*gun*

A kind of gun in which the elastic force of condensed air is used to discharge the ball. The air is powerfully compressed into a reservoir attached to the gun, by a condensing pump, and is controlled by a valve actuated by the trigger. The common BB gun is a type of air gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. of Begin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tube, as of cane or reed, sometimes twelve feet long, through which an arrow (sometimes poisoned) or other projectile may be impelled by the force of the breath. It is a weapon much used by certain Indians of America and the West Indies; -- called also blowpipe, and blowtube. See Sumpitan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An old province of France (in the eastern central part). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A richly flavored wine, mostly red, made in Burgundy, France. [ 1913 Webster ]

Burgundy pitch, a resinous substance prepared from the exudation of the Norway spruce (Abies excelsa) by melting in hot water and straining through cloth. The genuine Burgundy pitch, supposed to have been first prepared in Burgundy, is rare, but there are many imitations. It has a yellowish brown color, is translucent and hard, but viscous. It is used in medicinal plasters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a lamp for providing intense momentary light to take a photograph.
Syn. -- flash, photoflash, flash lamp, flashbulb. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

[ From the inventor, R.J. Gatling. ] An American machine gun, consisting of a cluster of barrels which, being revolved by a crank, are automatically loaded and fired. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The improved Gatling gun can be fired at the rate of 1, 200 shots per minute. Farrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A device held in the hand, having a supply of grease and attached to a reservoir of pressurized air, used to force grease between adjacent moving parts of a machine, especially in the bearings of motor vehicles. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin; cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon) fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E. mangonel, a machine for hurling stones. ] 1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are called small arms. Larger guns are called cannon, ordnance, fieldpieces, carronades, howitzers, etc. See these terms in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
When fire is in the powder runne. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The word gun was in use in England for an engine to cast a thing from a man long before there was any gunpowder found out. Selden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Guns are classified, according to their construction or manner of loading as rifled or smoothbore, breech-loading or muzzle-loading, cast or built-up guns; or according to their use, as field, mountain, prairie, seacoast, and siege guns. [ 1913 Webster ]

Armstrong gun, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong. --
Big gun or
Great gun, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence (Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big guns to tackle the problem. --
Gun barrel, the barrel or tube of a gun. --
Gun carriage, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or moved. --
Gun cotton (Chem.), a general name for a series of explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity. Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See Pyroxylin, and cf. Xyloidin. The gun cottons are used for blasting and somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for making collodion. See Celluloid, and Collodion. Gun cotton is frequenty but improperly called nitrocellulose. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester of nitric acid. --
Gun deck. See under Deck. --
Gun fire, the time at which the morning or the evening gun is fired. --
Gun metal, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron. --
Gun port (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a cannon's muzzle is run out for firing. --
Gun tackle (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from the gun port. --
Gun tackle purchase (Naut.), a tackle composed of two single blocks and a fall. Totten. --
Krupp gun, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named after its German inventor, Herr Krupp. --
Machine gun, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns, mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier models, such as the Gatling gun, the cartridges were loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel. Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such weapons, with accurate aim. The Gatling gun, Gardner gun, Hotchkiss gun, and Nordenfelt gun, named for their inventors, and the French mitrailleuse, are machine guns. --
To blow great guns (Naut.), to blow a gale. See Gun, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. To practice fowling or hunting small game; -- chiefly in participial form; as, to go gunning.

‖n. [ Skr. guna quality. ] In Sanskrit grammar, a lengthening of the simple vowels a, i, e, by prefixing an a element. The term is sometimes used to denote the same vowel change in other languages. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Gynarchy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Nav.) A vessel of light draught, carrying one or more guns, used for operations in shallow waters. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Nav.) Any small naval vessel carrying mounted guns. [ PJC ]

See under Gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Obs. ] See Gondola. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sharpened flint for the lock of a gun, to ignite the charge. It was in common use before the introduction of percussion caps. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To pursue with the intent to kill. [ PJC ]

2. Fig. To make an effort to harm someone, especially with determination; -- also used humorously. [ PJC ]

‖n. (Bot.) See Ganja. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any thick gooey and messy substance. [ informal ]
Syn. -- goo, gook, guck, muck, ooze, sludge, slime. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The mechanism of a gun for producing the discharge. See Lock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The number of guns carried by a ship of war. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Gunwale. ] 1. A gunwale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A small, eel-shaped, marine fish of the genus Murænoides; esp., M. gunnellus of Europe and America; -- called also gunnel fish, butterfish, rock eel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who works a gun or cannon, whether on land, sea, or in the air; a cannoneer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A warrant officer in the navy having charge of the ordnance on a vessel. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) The great northern diver or loon. See Loon. (b) The sea bream. [ Prov. Eng. or Irish ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Gunner's daughter, the gun to which men or boys were lashed for punishment. [ Sailor's slang ] W. C. Russell. --
tail gunner (Mil.) A member of the crew of a bomber airplane who operates the defensive gun at the rear of the airplane. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. That branch of military science which comprehends the theory of projectiles, and the manner of constructing and using ordnance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mining.) Space left by the removal of ore. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or practice of hunting or shooting game with a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

The art of gunning was but little practiced. Goldsmith.

n., [ Hind. go&nsdot_;, go&nsdot_;ī, a sack, sacking. ] A strong, coarse kind of sacking, made from the fibers (called jute) of two plants of the genus Corchorus (C. olitorius and C. capsularis), of India. The fiber is also used in the manufacture of cordage. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gunny bag or
Gunny sack, a sack made of gunny or burlap, used for coarse commodities. In the southern U. S. similar sacks are called crocus sack, croker sack, towsack, and grass sack. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. See Gyneocracy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An instance of the firing of small arms with the intent to kill or frighten.
Syn. -- gunfight. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. The muzzle's direction; as, he held me up at gunpoint.
Syn. -- point. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. The open discharging end of a gun.
Syn. -- gun muzzle, muzzle. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Chem.) A black, granular, explosive substance, consisting of an intimate mechanical mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur. It is used in gunnery and blasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Gunpowder consists of from 70 to 80 per cent of potassium nitraate (niter, saltpeter), with 10 to 15 per cent of each of the other ingredients. Its explosive energy is due to the fact that it contains the necessary amount of oxygen for its own combustion, and liberates gases (chiefly nitrogen and carbon dioxide), which occupy a thousand or fifteen hundred times more space than the powder which generated them. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gunpowder pile driver, a pile driver, the hammer of which is thrown up by the explosion of gunpowder. --
Gunpowder plot (Eng. Hist.), a plot to destroy the King, Lords, and Commons, in revenge for the penal laws against Catholics. As Guy Fawkes, the agent of the conspirators, was about to fire the mine, which was placed under the House of Lords, he was seized, Nov. 5, 1605. Hence, Nov. 5 is known in England as
Guy Fawkes Day. --
Gunpowder tea, a species of fine green tea, each leaf of which is rolled into a small ball or pellet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The reach or distance to which a gun will shoot; gunshot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) An apartment on the after end of the lower gun deck of a ship of war, usually occupied as a messroom by the commissioned officers, except the captain; -- called wardroom in the United States navy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Act of firing a gun; a shot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The distance to which shot can be thrown from a gun, so as to be effective; the reach or range of a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those who are come over to the royal party are supposed to be out of gunshot. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made by the shot of a gun; as, a gunshot wound. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sight{ 9 } attached to a gun, used for aiming it at the target. Same as sight{ 9 }. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One whose occupation is to make or repair small firearms; an armorer.

{ } n. The art or business of a gunsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A gunner. [ R. ] Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stick to ram down the charge of a musket, etc.; a rammer or ramrod. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The stock or wood to which the barrel of a hand gun is fastened. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cannon ball; -- so called because originally made of stone. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Naut.) A topmast arranged with metal bands so that it will readily slide up and down the lower mast. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Surveying) The chain ordinarily used in measuring land. See Chain, n., 4, and Gunter's scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

A logarithmic line on Gunter's scale, used for performing the multiplication and division of numbers mechanically by the dividers; -- called also line of lines, and line of numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thin quadrant, made of brass, wood, etc., showing a stereographic projection on the plane of the equator. By it are found the hour of the day, the sun's azimuth, the altitude of objects in degrees, etc. See Gunter's scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

A scale invented by the Rev. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, who invented also Gunter's chain, and Gunter's quadrant. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Gunter's scale is a wooden rule, two feet long, on one side of which are marked scales of equal parts, of chords, sines, tangents, rhombs, etc., and on the other side scales of logarithms of these various parts, by means of which many problems in surveying and navigation may be solved, mechanically, by the aid of dividers alone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gun + wale. So named because the upper guns were pointed from it. ] (Naut.) The upper edge of a vessel's or boat's side; the uppermost wale of a ship (not including the bulwarks); or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull. [ Written also gunnel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

ety>[ After Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826-85), American inventor. ] A built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moves horizontally or vertically in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It is made in France. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]