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• .45
  .45

  noun

  a pistol, revolver, or cartridge of .45-caliber, or having a diameter of .45 inch.
• 45
  45

  noun

  a seven-inch phonograph record played at 45 r.p.m., especially a popular-music single.

.45

¹ American  

noun

• .45s,
  plural
• .45's
  plural

1. a pistol, revolver, or cartridge of .45-caliber, or having a diameter of .45 inch.

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45 ² American  

[fawr-tee fahyv] / ˈfɔr ti ˈfaɪv /

noun

• 45s,
  plural
• 45's
  plural

1. a seven-inch phonograph record played at 45 r.p.m., especially a popular-music single.

   She’s in the market for a phonograph so she can play her grandfather’s mint collection of 45s from the 1960s.

2. an identifier of or nickname for Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. president, alternately used with disparaging intent by opponents and with affection by supporters.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• .45's
  plural
• .45s
  plural
• 45's
  plural
• 45s
  plural

Etymology

Origin of 45

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

.45 45 .45's .45s 45's 45s

Spivey's .45 caliber, like most firearms, ejects casingsbehind and to the right.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

Hours later he would come ashore with a .45 pistol, pencils, and a sketchbook.

From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2025

The 65-year-old actor was practicing firing a Colt .45 pistol before filming a scene for Rust, a forthcoming Western filmed near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in October 2021.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024

For the past year, special prosecutors have built the case against Gutierrez, who has acknowledged loading Baldwin’s Colt .45 caliber revolver with what she thought were “dummy” bullets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2024

Following Nick, the old man watched with interest as the storekeeper, after searching among the ammunition for a moment, selected a box of .45 shells, which he slapped into Amarante’s hands.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

In 2022, the shock stemmed from an EU policy decision to reduce reliance on Russian gas, which at the time provided 45 percent of the bloc's requirements, according to Schroer.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

“My dad encouraged me to try out and I loved it from the start,” said Hedricks, who is the school’s all-time leader in interceptions with 45.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The teenager trains at Elite Fitness gym in Redditch and, despite recently moving to Worcester, still travels the 45 minutes to get there.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Sisters Heather and Melissa Brown, 45 and 37, respectively, couldn’t convince their 73-year-old mother that a man she met online was a scammer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

“Broc-Len Cas, 350, 1 hr,” Prudence read, and “Mac Che, 325, 45 min,” on and on and on.

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

The Astros, born as the Houston Colt .45’s in 1962, have won none and have only played in one, losing to the Chicago White Sox in 2005.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 13, 2017

Never been worse, not even when they were the Colt .45's.

From Newsweek ● May 29, 2010

Notwithstanding the grim assertiveness of belts full of .45's and the peeping handles of long-barreled Colts, set off with picturesque chaps, sombreros and tinkling spurs, the scene was one of peaceful content and good-fellowship.

From Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up by Clarence Edward Mulford

Gents, I've too much reespect for them good old faithful .45's of mine to play it as low down on 'em as all that.'

From Faro Nell and Her Friends Wolfville Stories by W. Herbert Dunton

Before the 1962 season, Cárdenas moved on to serve as the lead play-by-play announcer for Houston’s new team, then known as the Colt .45s.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

And this neat piece of history — the Phillies were the first team to ever beat Houston, back in 1962 when the expansion Colt .45s lost at Connie Mack Stadium.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 23, 2022

Instead he enrolled at Oakland City College, now a university, where he played baseball before signing with an expansion team, the Houston Colt .45s, in 1962.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2020

He signed with the Houston Colt .45s organization in September 1961 out of Jesuit High School of New Orleans.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

Next Joe Mondragon himself came in asking for two boxes of .30-30s and one box each of .45s,

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

And the co-owner with Michael Jordan of Wallace’s car at 23XI Racing managed to whittle about a tenth of a second off the No. 45’s lead over the closing laps.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2022

The world number 45's run to his first Grand Slam final saw him fined for several outbursts on court.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2022

Agodon, who is a poet and a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, later published a piece titled “Getting an IUD on the Day of 45’s Inauguration.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2022

"Our children deserve better. They really do," the teacher told FOX 45's investigative team, Project Baltimore, on the condition of anonymity.

From Fox News ● Feb. 3, 2022

The prospector stood forward, at the same time producing from an open holster blackened by time one of the long-barrelled single-action Colt's 45's, so universally in use on the frontier.

From The Rules of the Game by Stewart Edward White

In the 1980s, jukeboxes with 45s gave way to CD jukeboxes, then a generation later, to streaming ones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

Age categories for over 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 65s and 70s for both men and women, saw thousands of players take part.

From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2024

I uncovered the songs that never made the charts, scattered on dusty 45s on eBay, or in my friends’ crates, and I reclaimed those.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

After the heart of downtown is aglow, The Dusty 45s will rock the park with a live musical performance.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2022

Byron exploded through the front door with an armful of 45s and Momma right on his tail.

From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis