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distress gun

American

noun

Nautical.

a gun fired at one-minute intervals as a signal of distress.

Etymology

Origin of distress gun

First recorded in 1815–25

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.