blank cartridge

American

noun

Ordnance.

a cartridge containing powder only, without a bullet.

blank cartridge British

noun

a cartridge containing powder but no bullet: used in battle practice or as a signal

"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 blank cartridge

First recorded in 1820–30

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:

blank cartridge

A blank cartridge was loaded into one rifle without anyone knowing which.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

Check while loading each blank cartridge into the gun.

From Fox News ● Oct. 30, 2021

But just what exactly is a “prop gun,” what is a blank cartridge and how can they be so deadly?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2021

It emerged the revolver, loaded with a blank cartridge, had most likely retained the fragment from earlier filming.

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2017

Billy didn’t think there would be a blank cartridge issued in a squad that small, in a war that old.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

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