shotgun
pronunciation
How to pronounce shotgun in British English:
UK [ˈʃɒtgʌn]
How to pronounce shotgun in American English:
US [ˈʃɑtgʌn]
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- Noun:
- firearm that is a double-barreled smoothbore shoulder weapon for firing shot at short ranges
Word Origin
- shotgun (n.)
- 1821, American English, from shot (n.) in the sense of "lead in small pellets" (1770) + gun (n.). As distinguished from a rifle, which fires bullets. Shotgun wedding first attested 1903, American English. To ride shotgun is 1963, from custom of having an armed man beside the driver on the stagecoach in Old West movies to ward off trouble.
Example
- 1. Shotgun debugging 5 consecutive solution rebuilds with a single character change
- 2. Reid took a few shots with his personal shotgun during the ceremonies .
- 3. The gunman is reported to have been armed with a handgun , an automatic weapon and a shotgun .
- 4. Eventually stefanik spoke to a supervisor and threatened to show up in boston with his shotgun .
- 5. Surely , he told the jurors , they too would have picked up a shotgun .