screw gunn.
/ˈskruː ɡʌn/, U.S. /ˈskru ˌɡən/ 1. A breech-loading gun, the barrel and stock of which are joined by a screw; esp. (in later use) a cannon or large gun which unscrews into separate parts for ease of transport. Now chiefly historical.In early use also: †a gun with a rifled barrel; cf. screwed adj. 1a(b) (obsolete).
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > [noun] > type of firearm > by method of construction
screw gun1678
side by side1947
1678 J. P. Jacquett et al. Let. 9 May in W. A. Whitehead Documents Colonial Hist. New Jersey (1880) I. 195 Captain Cantwell has received one cow and twenty skipple of wheat..And Captain Colier a screw gun.
1756 London Evening Post 27 May 4/2 They were armed with Pistols, and a Screw Gun.
1817 Trewman's Exeter Flying-post 14 Sept. 3/2 He contrived to take the pistol part of a screw-gun..from his smock-frock unperceived.
1863 Rep. Select Comm. Ordnance App. 380 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 487) XI. 1 40-Pounder... Of these 39 guns were made ready to be finished as wedge or screw, and are now being completed as screw guns.
1956 Soc. Malawi Jrnl. 18 34 With the ‘Ilala’ came the long awaited cannon, it was an Armstrong 7 lb. breech loading, screw gun.
1991 T. Pakenham Scramble for Afr. (1992) xiii. 238 The attack on Metemma proved abortive, as the shells from their screw gun passed through the mud huts without damaging them.
2. An electrically-powered hand-held device used to turn a screw into or out of its place, typically resembling and operating in a way similar to a power drill. Cf. nail gun n. at nail n. Compounds 4.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > piercing or boring tools > [noun] > drill > other drills
jumper1769
screw drill1821
stop-drill1843
hand drill1845
Swiss drill1846
traverse-drill1853
crown borer1854
pin drill1858
foot drill1860
perforator1861
pin-bit1873
Archimedean drill1889
paddy1895
stope drill1908
stem1914
screw gun1945
1945 N.Y. Times 1 Sept. 23/4 (advt.) Merchandise for sale... Black & Decker electric screw guns, screw drivers and skill saw.
1999 Building Design 13 Aug. 26/3 Wall sub-frames, panels, floor cassettes and roof trusses can be prefabricated in a factory and assembled on site using a screw gun.
2014 A. Weatherwax All we Had (2015) xxix. 187 Mel showed up without my asking with a piece of plywood and a screw gun.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1678