noun1. a short-barrelled handgun
2. hold a pistol to a person's head
verbWord forms: -tols, -tolling, -tolledWord forms: US -tols, -toling or -toled3. (transitive) to shoot with a pistol
Word origin
C16: from French
pistole, from German, from Czech
pišt'ala pistol, pipe; related to Russian
pischal shepherd's pipes