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shooting iron

American

noun

Informal.

a firearm, especially a pistol or revolver.

shooting iron British

noun

slang a firearm, esp a pistol

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shooting iron

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A stark, crude, unlovely shooting iron, the M-3 is nevertheless rugged, light and easy to massproduce.

From Time Magazine Archive

He walked again to Idaho Springs with no ration book save his shooting iron.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Put up your shooting iron, Mr. Melville," said Col.

From Do and Dare — a Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune by Alger, Horatio

"I'll give you some of the plunder, if you'll put up that shooting iron, and make no trouble."

From Try and Trust by Alger, Horatio

"It's over a half mile," he said, "and I never yet saw the shooting iron that could do damage at such a distance."

From The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia by Champney, James Wells

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023