Synonyms

air gun

American

noun

a gun operated by compressed air.

air gun British

noun

a gun discharged by means of compressed air

"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 air gun

First recorded in 1745–55

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.

Tom Yu, Chavez’s attorney, and Lisa Houlé, Concannon’s lawyer, also alleged there had been procedural violations with exculpatory evidence, such as not showing grand jurors an enhanced video of the air gun in Mitchell’s lap.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 31, 2024

John Dingell was comfortable with firearms at an early age: When not blasting ducks with a shotgun, he was plinking rats with an air gun in the basement of the U.S.

From New York Times • Jul. 30, 2023

Medvedev will plead guilty to the charge of carrying an air gun, his lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said, and not guilty to some of the other charges, without specifying which.

From Reuters • Apr. 25, 2023

An air gun fires pellets using compressed air and is typically used for target shooting.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2023

A simple example of air pressure is the air gun, called in the seventeenth century ‘the wind-gun’.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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