I. ˈshät-ˌgən noun
Date: 1776
1. : a smoothbore shoulder weapon for firing shot at short ranges
2. : an offensive football formation in which the quarterback plays a few yards behind the line of scrimmage and the other backs are scattered as flankers or slotbacks
• shotgun transitive verb
• shot·gun·ner -ˌgə-nər noun
II. adjective
Date: 1892
1. : of, relating to, or using a shotgun
2. : involving coercion
3. : covering a wide field with hit-or-miss effectiveness