| 释义 |
▪ I. gun, n.|gʌn|
Forms: 4–6 gonne, gounne, gunne, 5 gownne, gune, 6 gon(e, gonn, goon(ne, Sc. gown, 5– gun.
[ME. gunne, gonne (riming with sonne = sun); hence already in 14–15th c. the word was adopted as Welsh gwn, Irish (also Sc. Gaelic) gunna, Anglo-L. gonna, gunna.
With regard to the ultimate etymology, a suggestion has been made by Prof. Skeat that ME. gunne may represent a hypocoristic form of a Scandinavian female name compounded with Gunn-. This conjecture receives a strong confirmation from the fact (communicated to us by Mr. W. H. Stevenson) that an account of munitions at Windsor Castle in 1330–1 (Exchequer Accts. Q.R. Bundle 18, no. 34, Pub. Rec. Office) mentions ‘una magna balista de cornu quæ vocatur Domina Gunilda’. There are other instances of the practice of bestowing female personal names on engines of war; but there was no distinguished lady named Gunilda (= ON. Gunnhild-r; spelt Gunnild in Havelok) in the 14th c., and it seems highly probable that this use of the name may have come down from Scandinavian times, when its exceedingly appropriate etymology would be understood (both gunn-r and hild-r mean ‘war’). If Gunnhildr, as is likely, was a name frequently given to ballistæ and the like, it would naturally, on the introduction of gunpowder, be given also to cannon. Indeed, there is some appearance of evidence that an explosive engine was actually called by this name many years before the earliest recorded instance of the use of gunpowder in warfare. The ‘song against the retinues of the great people’ in Pol. Songs (Camden) 237, which must have been written in the reign of Edw. II, contains the following passage:—‘The gedelynges were gedered Of gonnylde gnoste; Palefreiours ant pages, Ant boyes with boste, Alle weren y-haht Of an horse þoste’. The correct translation of this passage, which has hitherto been unexplained, seems to be as follows:—‘The lackeys were gathered out of Gunnild's spark [OE. gnást: see gnast n.]; the grooms and pages, the varlets with their boasting, all were hatched of a horse's dung’. According to analogy, the regular ‘pet-name’ in ON. for Gunnhild-r would be *Gunna, which would give Gunne in ME.; Rietz Sv. dial.-lex., mentions Gunne as a female Christian name still surviving in Swedish country districts. (In Iceland Gunna is now common, but it is taken to stand for Guðrún.)
The other suggestions that have been made as to the origin of the word are obviously unsatisfactory. The assumed OF. *mangonne, of which gonne has been supposed to be a shortening, is wrongly inferred from mangonneau mangonel, and is not philologically possible, unless as a back-formation. The F. gonne, large cask, does not occur before the 16th c., and is regarded by Littré as adopted from the Eng. gun. The conjecture that ME. gunne is of echoic origin perh. involves no impossibility, but it has no positive support, and little intrinsic probability.]
I. The weapon.
1. a. A weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube (massive enough to require to be mounted on a carriage or a fixed substructure) from which heavy missiles are thrown by the force of gunpowder, or (in later use) by explosive force of any kind; a piece of ordnance, cannon, ‘great gun’.
1339in Riley Lond. Mem. (1868) 205 Item, in Camera Gildaulæ sunt sex Instrumenta de latone, vocitata Gonnes, et quinque roleres ad eadem. Item, peletæ de plumbo pro eisdem Instrumentis, quæ ponderant iiiic libræ et dimidium. Item, xxxii libræ de pulvere pro dictis Instrumentis. 1346in Archæologia XXXII. 381 Et eidem Thomæ de Roldeston, per manus Willielmi de Stanes, ad opus ipsius Regis pro gunnis suis ixc xii. lib. sal petræ [etc.]. 1365–70Exchequer Accts. Q.R. Bundle 395 No. 1 (P.R.O.), ix. gunnes de cupro [received at the Tower]..ij. magna gunnes de cupro [in King's private wardrobe]..ij. gunnes magna de cupro et ix. gunnes parva de cupro [sent to constable of the king's castle in the Isle of Sheppey]. c1370J. Arderne Practica (MS. Sloane) in Promp. Parv. 219 Cest poudre vault à gettere pelottes de fer, ou de plom, ou d'areyne, oue vn instrument qe l'em appelle gonne. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 553 Went this foule trumpes soun As swifte as pelet out of gonne Whan fire is in the poudre ronne. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 293 Setteþ bowes of brake and brasene gonnes, And sheteþ out shot ynowh. 1404Durham. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 395 Item unum gun cum pulvere pro guerra. 1450–70Golagros & Gaw. 464 Gapand gunnys of brase..That maid ful gret dyn. c1470Henry Wallace x. 816 We may nocht fle fra ȝon barge wait I weill, Weyll stuft thai ar with gun and ganȝe [so ed. 1570; MS. gwn ganȝe] off steill. 1473J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 8 The Kynge..losyde his gonnys of ordynaunce uppone them. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 469/1 Except Tyndall tell vs that Adam prynted bokes, and made glasses, and shotte gunnes too. a1542Wyatt in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 54 The furious goonne..When that the boule is rammed in to sone: And that the flame cannot part from the fire, Crackes in sunder. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. Ded. (S.T.S.) I. 8 This roy of gret renowne vas murdreist be ane misforttunit gown. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 272 She carried then fourteen Guns, and had about two hundred Men on board. 1692Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. ii. xviii. 128 Gunners do allow three Ounces of Powder for every hundred Weight of Metal in Iron Guns: and Four Ounces..in Brass Guns. 1712W. Rogers Voy. 14 A Frigate built Ship of 22 Guns. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 407 He mounted a battery of ten guns on a high and solid mound of earth. 1852Tennyson Ode Wellington 97 He that gain'd a hundred fights, Nor ever lost an English gun. 1858Greener Gunnery 60 The guns of the British nation may be divided into four classes—Park, or Field artillery, Siege guns, or battering train, garrison guns, and marine artillery. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 50 A Gun (Smooth bore) is divided into five parts, which are named Cascable, First re-inforce, Second re-inforce, Chase, Muzzle. 1884Times (weekly ed.) 7 Mar. 6/1 The guns of the Royal Artillery were..admirably served.
b. Guns are fired in honour of persons and events, at festivities, and as signals; in the navy, morning gun and evening gun, ‘warning-pieces’ fired at morning and evening respectively; hence taken to indicate the times at which these guns are fired.
1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 51 The xxti day of the same monyth after came in the lorde amrelle of France un to Grenwych with xiiij. goodly gallys, and many other sheppes, and there was shotte many gonnys. Ibid. 62 On Bartylmew evyne was shott dyvers goonnes at the gattes in London. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiii. 61 Giue them three gunnes for their funerals. 1634,1836[see give v. 14 c]. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 271 We put out English Colours, which they saluted with a Gun without shot. 1712S. Sewall Diary 8 Mar. (1879) II. 339 Many Healths were drunk, and Guns fired at drinking them. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 145 It being represented to him that..the evening gun might possibly discover him..he was prevailed upon to omit it for the future. 1899Sir A. West Recoll. I. vi. 206 A damaged elbow..did not prevent my sleeping till the morning gun.
c. fig.
1535Latimer Serm. (1584) 2 What great peeces [sc. of ordnance] hath he [the devil] had of Bishoppes of Rome, which haue destroyed whole Citties and countries, and haue slayne and brent many! what great Guns were those! 1651Cleveland Poems 41 You're doubly free From the great Guns, and squibbing Poetry. 1820Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 188 Great oratorical guns are to be fired to-day. 1888A. T. Pierson Evangelistic Work xi. 107 Sydney Smith trailed the guns of his satire against the ‘nest of consecrated cobblers’. 189319th Cent. Feb. 193 The Government could not of course run away from their guns.
†2. In the 15th c. used somewhat vaguely for a large engine of war, often translating words meaning ‘mangonel, ballista, battering-ram’. Obs.
The commonly cited example in K. Alis. 3268 is due to the scribe of the 15th c. Lincoln's Inn MS., the reading in MS. Laud 622 being gynnes.
c1400Rom. Rose 4176 They ne dredde noon assaut Of ginne, gunne, nor skaffaut. c1400Melayne 1288 With dartis kenely owte þay caste, Bothe with myghte & mayne, With gownnes & with grete stones. Graythe gounnes stoppede those gones [? = gomes, ‘men’] With peletes vs to payne. a1400–50Alexander 2227 Sum with gunnes of þe grekis girdis vp stanes. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 429 Vespasian trowblede the wall sore with gunnes and with oþer engynes [L. ictu arietis]. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 594/35 Mangonale, a mangnel, or a gunne. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xli. 152 He made gounes & other engynes to be caste ayenste the walles. 1494Fabyan Chron. vi. cciii. 213 The walles of the castell fyll without stroke of gunne or other engyne. 1534Whitinton Tullyes Offices i. (1540) 17 The gones [L. aries] beare downe the walls yet they are to be receyved. [a1654Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 65 The word Gun was in use in England for an Engine to cast a thing from a man, long before there was any Gun-powder found out.]
3. a. (Originally hand-gun.) Any portable fire-arm, except the pistol; a musket, fowling-piece, rifle, etc. (Quot. 1495 may belong to sense 1.)
1409Excheq. Accts. Q.R. Bundle 44 No. 17 (P.R.O.), iij. canons de ferro ove v. chambres, un handgone. 1446, etc. [see handgun]. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 64 Preamble, Armours Defensives, as..Hauberts Curesses Gonnes Speres Mare⁓spikis. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 64 To plaie at all weapones; to shote faire in bow, or surelie in gon. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland 98 They use Guns, which they..with a great deal of superstition enchaunt that they should never miss. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho iii, His gun was slung across his shoulders. 1876Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly Prol. i, Both men carried guns. 1897Butler, etc. Hist. Birds IV. 65 A long single-barrelled gun called the ‘goose-gun’.
b. A pistol or revolver. orig. U.S.
1744A. Hamilton Itin. (1907) 150 ‘Then surely you had needs ride with guns’ (meaning my pistols). 1851R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) 80 He might..not fire unless his gun has a revolving chamber with more than one load. 1890Harper's Mag. Dec. 160/2 That six-shooter you gave Pete was such a pretty gun I couldn't resist when Pete offered to swap. 1902C. J. C. Hyne Mr. Horrocks Purser 56 Then he made a great fuss and pulled out a gun. 1948This Week Mag. 9 Oct. 22/2 Police believe that if more people carried guns, murders and suicides would zoom. 1971Daily Tel. 26 Oct. 1 The dockers had been unloading a cargo of 72 tea chests containing pistols brought from Rotterdam... The discovery of the guns led to an immediate alert.
c. Any of various devices for discharging missiles or substances through a tube, as by the expansive force of compressed air; usually with defining word, as air-gun, blow-gun, Flit gun, grease-gun, pop-gun 1, spring-gun 2 (which see).
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 261/1 The best Insect Powder Gun in the market in which to use insect powder. 1930Engineering 31 Jan. 126/1 The Webb concrete gun has been used by the city's day labour gangs in lining operations. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. iii/3 As many as 3,000 gallons of cellulose preparations are mixed each week, so that 1,000 car bodies can receive colour sprayed from 120 ‘guns’. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xxi. 227 The drug used was in a liquid form and one of the gang possessed a ‘gun’ loaded with it. He sprayed this dope at the favourites [at horse-racing]. 1968Times 29 Apr. 2/7 The ‘gun’ is a new way of giving injections without puncturing the skin. It uses a fine but very powerful jet to penetrate the skin. Ibid. 27 May 25/2 The company has developed a new tear gas gun.
d. spec. in Athletics. The starting pistol; hence, the start of a race.
1900[see needle n. 12 b]. 1925T. E. Jones Track & Field 18 Keep the mind concentrated on the gun. 1959Times 23 Apr. 16/6 Smith..took the lead from the gun.
e. A hypodermic syringe used by drug addicts. U.S. slang.
1904San Francisco Chron. Suppl. 30 Oct. 4/1, I..reached out my hand for my master, the little syringe, called the ‘gun’, which always lay ready at my bedside for the early morning ‘shot’. 1923N. Anderson Hobo vii. 102 One type of dope fiend is the Junkie. He uses a ‘gun’ or needle to inject morphine or heroin. 1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 8 Gun-toter, user of a hypodermic needle. 1933Amer. Speech VIII. 27/2 The hypodermic needle and its accessories used for the injection of narcotics are called the gun or artillery. 1955U.S. Senate Hearings (1956) VIII. 4164 Gun, dropper, a syringe.
f. = electron gun (electron2 2 b). Also attrib., as gun electrode.
1933Electronics Dec. 333/1 We shall now consider the gun. 1953Amos & Birkinshaw Telev. Engin. I. iv. 52 In cathode-ray tube guns the beam strikes the gun electrodes and releases secondary electrons from them. 1961G. Millerson Technique Telev. Production ii. 19 A small gun in the camera-tube generates a continuous beam of electrical particles (electrons). 1971Physics Bull. Oct. 590/1 It offered the advantages of..a colour tube with a single gun.
†4. A missile hurled from an engine of war. Obs.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 637 Cleopatra, With grysely soun out goth the grete gonne, And heterly they hurtelyn al atonys, ffrom the top doun comyth the grete stonys. c1420Avow. Arth. lxv, There come fliand a gunne And lemet as the leuyn.
5. transf.
a. One who carries a gun, one of a shooting party.
1818Keats Let. [29?] Dec. (1958) II. 18, I went..shooting on the heath... There were as many guns..as Birds. 1822Viscountess Anson Let. 5 Nov. in Creevey Papers (1903) II. ii. 52, 780 head of game were killed by 10 guns. 1870H. Meade Ride New Zealand 284 Five guns went before breakfast, and brought back 107 [pigeons]. 1886Shooting (Badm. Libr. 1895) 145 Where birds are plentiful much delay may be avoided by providing at least as many retrievers as there are ‘guns’. 1897Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 402 The irritable gun..stamps his foot impatiently. 1970Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 13 Aug. 4/9 The price of being a ‘gun’—the name for the shooter—is almost prohibitively high.
b. An artilleryman, a gunner.
1896R. Kipling Seven Seas 200 There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot Nor any o' the Guns I knew. 1898Pall Mall Mag. Sept. 97 The guns are cool, precise and nerveless.
c. pl. = gunnery-lieutenant. Naval slang.
1916‘Taffrail’ Carry On 25 The first lieutenant..is ‘Jimmy the One’; the gunnery and torpedo lieutenants, the ‘Gunnery Jack’ and ‘Torpedo Jack’ respectively, but, to their messmates in the wardroom, these three officers, with the officer borne for navigation duties, are usually ‘Number One’, ‘Guns’, ‘Torps’ and ‘Pilot’. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, Gunnery Jack (also Guns), the Gunnery Lieutenant on board ship. 1962W. Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 57 Guns, wardroom nickname and vocative for the gunnery officer.
d. = gun-man 1. U.S.
1931C. W. Willemse in Detective Fiction Weekly 15 Aug. 123/1 Hey, cap, there's a ‘gun’ outside. Wants to see you. 1958R. Chandler Playback xxiii. 182 Goble was beaten up..tonight—by a hired gun named Richard Harvest. 1965T. Capote In Cold Blood (1966) iv. 275 He was always talking about..making his living as a hired gun.
6. Phrases.
a. as a gun, used as an intensive or superlative expression = perfectly, absolutely, esp. in (as) sure as a gun: beyond all question, to a dead certainty.
1622Fletcher Prophetess i. iii, You are right, master, Right as a gun. 1655J. Smith Musarum Deliciæ 79 But when he thought her as sure as a gun She set up her taile and away she run. 1681Dryden Sp. Friar iii. ii, As sure as a gun, now, father Dominic has been spawning this young slender antichrist. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, As sure as a Gun, or Cock-sure. 1733Fielding Intrig. Chambermaid i. i. Wks. 1882 IX. 396 'Tis as pure, and as sure, and secure as a gun, The young lover's business is happily done. 1764Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 174 Gad's my life, sure as a gun that's her voice. 1864Hawthorne S. Felton (1883) 389 You will kill yourself, sure as a gun! 1881Century Mag. XXIII. 45/2 Hello! where is that boy? Gone, as sure as guns.
b. to stand or stick to one's gun(s: to maintain one's position, not to flinch or retire before an attack.
1841S. Warren Ten Thous. a Yr. vi. 198 Titmouse, though greatly alarmed, stood to his gun pretty steadily. 1881Mrs. J. H. Riddell Myst. Palace Gard. i. 10 He stuck to his guns. 1899Mrs. Alexander Brown, V.C. 259 An animated colloquy ensued. Manvers stuck to his guns.
c. son of a gun, a somewhat depreciatory term for ‘man, fellow’. (See quot. 1867.)
1708Brit. Apollo No. 43. 3/2 You'r a Son of a Gun. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Cynotaph (note), We heard the rough voice of a son of a gun Of a watchman, ‘One o'clock!’ bawling. 1849Thackeray Pendennis lx, What a happy feller I once thought you, and what a miserable son of a gun you really are! 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage. 1883Harper's Mag. Oct. 759/2 Thou lubberly, duck-legged son of a gun.
d. to carry (or hold) (big) guns: to be in a position of strength or power; to have (or carry) the guns for: to have the ability for (something).
[1732T. Fuller Gnomologia no. 1824, He carries too big a Gun for me; I must not engage him.] 1867G. Meredith Let. 13 Dec. (1970) I. 364 We carry big but immoveable guns, and the work you can supply will be heartily acceptable. 1887S. Butler Notebks. (1912) xvi. 256 This gentleman had a decided manner and carried quite as many guns as the two barristers. 1930Times 25 Mar. 17/3 The Chancellor—whose..concern is to make the two ends of his Budget meet—necessarily carries the biggest guns. 1939A. Powell What's become of Waring iv. 106 But do you really think I carry the guns?.. I shouldn't like to think that I was not going to do him justice. 1961I. Murdoch Severed Head xii. 104 ‘Why she should have followed it up beats me.’ ‘You didn't ask her?’.. ‘Of course not! As I told you, she carries too many guns.’ 1961Times 8 Nov. 18/7 Miss Catherine Lacy has not the vocal guns for the part of Clytemnestra. 1963Times 26 Feb. 3/5 It was Rangers and Celtic who held the biggest guns.
e. to beat (or jump) the gun: in Athletics, to make a false start; hence fig., to act before the permitted or agreed time.
[1905S. Crowther Rowing & Track Athletics 302 False starts were rarely penalized..and so shiftless were the starters and officials that ‘beating the pistol’ was one of the tricks which less sportsmanlike runners constantly practised.] 1933C. Littlefield Track & Field Athletics 31 Do not learn how to try to beat the gun. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxii. 239 Acting swiftly, I did a backwards leap of about five feet six. It was the manœuvre which is known in America as beating the gun. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §59 Jump the gun, to make a false start. 1951Economist 24 Nov. 1258/1 Col. Hanley, judge-advocate of the Eighth Army in Korea, first jumped the gun with statistics. 1955R. Bannister First Four Minutes 20 It seemed so unnecessary to beat the gun in a race that would last for 33/4 minutes. 1958Economist 1 Nov. 391/1 The Prime Minister has jumped the gun by announcing that it will take the form of government advances to building societies. 1960Guardian 7 Nov. 8/4 Both candidates jumped the traditional gun of Labour Day.
f. Used in pl. and contrasted with butter to describe a government policy in which the necessity for military expansion is weighed against the importance of social and economic development.
1936Times 18 Jan. 12/3 Speaking on Germany's rearmament Dr. Goebbels said:—We can well do without butter, but not without guns, because butter could not help us if we were to be attacked one day. Some people say there is a world conscience which is the League of Nations,..but I prefer to rely on guns. 1937Daily Herald 15 Jan. 2/5 A scheme to dissuade Hitler from his ‘guns rather than butter’ policy. 1938‘G. Orwell’ Let. 26 May in Coll. Essays (1968) I. 331 In every country..the supposed necessity to prepare for war is being systematically used to prevent every kind of social advance. It goes without saying that this happens in the Fascist countries, but ‘guns before butter’ also rules in the democracies. 1968Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 32/1 The incredible American economy has such unprecedented wealth that it can afford both guns and butter. 1968Guardian 4 Dec. 8/2 The wars in the Yemen and against Israel have added economic depression to endemic poverty. Is it the beginning of a ‘guns or butter’ argument in Egypt?
g. at gunpoint: threatened by a gun.
1958Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 June 1/5 Baskar was charged after two men robbed cab driver Benjamin Katz..of $25 at gunpoint. 1962Times 3 May 17/3 Three escaping criminals..board a lightship and order the crew at gunpoint to help them reach shore.
h. to give the gun (see give v. 14 c).
7. great gun.
a. A fire-arm of the larger kind which requires to be mounted for firing; a piece of ordnance, a cannon. (Distinguished from small guns, under which appellation were included muskets, rifles, etc.; the terms are now obsolete.) Also big gun.
1408? Trevisa tr. Vegetius' Art of War iv. xxii. (Roy. MS. 18 A. XII) in Promp. Parv. 219 Grete gonnes that shete now a daies stones of so grete peyse that no walle may with-stonde them; as hathe be wele shewede bothe in the Northe cuntre, and eke in the werres of Wales. 1528T. Magnus in St. Papers (1836) IV. 325, 5 gret gonnes of brasse called cannons. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 60 That same tyme all the gattes of the citte of London was layed with grett gonnes with-in the citte warte. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 256 The crack of a great Gun. 1660Willsford Scales Comm. 196 A Mount or Platform is to be raised for battery, on which the great guns are to be mounted. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 5 They were receiv'd with the shooting off the great Guns. 1684S. G. Angl. Spec. 807 The Manufactures are great Guns, made of the Iron in this County. a1715Burnet Own Time (1734) II. i. 59 He sent for some more Ammunition, and some great Guns. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 611 There would have been much difficulty in dragging the great guns to the place where the battle was raging. 1886[see Gatling]. 1900J. Ralph Towards Pretoria xii. 153 Our big guns were painted like the ruddy earth, and our Maxims were wrapped in canvas great-coats. 1915A. D. Gillespie Let. 11 July (1916) 231 Some big guns were firing on our right.., making a horrid noise.
b. A person of distinction or importance; one who is great or eminent in anything. Also big gun.
1815Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 71 None of the great guns were at Madame de Coligny's. 1825Scott Fam. Lett. (1894) II. 234 A worthy clergyman, one of the great guns, as they call them. 1834Knickerbocker III. 439 The big guns of the nation are there. 1843Haliburton Attaché I. xv. 265 The great guns, and big bugs. 1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma lvii. 258 Sir Moses being the great gun of the evening, of course timed himself to arrive becomingly late. 1867Dickens Let. 29 Mar. (1880) II. 26 The colleges mustered in full force from the biggest guns to the smallest. 1870D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sport (ed. 3) §4075 Great guns in the pugilistic ring. 1880Disraeli Endym. xl, I do not despair of its being done. But what I want is some big guns to do it. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Feb. 83/1 We must now brace ourselves to receive broadsides from the great guns of science and technology. 1966B. Kimenye Kalasanda Revisited 41 Mrs. Lutaya's set absolutely refused to accept this high-handed ruling, preferring to remain large fish in their own small pond, rather than compete with the big guns of Gumbi and Male villages.
c. to blow great guns: to blow with great violence, to blow a violent gale. Also to blow guns.
1829P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 353 It blew great guns. 1833A. Constable Let. 15 Feb. in J. Constable's Corr. (1962) 273 It rains every night & the wind has blown guns. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxiii, It blows great guns indeed. There'll be many a crash in the forest to-night. 1883C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 389 At sunset, as is usual at this place, it blew great guns. 1920‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 7 Oct. (1928) II. 50 It's blowing guns to-day.
d. great guns! used as an exclamation.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xiii. 115 Great guns! is he her uncle? 1895Pall Mall Mag. Aug. p. xxxvi, But great guns! is a man obliged to blurt out everything he honestly thinks?
e. Phr. to go great guns: to have a run of success, to advance (rapidly) towards success.
1913Field 3 May 849/3 A moment later Louvois shot out, passed Sanquhar and Fairy King, and going great guns..beat the favourite by a head. 1958Times 26 Sept. 19/2 Local partisanship will no doubt run high between Bristol, who are going great guns so far, and their old..rivals Gloucester. 1971Times 16 Jan. 16/8 Arsenal, going great guns in their functional, efficient way, must see the league title within their sights.
II. Transferred uses.
8. Mining. (See quots.) ? Obs.
1747Hooson Miner's Dict., Gun of Wood, the same with a hollow Plug. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Gun is also a name given by the miners, to an instrument used in cleaving rocks with gunpowder. It is an iron cylinder..having..a hole drilled through it to communicate with the inside of the hole in the rock.
9. slang and dial. A flagon (of ale). to be in the gun (see quot. 1785.) [Cf. goan, gawn.] ? Obs.
1645Evelyn Diary (1889) I. 220 Captain Powell..invited me on board,..where we had a dinner of English powdered beef and other good meat, with store of wine and great guns, as the manner is. 1674Ray N.C. Words 23 A Gun, a great flagon of Ale sold for 3d. or 4d. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Gun, In the Gun, Drunk. 1729Theobald in Nichols Illustr. Lit. Hist. (1817) II. 246, I think there is a vehicle in the University, which they call a ‘Gun of Ale’. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., He's In the Gun, he is drunk, perhaps from an allusion to a vessel called a gun, used for ale in the universities.
10. slang or jocular. A tobacco pipe.
1708E. Cook Sot-weed Factor (1865) 5 Out our Landlord pulls a Pouch,..and straight begun To load with Weed his Indian Gun. a1848Kerr Maggie o' the Moss, etc. (1891) 93 We each filled our ‘gun’ with the best Glasgow spun [tobacco].
11. Glass-manuf. (See quot.)
1889Encycl. Brit. X. 662 (Plate Glass) The breadth of the plate..is determined within the limits of the table by the two sides of the ‘gun’, an apparatus consisting of two plates of cast-metal, placed in front of the roller, and bolted together by cross bars at a distance apart which can be easily altered and adjusted according to the breadth of plate the apparatus is intended to control.
†12. slang. (See quot. and cf. gunner 7.) Obs.
1720Spiller in Anti-Theatre No. 13 ⁋8 Robinson Crusoe..has distinguished himself by many strange and unaccountable stories, which your smart fellows in conversation are pleased to call guns.
13. slang. A thief; also ‘rascal’, ‘beggar’.
1858A. Mayhew Paved w. Gold ii. i. 70, I tell you you ain't a-going to make a gun (thief) of this here young flat. 1863in W. B. Jerrold Signals Distress 9 A year or two's practice in the delicate profession of a ‘gun’ (a pickpocket). 1890‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 219 He..was always scraping the run bare as he could for fat stock, and let these old guns have their fling till he'd got time to..clear em all out. 1894A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 255 Circumstances had always been against Scuddy Lond, the gun. The word gun..is a friendly synonym for thief.
14. In full gun shearer. An expert sheep-shearer. Austral. and N.Z.
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec., Gun..generally speaking a man who can shear over 200 a day. 1947P. Newton Wayleggo (1949) iii. 39 There I saw some of our greatest gun (fast) shearers in action. 1952J. Cleary Sundowners iii. 121 A ‘gun’ shearer, a crack man, was always welcome in a team. 1956G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) iii. 24 While perhaps this may be all right for odd ‘guns’ it is not a good practice for the majority of shearers or learners. 1970Tel. (Brisbane) 18 Feb. 5/1 (heading) ‘Gun’ shearer only 11.
15. Surfing slang. A large heavy surfboard used for riding big waves.
1963Pix 28 Sept. 62/1 Big Gun, big surfboard for heavy surfs. 1965Farrelly & McGregor This Surfing Life vi. 69, I haven't a gun board myself. For the Australian surf that I call big..the board I use is just a long hot-dog board. 1969Surfer IX. vi. 57 Aipa rides the first wave, a long green wall, accelerating his gun to tremendous velocity across the face of the wave. 1970Surf '70 (N.Z.) 44/2 While in Hawaii I had two boards. They were an 8 ft 9 in ‘hot-dog’ and a 9 ft 6 in tracker type gun.
III. Combinations.
16. General relations:
a. simple attrib., as gun-action, gun-battery, gun-belt, gun-bore, gun-breeching, gun-butt, gun-cart, gun-cattle, gun company, gun-crew, gun-cupboard, gun-detachment, gun draught, gun drug (drug n.2), gun emplacement, gun factory, gun-flash, gun-founder, gun-foundry, gun-gear, gun-guard, † gun hammer, † gun hoy, gun-licence, gun-line, gun-match, gun mounting, gun-mouth, gun-nipple, gun-nostril, gun-park, † gun peck, gun-position, gun quoin, gun-rack, gun-range, gun roller, gun-ship, gun-shop, gun-sight, gun-stand, gun-steel, † gun tampion, gun-team, gun-trade, gun-trial, gun-wad, gun-wadding, gun-wharf, gun wheel, gun-yard.
1897B'ham Weekly Post 8 May 4/6 Richard Hill, *gun-action filer.
1816H. Clarke Hist. War I. 319/2 The mortar and *gun-batteries of the enemy. 1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms, Gun Battery, a defense constructed of earth faced with green sods or fascines, sometimes of gabions filled with earth.
1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1048 A..cop who wears his *gunbelt in bed.
1806Hutton Course Math. II. 345 The whole length of the *gunbore.
1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 105 A *gun-breeching till of late years, was what it still remains in muskets used in the army, simply a plug screwed into the end of the barrel.
1891Kipling Light that Failed ii, To drag down the slayer till he could be knocked on the head by some avenging *gun-butt. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August (1933) xi. 228 A hand more apt for a rope or a gunbutt..than a pen.
1898Century Mag. Apr. 928/2 [He] most ingeniously ran his *gun-cart far into the surf in the wake of a receding wave.
1846H. Torrens Rem. Mil. Lit. & Hist. I. 107 note, The breed of *gun cattle has much degenerated of late years.
1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 282/1 The two *gun companies were transferred to the infantry arm of the service.
1863T. W. Higginson Army Life (1870) 92 Even among the *gun-crews, not a man was hurt.
1892W. W. Greener Breech-Loader 180 If..a dust-proof *gun-cupboard, it will last longer.
1860Man. Artill. Exerc. ii. 22 The medium 12-pounder requires two *gun detachments. 1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms s.v., The cannoneers assigned to the service of a single gun, formed in double rank, constitute a gun detachment.
1846H. Torrens Rem. Mil. Lit. & Hist. I. 107 note, The bullock, useful as he is for heavy *gun draft in this country.
1879Man. Artil. Exerc. 583 The 7-inch R.M.L. gun of 7 tons may be transported by land..by heavy *gun drug for 25 tons.
Ibid. 84 The roads, or lines of communication between the gun park and various *gun emplacements.
1780in Cal. Virginia St. Papers I. 372 The warrant for Six thousand pounds on account of the *Gun Factory. 1812Niles' Reg. III. 60/2 Messrs. Coggswell and Hosford are erecting a gun factory in Albany. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v., Elswick..was formerly an adjunct of the Royal Gun Factory.
1950J. Bussell Puppets & I iv. 85 *Gun flashes (made with wickless cigarette-lighters) denote the start of a battle. 1957M. K. Joseph I'll soldier no More (1958) ix. 170 Over to the left, gunflashes lit the sky.
1549Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 287 To Giles Pacquet, *gonfounder, towardes the making of certeyne peces of brasse. 1628R. Norton Gunner 44 That all his Gunne⁓founders should thenceforth cast all Cannons of 18 Dyametres of their Bores in length. 1688Capt. J. S. Fortification 132 By this a Gun-Founder may cast Guns, according to demand.
1870Daily News 21 Oct., Bourges..having an arsenal and *gunfoundries.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gun-gear, everything pertaining to its handling. 1883Clark Russell Sailors' Lang., Gun-gear, left-handed rope used for securing cannons on board ship. 1896A. Austin Jameson's Ride ii, If sound be our sword, and saddle, And gun-gear.
1897S. L. Hinde Congo Arabs 124 The officer had the rearguard and more particularly the *gunguard under supervision.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 50 *Gonne hamers..iij.
1726Lond. Gaz. No. 6454/2 A *Gun Hoy of the Burthen of 70 Tons.
1886W. W. Fowler Year with Birds 9 The *gun-licence and its own rapid flight give it a fair chance of escape. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 Oct. 9/4 For not having his gun licence on his person, W. Whitta was fined $10 and costs. 1965A. Nicol Truly Married Woman 92 He had not bothered to apply for a gun licence.
1945Diamond Track (Army Board, N.Z.) 25/2 The defensive power of an anti-tank *gun-line. 1968Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 11 Aug. 2/1 HMAS Hobart has won an American ‘fleet citation’ for action..while on gunline duty off the Vietnam coast.
1644Nye Gunnery (1647) Title-p., The art of Gunnery. Wherein is described the true way to make *Gun-match, [etc.]. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 17 With quick match..or with gun match, they fire them.
1892Labour Commission Gloss., *Gun mountings, the framework upon which the guns on a vessel are mounted, that is the carriages with their fittings and fixtures.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea Prooem B vj, I may say of these mens *Gun-mouthes, Out of these Gun-mouthes go burning lamps,..and sparks of fire leap out of their *Gun-nostrils [cf. Job xli. 19].
1857Livingstone Trav. xv. 280 The powder in the *gun-nipples cannot be kept dry.
1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 136 On the East or Lower-part of the Town, is the Gun-yard, commonly called the Park, or the *Gun-park, where is a prodigious Quantity of Cannon of all Sorts for the Ships of War. 1879[see gun emplacement]. 1940‘Gun Buster’ Return via Dunkirk i. ii. 27 Guides dashed off to meet the column and lead it to the gun-parks and vehicle-parks already selected. 1943Roof over Britain 25 The guns are spaced around the sides of the gun park, with the command post at the centre.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 72 Gonne hamurs iij, *Gonne pekkes viij.
1901‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 73 From the *gun-position one could look down upon line upon line of trenches.
1879Man. Artil. Exerc. 98, 4 and 5 scotch the wheels with the *gun quoins.
1799Sporting Mag. XIV. 107 One of the hooks in the *gun-rack caught the trigger. 1838J. McDonald Biogr. Sk. N. Massie 38 His gun-rack was examined, and there hung his rifle and his pouch in their usual place. 1969Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 19 Dec. 9/7 (Advt.), Wooden Gun Rack. A favorite gift for the hunter in the family.
1856Kane Arctic Expl. I. xxvii. 356 If I am fortunate enough to stalk within *gun-range.
1879Man. Artil. Exerc. 96 The special *gun roller, when in use, rests on two gudgeon plates fitted to the cheeks of the overbank or top carriage.
1841L. M. Child Lett. New York viii. 59 You probably recollect that he built a large *gun-ship for the Turkish Sultan. 1898P. H. Colomb in Nat. Rev. Aug. 842 That fighting ships—that is, gun-ships—should no longer be supplied, as at present universally, with torpedoes.
1865Atlantic Monthly XV. 717 The better class of work⁓men had gone..to private *gun-shops in the North. 1893Beerbohm Let. 13 Aug. (1964) 47 The window of a gun-shop. 1940Illustr. London News CXCVII. 22 (caption) Ranks of guns—some of them of the largest calibres—in this British gun-shop betoken good supplies of these naval weapons.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gun-sight.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. viii. 89, I jumped at once to the *gun-stand.
1891Pall Mall G. 30 May 7/1 *Gun-steel in this country is subjected to the severest tests.
1485Naval Acc. Henry VII (1896) 69 *Gonne Tampyons.
1897Cavalry Tactics xvi. 112 If the attack succeeds, the guns must be carried off or disabled; the easiest way for the former would be to utilise the *gun-team horses. 1908Westm. Gaz. 30 Oct. 3/2 Horses..capable of drawing weight at the pace required in a gun-team.
1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 94 The Birmingham *gun-trade.
1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 112/1 Krupp's *gun-trial grounds.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) 457 *Gun wads are stated to have no effect on the velocity of the ball.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Gun-wadding, circular pieces of card-board, cloth, felt, and chemically prepared substances, used to keep down the charge of ball or shot, &c. in a gun.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Arcenal de marine, a royal dock-yard, together with its warren or *gun-wharf. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 110 The guns at the Portsmouth gun-wharf.
1879Man. Artil. Exerc. 95 Scotch the *gun wheels with handspikes. 1769*Gun-yard [see gun-park].
b. objective, as gun-bearer, gun-boring, gun-carrying, gun-fighting, gun-firing, gun-forger, gun-forging, gun-handling, gun-pulling, gun-testing, gun-toter, gun-toting, etc.
c. instrumental, as gun-battle, gun-fight, gun-murder; gun-armed, gun-equipped, gun mounted adjs.
193819th Cent. Feb. 198 Germany had but few submarines, and of these not many were *gun-armed.
1945Everybody's Digest Aug. 89 A *gun battle used to bring a puncher out ‘a-smokin'’. 1967Listener 13 Apr. 486/1 In Aden, British troops and extremists fight gun battle.
1883G. Allen in Knowl. 18 Aug. 97/1 Their [rabbits'] hereditary foe, man, the possible hunter and probable *gun-bearer.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. i, This Thing, called La Révolution, which..hangs over France, noyading, fusillading, fighting, *gun-boring.
1896Daily News 4 Nov. 7/2 The *gun-carrying power of the torpedo vessels.
1897Ibid. 8 Mar. 5/2 Another silent host of hooded, shrouded, and *gun-equipped warriors.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea Prooem B ij b, *Gun-fighting Ships.
Ibid. B v b, Great roaring *Gun-fights.
1848Clough Let. 22 May, Poems & Prose Rem. (1869) I. 125 The perpetual *gun-firing gave me a head-ache.
1694Lond. Gaz. No. 3008/4 Whoever gives notice of him to Mr. John Parmiter, *Gun forger,..shall have a Guinea.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea Prooem B v, These are the *Gun-handling and Canon-firing Lads of the World.
1846H. Torrens Rem. Mil. Lit. & Hist. I. 107 We, too, have our war chariots, *gun-mounted.
1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxvi. (1856) 332 My old hostility to *gun-murder was forgotten.
1909‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xvi. 271 The by⁓standers asserted that it was met by the most beautiful exhibition of lightning *gun-pulling ever witnessed in the Southwest.
1898Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 7/3 Orders have been issued for a *gun-testing party to be despatched from the Sheerness School of Gunnery.
1925O. P. White Them was Days 120 This opened up the field for the renegade white man..the *gun-toter, [etc.]. 1948Sat. Rev. 28 Aug. 37/1 His steps were the measured pace of a gun toter.
1912I. S. Cobb Back Home 293, I reckon none of you young fellows..can remember when this wasn't a *gun-toting country down here? 1969Listener 23 Jan. 103/3 One can imagine the sight of the gun-toting..in all the Westerns, joined together as one fusillade.
d. Forming, with a prefixed numeral, an adjectival compound qualifying ship, frigate, etc.
1748J. Lind Lett. Navy ii. (1757) 95 That every captain of a forty gun ship..have a power to hold a court martial. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) U 2 b, A seventy-four gun ship. 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 165/1 Three forty-gun frigates landed 1100 men under Humbert. 1832Marryat N. Forster xxxiv, I..married a couple on board of a..ten-gun brig.
17. Special combs.: gun apron (see quot.); gun-barrel (see barrel n. 7); also transf. and comb. gun-barrel grinder, gun maker, gun prover; gun-beam (see quot.); gun-brig, a two-masted ship of war, now obsolete; gun-bright (see quot.); gun-brush, a cylindrical or conical brush for cleaning the bore of a gun; gun bus [bus n.2 2 b (a)] (see quot. 1925); gun-camera (see quot. 1948); gun captain, the captain of the crew of a ship's gun; gun-carriage (see carriage 27); gun-case, a case for holding a gun; also colloq. a name for a judge's tippet; gun-chamber (see quot. 1867); gun club, the name of a fabric design, freq. used in tweeds, consisting of large checks superimposed over small ones; gun cruiser, the same as cruiser; gun-crutch (see quot.); gun-dog, a dog trained to accompany the ‘guns’; † gun dust, the metallic dust produced in the boring of cannon; gun-fight U.S. colloq., a fight with revolvers, a shooting affray; gun-fighter, one who frequently participates in gun-fights; also fig.; gun-fire, (a) the firing of a gun or guns; Naut. and Mil. the time at which the morning or evening gun is fired; spec. rapid firing in which each gun acts independently and fires as rapidly as it can be loaded; also fig.; (b) Army slang, an early morning cup of tea served out to troops before going on first parade; gun flint (see flint n. 2 b); gun-fodder = cannon-fodder; gun-harpoon, a harpoon fired from a gun instead of being thrown by hand; gun hoop, one of the coiled or forged steel envelopes shrunk on the central tube of a modern cannon; gun-house, a shelter for the protection of a gun and the gunner in action; gun-how, gun-howitzer (see quot. 1942); gun-iron, (a) the iron used in the manufacture of guns; (b) a gun-harpoon (Cent. Dict.); gun-lance, see lance n.1 2; gun-layer, one who aims or lays a gun; hence gun-laying vbl. n.; gun-lift, a hoisting arrangement for mounting and dismounting cannon (Wilhelm Mil. Dict. 1881); gun microphone, a moving-coil microphone having a number of parallel tubes of different length in front of the diaphragm to increase its directional property; gun moll U.S. slang, a female thief (cf. sense 13); an armed woman; gun-money, (a) = gunnage; (b) money coined (by James II in Ireland) from the metal of old guns (see quot. 1853); gun-paper (see quot.); gun-pendulum, (a) ‘a device employed to determine the initial velocity of projectiles by means of the recoil of the gun’ (Hamersly Naval Encycl. 1881); (b) ‘a pendulous box with sand-bags to receive the impact of a ball fired from a gun or cannon, and used to determine the strength of powder’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); gun-pit, (a) Fortif., an excavation made to receive guns for protection against the enemy's fire; (b) ‘a pit for receiving the mold used in casting a gun, or for receiving the tube or jacket in assembling a built-up gun’ (Cent. Dict.); (c) in a fighting aeroplane, the compartment for a gun and gunner; gun-plane, a fighting aeroplane armed with a gun or guns; gun-pointer = gun-layer; gun-port, a port-hole for a gun; gun-portion, (see quot. 1876); gun-power, the number and strength of guns available in any given place or circumstances; gun-range, (a) the range of a gun's fire; (b) a place where gun-firing is practised; gun-reach = gun-range (a); gun-rest, (see quot. 1898); also, a wall-fixture for portable fire-arms, a gun-rack; gun-runner colloq., one engaged in gun-running, the practice of illegally conveying fire-arms and ammunition into a country; gun-sawdust, an explosive made, in a similar way to guncotton, by steeping sawdust in nitric and sulphuric acids; gun-searcher (see quot.); (helicopter) gunship, a heavily armed helicopter; gun-sight (see sight n.1 14 b); hence gun-sighting vbl. n.; gun-site, an emplacement, usually fortified, for guns; † gun-sleeved a., having gun-shaped sleeves; gun-slide, in naval guns, ‘the chassis on which the top-carriage carrying the gun slides in recoiling’ (Cent. Dict.); gun-sling (see quot.); also, a sling for carrying a portable fire-arm; gun-slinger = gun-man 1; hence gun-slinging vbl. n.; gun-spaniel, a spaniel that has been trained to accompany gunners; gun-stick, a ramrod, rammer; gun-tackle, (a) Naut. in full, gun-tackle-purchase, ‘a tackle composed of a rope rove through two single blocks’ (Smyth); also attrib. gun-tackle block; (b) an arrangement of blocks and ropes for moving guns; † gun-trap, a trap which when touched discharges a firearm; gun turret (see quot. 1959); gun-vessel, ? a small ship of war; gun washings, the water in which a gun has been washed; gun-well, in a submarine, the sunk compartment for a gun; gun-work, (a) any labour performed in connexion with ordnance, its production, inspection, or the like; (b) shooting with a gun or rifle; gun-worker, one who works in a gun-foundry.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), Aprons, *Gun, covers for the protection of the vent and tangent blocks of guns against rain and dirt.
1789(title) An Essay on Shooting, containing the various Methods of Forging, Boring, and Dressing *Gun Barrels. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 466 Edge-tool and gun-barrel grinders. 1858Greener Gunnery 291 It cannot be too often repeated, that a gun barrel is a spring, to all intents and purposes. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Gun barrel maker..Gun barrel prover. 1864S. Hibberd Rose Bk. 245 Gun-Barrel Budding. Ibid. 246 Bud it there at once just under one of the leaf⁓rings, ‘gun-barrel’ fashion. 1904Westm. Gaz. 19 Jan. 10/1 The recent gun-barrel fight in Birmingham. 1907‘Artifex’ & ‘Opifex’ Causes of Decay in Brit. Industry ii. 25 Gun-barrel welding is one of the handicrafts lost to Birmingham.., whilst it is thriving in Belgium. 1961C. H. Douglas-Todd Pop. Whippet 53 If she has no spring of ribs, a gun-barrel front and so on..do not regard her as a foundation brood bitch. 1970New Yorker 22 Aug. 67/1 The children's kind of blindness was identified as tunnel, or gun-barrel, vision—a constriction of the visual fields.
1898Encycl. Sport II. 168 (Punt shooting), *Gun-beam, the principal beam in the fore deck, which supports the main weight of the gun in its crutch.
1801Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 314 Captain Rose..volunteered his services to direct the *Gun-brigs. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 123 Our gun-brigs, a sort of vessel that will certainly d—n the inventor to all eternity.
1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms, *Gun-bright, Dutch rush (equisetum hyemale) much used in scouring gun barrels.
1799Memoirs Med. Soc. Lond. V. 407 (heading) Case of a *Gun Brush penetrating the Cranium. 1874Kemmis Treat. Mil. Carriages 171 Gun brushes are used for cleaning the bores of M.L.R. guns, the heads are conical in form.
1919Blackburn & Newby All about Aircraft 63 The Vickers' ‘*Gun Bus’..having a Gnome engine. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 112 Gun-bus, Air Force slang for a gun-carrying aeroplane. Specifically applied to the first Vickers' ‘pusher’ machine, the first aeroplane specially built to carry a machine-gun. 1970R. Johnston Black Camels xii. 183 Out on the flanks, four of Kassim's gun buses were standing by.
1921Flight XIII. 414/1 Dealing with the *gun-camera, he said airmen were trained to aim and ‘fire’ with the gun, and the camera, which was attached, showed what part of their opponent they were actually on when they ‘fired’. 1948A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 17) 356 Gun camera, a camera attached to a gun, usually in a fighter aeroplane, and operated when the trigger of the gun is pulled. These cameras were introduced during the war of 1914–18 for use in training fighter-pilots.
1901Westm. Gaz. 27 June 8/1 The *gun captain and layer.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Cheville a œilettes d'affût, the eye-bolts of the *gun-carriages. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 309 Two gunners sit immediately behind the horses, on the front of the gun-carriage.
1690S. Niles Indian Wars in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (4th Ser.) V. 275 We took two guns,..*gun-cases and four canoes. 1839C. Sinclair Holiday House xv. 333, I observed a gun-case in the saloon. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton II. v. 70 Having abstracted the paper, and bullets, &c., she saw a woollen gun-case, made of that sort of striped horse-cloth you must have seen a thousand times appropriated to such a purpose. 1857Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 368 Polis picked up a gun-case of blue broadcloth. 1877Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 22 The only indication that its owner is a votary of ‘le sport’, is the neat mahogany gun-case fastened to the wall. 1895Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 3/1 The tippet or ‘gun-case’ of scarlet cloth from the right shoulder to the left side, held in by the sash or girdle.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 38 *Gonne chambres iiij ix. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gun-chambers. In early artillery a movable chamber with a handle like a paterero, used in loading at the breech. In more recent times the name has been used for the small portable mortars for firing salutes in the parks.
1939M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 25/1 *Gun club check, check design used frequently in tweeds, consisting of large check over smaller one. 1967Guardian 7 Sept. 4/3 Pattern and colour in trousers are ‘in’, Tattersalls, gunclubs, dice checks, overchecks and stripes to blend with jackets.
1884R. D. White in Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 5/1 Of *gun cruisers we should have at least one for every station, and two or three in reserve.
1898Encycl. Sport II. 168 (Punt shooting), *Gun-crutch, the spur in which the gun rests on the gunbeam.
1744W. Ellis Mod. Husb. VI. i. 184 The Dog..which, you said, was a *Gun-dog and Setter. 1908Westm. Gaz. 5 Mar. 9/3 The most handsome of all English gundogs. 1959Elizabethan July 12/2 The haute-école of gundog training demands an intricate relationship of understanding between man and dog.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 135 Earthen-floors are commonly made..of Lime, and Brook-sand, and *Gundust, or Anvil-dust from the Forge. Ibid. 207 A Gallon of Boreing (or Gun) Dust.
1898McClure's Mag. Feb. 380 You don't mean there is going to be a *gun-fight? 1907S. E. White Arizona Nights ii. ii. 252 I'll go yore little old gunfight to a finish. 1961K. Reisz Technique Film Editing (ed. 9) ii. 75 The gun-fight is simply presented in to-and-fro reaction shots.
1894Midwinter Appeal (San Francisco) 27 Jan. 2/3 The *gun-fighters rushed up with cocked revolvers and ordered him to halt. 1910J. Hart Vigilante Girl xxvii. 374 This man Hawke is a gun-fighter, and as cool and courageous as Tower can be. 1950Manch. Guardian Weekly 17 Aug. 7/3 All ‘Westerns’ are..strict observers of a moral and social code—..But ‘The Gunfighter’ goes much farther in moral lecturing. 1964D. F. Dowd in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 59 To become..an intellectual gunfighter.
1801Maria Lady Nugent 30 Oct. in Jrnl. Voyage..Jamaica 1801–1805 (1839) I. ii. 83 Up at *gun-fire. 1814T. E. Hook Let. 24 Mar. in A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews (1838) II. xii. 269 Always up by gun-fire, five o'clock. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v., Gun-fire, the time at which the morning or evening gun is fired. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 110, I will give you leave to go to-morrow morning and stay till gun-fire. 1870Daily News 13 Oct. 5/5 This same shell disturbed a hare, which..scampered across the battlefield right in a line with the gun fire. 1898P. H. Colomb in Nat. Rev. Aug. 841 Quite possibly an English admiral would have risked the dangers of navigation rather than the dangers of gun-fire. 1912S. E. Burrow Friend or Foe x. 125 In the prayer⁓room they gathered at noon day by day for their ‘Gun⁓fire’, and around the Word had the most helpful fellowship. 1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 210 The gunners..will tell you how they stretched themselves to the call for ‘gun-fire’. 1919War Slang in Athenæum 18 July 632/2 ‘Gun fire’ for early morning tea. 1926Times 1 Jan. 13/3 After a sharp exchange of gunfire the massive tanks of the new property legislation have rolled over the last ditch. 1928Daily Mail 31 July 13/1 A typical day in the life of a Territorial in camp..is as follows: 6 a.m. Réveillé. 6.30 ‘Gunfire’ (morning tea and biscuits), [etc.]. 1940‘Gun Buster’ Return via Dunkirk ii. xvii. 201 ‘Dawn just breaking, sir,’ he affirmed, shoving into my hand a mug of hot ‘gunfire’. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 137/2 One has only to listen to the tense gunfire delivery of radio sports announcers to understand this.
1746Cooke in Hanway's Trav. (1762) I. iv. liv. 253 The Tartars offered them two large loaves of bread, in exchange for a *gun flint. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iii. 71 A gun-flint is convenient for scratching on the surface of glass.
1900Westm. Gaz. 9 July 2/1 Exceedingly useful in the capacity of *gun-fodder and stop-gap. 1925P. Gibbs Unchanging Quest xxvii. 207 From historic houses..these boys of ours came as gun-fodder. 1941Koestler Scum ix. 47 To fight against its enemies at home, instead of serving as gun-fodder for their purposes.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gun-harpoon.
1891Daily News 26 May 2/6 The exhibit, which consists of a hollow forging (technically known as a *gun hoop)..is 23 feet long, and weighs 34 tons.
1893Lloyd & Hadcock Artillery v. 109 The firer..looks along the sights above the roof of the shield or *gun-house.
1940Illustr. London News 16 Mar. 345 (caption) Here we give some photographs of the new 25-pdr. ‘*gun-how,’—the outstanding artillery novelty of the war. 1942J. T. Gorman Mod. Weapons War iv. 80 Guns and howitzers, as separate weapons, have been largely superseded by a single, all-purposes ‘Gun-How’, combining the long range of guns with a howitzer's greater weight of fire.
1940Illustr. London News 20 Jan. 75/1 This drawing shows a *gun-howitzer—a weapon unknown in the World War, but of increasing importance in recent years—in the development of which British artillerymen have played a leading part.
1881Greener Gun 257 All the iron for gun-work..is of a superior quality to that to be generally obtained, and is known as *gun-iron.
1901Westm. Gaz. 27 June 8/1 Acting Bombardier Mullen, the *gun captain and layer, had a truly marvellous escape. 1906Daily Chron. 13 Aug. 5/7 While carrying out gunlayers' tests with the six-inch guns. 1938C. Day Lewis Overtures to Death 47 Brisk at their intricate batteries the German gun-layers go About death's business.
1909Westm. Gaz. 26 July 7/2 (heading) Remarkable *gun⁓laying tests.
[1941W. Abbot Handbk. Broadcasting (ed. 2) i. 8 Two interesting microphones are the machine-gun and the parabolic. The machine-gun accessory..consists of a series of tubes strapped together through which sound is conveyed to a dynamic microphone which fits into the end.] 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio i. 23 A ‘*gun’ microphone..is sufficiently directional to pinpoint surfaces which cause echoes in concert halls. 1967Punch 25 Jan. 132/2 The camera-team..trained their directional gun-microphones on guilty couples.
1908J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 2 A *gun-moll, a woman thief. 1910National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 31 Dec. 3/1 When the professional woman thief, who is known to the denizens of the underworld as a gun moll is arrested and taken back to the office, she is searched thoroughly. 1928M. C. Sharpe Chicago May 286 Gun Molls, women who steal from men in the street, or carry guns. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment ii. v. 279 Fierce-looking Yemenite gun-molls, Sephardi beauties.
1712Lond. Gaz. No. 5019/4 Rewards of *Gun-money for the said Service. 1853Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. II. 511 The base silver money struck..by James II., in 1689..principally from some brass cannon, from which they took the name of gun-money; but they were composed of a mixture of metals, in which silver formed a small proportion. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gun and head money, given to the captors of an enemy's ship of war destroyed, or deserted, in fight. It was formerly assumed to be about {pstlg}1000 per gun.
1853Faraday Lect. Non-metallic Elem. i. 110 Other forms of lignine or woody tissue may be made to assume the peculiar condition of gun-cotton by similar treatment. Thus we may have gun-sawdust, and what may be termed *gun-paper.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gun-pendulum. See Ballistic Pendulum. 1883G. Mackinlay Text-bk. Gunnery 146 The gun-pendulum has lately been occasionally used in experiments to find the recoil of small arms.
1877M. Prior in Daily News 1 Oct., We..saw the Russians building *gun pits and shelter trenches for our next attack. 1884Mil. Engineering (ed. 3) I. ii. 8 Field artillery positions protected by breast⁓works and gun-pits. 1928C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station xii, The German officer..standing in the after gun-pit.
1915Times 4 Oct. 8/4 Our *gunplanes carried out during the night a bombardment of the German lines. 1915W. E. Dommett Aeroplanes & Airships vi. 75 What has latterly been described as a battleplane or gunplane..does not yet exist in very great numbers.
1904Collier's 16 July 15 As the breech-blocks close with a snap the *gun-pointer bends over his sights. 1918Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 839/1 This time the gun-pointer, having overcome his pardonable excitement, aimed true.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) U 2 b, The *gun-ports of the lower deck. 1894Daily News 22 Aug. 5/6 An officer on board the steamer Islam..denies that the portholes were ever meant for gun-ports, being intended for the readier discharge of cargo into lighters.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), *Gun Portion, in fortification, is half the merlon on each side of the gun, that is to say, 9 feet on one side of the embrasure and 9 feet on the other. 1884Mil. Engineering (ed. 3) I. ii. 44 The gun-portion parties, consisting of as many parties as there are guns, are distributed on their tasks by their respective N.C.O.'s.
1890G. S. Clarke Fortification xiii. 176 The actual *gun power of the broadside iron-clads. 1928Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 12/4 A division today lacks the tank-power and the gun-power necessary for it to strike as a whole. 1940W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 244 None of the British ships..was..affected in gun-power or mobility.
1852tr. Görgei's My Life in Hung. I. 398 At the distance of three or four *gun-ranges from the Monostor. Ibid. II. xix. 182 They were..far out of gun-range of our trenches. 1856Gun-range [see gun n. 16 a]. 1904Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 5/2 The gun-range at Brassact, near Antwerp. 1954W. Faulkner Fable (1955) 283 As soon as they can get us up in gun⁓range again.
1825C. Waterton Wand. S. Amer. 118 Almost out of *gun reach. 1918W. Beebe Jungle Peace xi, Within gun-reach in front of me.
1898Encycl. Sport II. 168 (Punt shooting), *Gun-rest, a flat wooden support for the barrel of the gun. It has a long handle, enabling the fowler to regulate the elevation of the gun. 1925A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose iii. xv, Pike-rests... Not gun-rests; they are too far apart for that.
1899Athenæum 21 Oct. 551/1 Isaacs, the *gun-runner, has good points as a man.
1883Standard 21 Mar. 3/2 Two Europeans..were arrested in the act of *gun-running on the Pondoland frontier. 1853*Gun-sawdust [see gun-paper].
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gun-searcher, an iron instrument with several sharp-pointed prongs and a wooden handle: it is used to find whether the bore is honey-combed.
1968Times 3 Feb. 8/3 Helicopter ‘*gunships’ armed with machine-guns accounted for most of the toll. 1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam iii. 63, I saw two Huey gun-ships—assault helicopters—swooping down towards us... I listened gratefully to the whoosh of its [sc. the leading gun-ship's] 2.75 inch rockets and the stutter of its M60 machine guns. 1969Australian 7 June 2/7 Other RAAF gunships remained overhead until the crew were lifted out.
1867*Gun-sight [see gun n. 16 a]. 1908Westm. Gaz. 17 Sept. 5/1 It was discovered that all the gunsights in the ship had been removed. 1941C. Morgan Empty Room i. 10 ‘Bomb-sights and the Paramounts.’ ‘The what?’ ‘That's what I call the fighter gunsights.’
1905Daily Chron. 5 Apr. 8/5 *Gun-sighting platforms.
1943Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 17 Feb.-11 May 43 (caption) A Bofors anti-aircraft gun manned by men of the U.S. Army at a *gun-site situated on the coast of Algeria. 1944Times 3 Feb. 6/1 At the beginning of this year the American gunners took over a gunsite on London's outskirts.
1786Coalman's Courtsh. Creel-Wife's Dau. (ed. 20) 6 No less than a *gun sleev'd linen sark on him.
1812Niles' Reg. II. 131/1 The purveyor of public supplies advertises for..25000 *gun slings. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gun-slings, long rope grommets used for hoisting in and mounting them. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 653/2 Gun and Rifle Slings. Webbing—3/9.
1953in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 236/1 The *gun-slinger will spend..his life behind bars. 1960Spectator 4 Mar. 321 Yet another brutalised gun-slinger. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 7 May Show Guide 2/4 (caption) The gunslinger..comes to town, cigar between teeth, his prowess with a gun for sale.
1944R. F. Adams Western Words (1945) 70/1 *Gun slinging, slang for the act of shooting. 1958Church Times 12 Sept. 3/1 The EOKA boycott is resented even more than the EOKA gun-slinging, for it affects every single citizen.
1754Ess. Manning Fleet 39 Every Greyhound, Pointer, Setter, and *Gun-Spaniel.
1589Nottingham Rec. (1889) IV. 227 For iiij *gunstickes and twoe drumme stickes xvjd. 1746Miles in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 32 The Sulphur, tho' of a great Thickness round the said Gun-stick, could by no means be excited to any tolerable Degree. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., Gun stick, a ramrod. Western.
1795R. Dodd Rep. Hartlepool 16 Merely knowing the management of a *gun-tackle. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Gun-tackle, the blocks and pulleys of a gun-carriage affixed to the side of a ship, by which it is run in and out of the port-hole. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 108 ‘A gun tackle’ increases the effect of the power threefold. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 55 Gun tackle purchase. Two double blocks, each fitted with a hook. 1891Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker (1892) 217 The decks were washed down..and a gun-tackle purchase rigged, before the boat arrived. 1898P. H. Colomb Mem. Sir A.C. Key 350 That the strops of the gun-tackle blocks should henceforth be of wire instead of hemp.
1749F. Smith Voy. Disc. II. 3 These *Gun Traps are usually set under some Bank Side, or in a Hollow Way.
1916Flying (Aero Club of America) Jan. 820/1 The Sturtevant Battleplane is a biplane of tractor type built with remarkable simplicity and..attention to efficiency. There are many novel features, including the steel construction, the placing of *gun turrets on either side of the central body. 1919A. Klemin Text-bk. Aeronaut. Engin. 175 Pilot forward machine gun firing through propeller. Passenger in rear with circular gun-turret. 1935Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 988 In the case of rotatable gun turrets for aircraft, it is proposed to provide a removable top so as to allow the gunner to escape in case of emergency. 1959J. L. Nayler Dict. Aeronaut. Engin. 125 Gun turret, a gun position in an aircraft under the control of an air-gunner... Modern gun turrets are power-operated, equipped with gyro gun-sights and often radar ranged and fired automatically.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 238 A sailor belonging to a *gun-vessel. 1835Westm. Rev. XXIII. Advt. to No. xlv. 8 A free government is like a gun-vessel, with its gun amidships.
1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases vii. 134 The skin [in Yellow Fever] is said to emit a peculiar odour like *gun washings.
1915Illustr. London News CXLVI. 234/1 The deck of a German submarine with the hatch of the *gun-well open.
1858Greener Gunnery 183 This iron is sold to the *gun-work forgers. 1889Century Dict. s.v., An officer detailed upon gun-work exclusively. 1899Westm. Gaz. 15 Sept. 2/1 M. Foà's record of his gun-work amongst the big game of Central Africa.
1905Spectator 4 Mar. 311/2 A meeting of *gun-workers..held at Birmingham on Monday.
Add:[III.] [17.] gun slip (see *slip n.3 4 g).
▸ U.S. slang. a. Baseball. A player's throwing arm, esp. a strong throwing arm.
1929N.Y. Times 2 June xx. 2/7 A player's arm is his ‘gun’ or his ‘wing’. ‘A good gun’ means that the possessor has a strong arm. 1984N.Y. Post 3 Aug. 66/3 Did you see the right-fielder throw? His gun reminds me of Skoonj [i.e. Carl Furillo]. 1991Baseball Rookies I. i. 13/2 He has that type of arm where he lets go of the ball and you expect it to bounce five or six times before it gets to second. But it never does. He has a gun.
b. In pl. The arms, esp. muscular arms; the biceps.
1973M. Andrews & P. T. Owens Black Lang. iii. 79 Guns, the biceps and triceps part of the arm. (Where potential firepower lies.) 1990J. Fritscher Some Dance to Remember 43 Bringing his Big Guns to full flex. 1997P. Munro U.C.L.A. Slang 3 74 Nice guns! 2008Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 4 May p3, I gotta get rid of this gut, and I want big guns and big pecs.
▪ II. gun, v.|gʌn|
Inflected gunned, gunning.
[f. gun n.]
1. trans.
†a. To provide with guns. (See also gunned a.) Obs.
†b. To assail or fight with guns. Obs.
[1659: see gunned.] a1679Earl of Orrery Guzman iii, I cannot chuse but laugh to think how I shall gun the Oviedo's and Pirracco's. 1698Vanbrugh 2nd Pt. æsop i, They gilded her, and painted her, and rigg'd and gunn'd her, and so sent her a privateering.
c. Stock Exchange. (See quot.)
1870J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 136 Gunning a stock, is to use every art to produce a ‘break’, when it is known that a certain house is heavily supplied, and would be unable to resist an attack.
d. To shoot (a person). Also with up. U.S. colloq.
1898H. S. Canfield Maid of Frontier 83 I'll gun you if you do that again. 1916H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap i. 35 Wilfred went pasty, indeed, thinking his host was going to gun him. 1923L. J. Vance Baroque xxvii. 178 If you don't want to have your Fiancy gunned up without notice by some wild-eyed wop. 1934R. Chandler in Black Mask Oct. 36/1 Canales had no motive to gun Lou, unless it got back the money.
e. Forestry. (See quot. 1957.)
1905Terms Forestry & Logging 39 Gun, to aim a tree in felling it. In the case of very large, brittle trees, such as redwood, a sighting device (gunning stick) is used. 1957Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. II. 88 Gun, in felling, to select the direction in which a tree should fall.
2. intr. To shoot with a gun; hence, to make war. to gun for: to shoot for, to go in search of with a gun; also, to go after or in search of; to seek to attack, harm, or destroy (someone). Phrase to go gunning, in which the participial form represents historically a-gunning (see gunning vbl. n. and -ing2). Chiefly U.S.
a1622Sir R. Hawkins Observ. §10 (1622) 19 Which is a bad custome received and vsed of many ignorant persons presently to gun at all whatsoever they discover, before they speake with them. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxiii. (1748) 355 Forc'd by some yelping cute to give the greyhounds view, Which are at length let slip when gunning out they go. 1767N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Register (1860) XIV. 47 All Persons coming to gun on said Island after Game. 1779D. Gookin Ibid. (1862) XVI. 29 Our men went out this day gunning, saw deer and wild Turkey, killed none. 1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. II. 102, I was hardly twelve years old, and had never been allowed to go out gunning. 1865U. S. Grant in Century Mag. (1889) Nov. 146/2 The whole captures since the army started out gunning, will amount to not less than twelve thousand men and probably fifty pieces of artillery. 1888Century Mag. Mar. 780/1 The guards..used..to gun for prisoners' heads..after the fashion of boys after squirrels. 1893W. K. Post Harvard Stories 188 That bull Mick Shreedy is gunning for me just at present. 1903N.Y. Times 29 Sept. 1 Others talked of mysterious influences that had been ‘gunning’ for financiers of prominence. 1922Daily Mail 5 Dec. 9 Observing that the Company's statement is not a denial of the assertion that it is ‘gunning’ for the Mesopotamian oilfields claimed by the heirs of Abdul Hamid. 1930‘E. Queen’ French Powder Mystery xix. 171 Mr. Trask has been gunning for Bernice [with a view to marriage] for over a year. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xviii. 198 Nice little bit of luck, finding her like that... Matter of fact, I wasn't gunning for her at all, really. I came to get that notebook. 1950G. Greene Third Man iii. 31 I'm gunning..for Colonel Callaghan. 1955Times 16 June 12/2 You found when you came back from Oslo that for other reasons the Communist Party was ‘gunning’ for Mr. Frankel? 1958Observer 10 Aug. 3/2 Last week American commentators were gunning for Mr. Dulles (‘too busy, too tired, too discouraged, too stale,’ said Walter Lippmann..). 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day ix. 204, I felt that ‘They’ were gunning for me again.
3. trans. To look at closely, to examine.
1819J. H. Vaux Mem. II. 179 To gun anything is to look at or examine it. 1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 39/2 The copper gunned me as if he was fly to my mug. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues xii. 223 They wanted to be..alert and keen-sighted.., gunning everything.
4. = to give the gun (give v. 14 c). Hence gunned ppl. a.
1930Amer. Speech V. 290 Gun the motor, accelerate the motor [of an aircraft]. 1941N. Alley I Witness 308 We gunned into an easy takeoff. 1943R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) xxxiv. 180 Degarno let the clutch in and gunned the motor and hit forty in the first block and a half. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai xiii. 224 Dad's favourite manoeuvre..was to..gun the bike roaring down the front path. Ibid. xv. 274 A car door crashing shut and a terrific gunning of the motor. 1967‘J. Cross’ To Hell for Half-a-Crown i. 13 The car went by, with the heavy roar of the gunned motor. 1968P. Durst Badge of Infamy xvi. 171 He gunned the Volkswagen and fell in behind.
▪ III. gun
pa. tense of gin v.1 |