gun

From Middle English gunne, gonne, from Lady Gunilda, a huge crossbow with a powerful shot, with the second part of the term being of Old Norse origin. It was later used to denote firearms. The name Gunnhildr and its multiple variations are derived from Old Norse gunnr (“battle, war”) + hildr (“battle”), which makes it a pleonasm. In the given context the woman's name means battle maid. See also Hilda, Gunilda, Gunhild, Gunhilda, Gunnhildr.

• enPR: gŭn, IPA^(key): /ɡʌn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

gun (plural guns)

1. A device for projecting a hard object very forcefully; a firearm or cannon.

   Guns were considered improvements of crossbows and catapults.

   Looking for wild meat to fill his family's freezer for the winter, the young man quietly raised up his gun at the approaching deer.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 030:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect.

   1. A very portable, short firearm, for hand use, which fires bullets or projectiles, such as a handgun, revolver, pistol, or Derringer.
   2. A less portable, long firearm, bullet or projectile firing; a rifle, either manual, automatic or semi-automatic; a flintlock, musket or shotgun.
   3. (military) A cannon with relatively long barrel, operating with relatively low angle of fire, and having a high muzzle velocity.[1]
   4. (military) A cannon with a 6-inch/155mm minimum nominal bore diameter and tube length 30 calibers or more. See also: howitzer; mortar.[1]
   5. (figuratively) A firearm or cannon used for saluting or signalling.^Wp
      • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828, page 01:

        It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

2. A device operated by a trigger and acting in a manner similar to a firearm.

   There are some guns that are not designed for killing.

   1. Any implement designed to fire a projectile from a tube.

      air-pressure pellet gun;  air rifle;  BB gun;  zipgun;  nail gun;  a potato gun

   2. A device or tool that projects a substance.

      a squirt gun;  a spray gun;  a grease gun

   3. A device or tool that applies something rather than projecting it.

      a rivet gun;  a screw gun;  a price-label gun

3. (surfing) A long surfboard designed for surfing big waves (not the same as a longboard, a gun has a pointed nose and is generally a little narrower).
   • 2000, Drew Kampion, surfline.com

     by the winter of 1962, the Brewer Surfboards Hawaii gun was the most in-demand big-wave equipment on the North Shore.

4. (cellular automata) A pattern that "fires" out other patterns.
   • 2000, Gary William Flake, The computational beauty of nature

     The glider gun on the bottom of the NOT circuit emits a continuous stream of gliders, while the data stream source emits a glider only when there is a value of 1 in the stream […] .

   • 2010, Andrew Adamatzky, Game of Life Cellular Automata, p.74:

     Greene's period-416 2c/5 spaceship gun

5. (colloquial, metonymically) A person who carries or uses a rifle, shotgun or handgun.
6. (colloquial, usually in the plural) The biceps.
7. (nautical, in the plural) Violent blasts of wind.

• Sranan Tongo: gon

gun (third-person singular simple present guns, present participle gunning, simple past and past participle gunned)

1. (with “down”) To shoot someone or something, usually with a firearm.

   He gunned down the hitmen.

   The CEO gunned down that idea before we could present it to the board.

2. To speed something up.

   He gunned the engine.

3. To offer vigorous support to a person or cause.

   He’s gunning for you.

4. To seek to attack someone; to take aim at someone.

   He's been gunning for you ever since you embarrassed him at the party.

5. To practice fowling or hunting small game; chiefly in participial form: to go gunning.

• gun down
• gun it
• outgun

From gunna, from gonna, from going to

gun

1. Nonstandard spelling of going to.

   I'm gun go get da gun from da closet.

• GNU, Ngu, Ung, gnu, nug

gun f (plural gonyow)

1. plain

From Proto-Mongolic *gün, compare Mongolian гүн (gün).

• IPA^(key): /kuŋ/, [kũ(ŋ)]

gun

1. deep

• IPA^(key): /ɣʏn/

• Dutch pronunciation

  (file)

gun

1. first-person singular present indicative of gunnen
2. imperative of gunnen

gun

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぐん

gun m

1. testicle, ball, bollock, egg, nut, orchis, testis

gun

1. Nonstandard spelling of gǔn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of gùn.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

gun m (genitive singular gunney, plural gunnaghyn)

1. Alternative form of gunn

gun

1. Alternative form of gunne

From Old Irish co.

• gu
• gum

gun

1. that

   an t-amadan sin gun do thagh thu - That fool that you voted for

   am fear gum pòs aig an deireadh na mìosa - that man that will marry at the end of the month

   an taigh gu bheil aice - that house that she has

From Old Irish cen.

gun

1. without

   gun teagamh - without a doubt

• às aonais