.45
noun
a pistol, revolver, or cartridge of .45-caliber, or having a diameter of .45 inch.
.45
1 Americannoun
-
.45s,
plural
-
.45's
plural
45
2
American
[fawr-tee fahyv]
/ ˈfɔr ti ˈfaɪv /
noun
-
45s,
plural
-
45's
plural
-
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.
-
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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of 45
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
See Examples For:
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
Baldwin thought his Colt .45 revolver was empty as he began rehearsing a scene in a wooden chapel at the popular movie location Bonanza Creek Ranch, just south of Santa Fe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Mr Baldwin has maintained he did not pull the trigger of the Colt .45 pistol and only drew back its hammer.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024
He found a box of .45 ACP cartridges and three boxes of .30-30 rifle shells.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
About 23% of its residents are over the age of 45 and 20% are over age 65.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
Now the target is to release them within 45 minutes.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
Meghan, 45, also revealed that in 2018 she had seen a letter sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection making similar accusations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
Chandrasekaran, 45, has good reason to love Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The following week he was on the front page of the Tangerine Times sports section for making kicks of 40 and 45 yards to beat Flagler 6-0.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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
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
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
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
Over the years, these teams met a lot, starting when the 1962 expansion Houston Colt .45s took on the Milwaukee Braves.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 23, 2021
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
They began as the expansion Colt .45s in 1962.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2017
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
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
On the same date in 1962, the inaugural Mets team lost both games of a doubleheader against the Houston Colt 45’s, drawing a total of 1,481 people to the Polo Grounds.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2012
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
Robin was actually cordial, inviting me to her room to sit on the floor and thumb through her 45s and set aside the ones I wanted to listen to.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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