒槍
  • under the gun    在武裝警備人員嚴密監視之下
  • with guns blazing    很努力的..., 熱烈的...

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 총, 대포, 포수, 분무기, 도둑
v. tr. - 총으로 쏘다, 사냥 가다
v. intr. - 총으로 쏘다, 사냥 가다

idioms:

  • big gun    대포, 거물
  • go great guns    급히 해내다, 척척 해치우다
  • gun down    격추시키다, 묵살하다
  • gun for    ~을 노리다, ~을 추적하다
  • under the gun    무장 감시하에
  • with guns blazing    결과는 그다지 생각치 않으나 온 힘을 다하여

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 銃, 噴霧器, 狩猟隊員, 発射, 大砲, 小銃, 拳銃, 号砲, 礼砲
v. - 銃で撃つ

idioms:

  • gun carriage    砲架
  • gun dog    猟犬
  • gun down    射殺する
  • gun for    銃で…の猟をする, 捜す, 追跡する
  • submachine gun    軽機関銃

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مدفع, بندقيه (فعل) يطلق النار‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רובה, אקדח, תותח, מזרק, מתקן לפליטת נוזל נגד חרקים, גריז, אלקטרונים וכו', אקדוחן, ירי‬
v. tr. - ‮הגביר המהירות, ירה‬
v. intr. - ‮מבקש לתקוף, פתח בירי‬

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Marine Corps Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 "Unofficial Dictionary for Marines" compiled and edited by Glenn B. Knight  Read more
Military Dictionary. US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Words, 2003.  Read more
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