hired gun
a person hired to kill someone, as a gunfighter or professional killer.
a person hired to bear arms and fight for another, as a bodyguard or mercenary.
a person, as a politician or lobbyist, skilled at attaining power for others.
a person hired to resolve difficult problems or disputes or to handle complex legal or business problems.
Origin of hired gun
1Words Nearby hired gun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hired gun in a sentence
He accuses me of being a "hired gun" as if I am an easily bought cypher for right wing propaganda.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Revealing Reddit AMA: On Julian Assange’s Letter and Fame | Marlow Stern | October 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTDimon, by contrast, is a hired gun—an employee paid to run a publicly traded company.
JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon Strikes Back at Populist Anger | Gary Rivlin | December 8, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTBeing fired is dehumanizing in any event, but to get the news from a "hired gun" only makes matters worse.
Murray himself was at the wheel and, sitting beside him, was another man equally familiar–it was Dave, his hired gun-man.
Silver and Gold | Dane Coolidge
Other Idioms and Phrases with hired gun
A person, especially a professional killer, employed to kill someone, as in They thought the murder had been done by a hired gun. The noun gun has been slang for a professional criminal since the mid-1800s.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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