GUN


Meaning of GUN in English

I. gun 1 S2 W2 /ɡʌn/ BrE AmE noun [countable]

[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: Perhaps from Gunnilda , a woman's name, from Old Norse Gunnhildr ]

1 . a metal weapon which shoots bullets or ↑ shell s

have/hold/carry a gun

I could see he was carrying a gun.

I’ve never fired a gun in my life.

Jake was pointing a gun at the door.

Two policemen were killed in a gun battle.

2 . put/hold a gun to sb’s head

a) to put a gun very close to someone’s head to shoot them or to force them to do something:

He put a gun to her head and told the cashier to hand over the money.

b) to force someone to do something they do not want to do:

You chose to live here. Nobody put a gun to your head.

3 . a tool that forces out small objects or a liquid by pressure:

a paint gun

a nail gun

⇨ ↑ flashgun , ↑ spray gun

4 . ( also starting pistol ) a gun which is fired into the air at the start of a race

5 . big/top gun American English informal someone who is very important within an organization:

Jed wanted to impress a Harvard professor and some other big guns.

6 . hired gun American English informal someone who is paid to shoot someone else

7 . with all guns blazing if you do something with all guns blazing, you do it with a lot of energy, determination, and noise

⇨ ↑ son of a gun , ⇨ stick to your guns at ↑ stick 1 , ⇨ jump the gun at ↑ jump 1 (11), ⇨ be going great guns at ↑ great 1 (11), ⇨ spike sb’s guns at ↑ spike 2 (6)

II. gun 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle gunned , present participle gunning )

1 . be gunning for somebody informal to be trying to find an opportunity to criticize or harm someone:

Why is he gunning for me?

2 . be gunning for something informal to be trying very hard to obtain something:

He’s gunning for your job.

3 . [transitive] American English informal to make the engine of a car go very fast by pressing the ↑ accelerator very hard

gun somebody ↔ down phrasal verb [usually passive]

to shoot someone and badly injure or kill them, especially someone who cannot defend themselves:

A policeman was gunned down as he left his house this morning.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.