gunfight

[ guhn-fahyt ]

/ ˈgʌnˌfaɪt /

noun

a battle between two or more people or groups armed with guns, especially a confrontation between two gunfighters using revolvers in the frontier days of the American West.

Nearby words

gunboat, gunboat diplomacy, guncotton, gunda, gundi, gunfight, gunfighter, gunfire, gunflint, gung ho, gung-ho

Origin of gunfight

First recorded in 1650–60; gun¹ + fight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gunfight

This year, you stop bringing a pleasant, reasonable knife to a gunfight.
Crushing Christmas: How to Win Every Argument|Kelly Williams Brown|December 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Murray added: “Schneiderman is bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
Inside the Donald Trump–Eric Schneiderman TV Food Fight|Lloyd Grove|August 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This weekend I posted a book club entry about Adam Winkler's important history of US gun law, Gunfight.
No, the 2nd Amendment Does Not Authorize Armed Sedition|David Frum|March 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST
“Many of those Libyans died in the gunfight fighting off the attackers,” one of the officials said.
Obama’s Shaky Libya Narrative|Eli Lake|September 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST

There was no 40-minute gunfight, he writes, and the SEALs were not fired at as they approached the compound.
SEALs Book on Raid to Kill Osama Contradicts Administration’s Version in Several Key Spots|The Daily Beast|August 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The gunfight destroyed his faith in his ability to do it—or most of it, anyway.
The Draw|Jerome Bixby
Natural target in a gunfight, and in a rough-and-tumble it gets them all tangled up.
Null-ABC|Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire

British Dictionary definitions for gunfight

gunfight

/ (ˈɡʌnˌfaɪt) /

noun

mainly US a fight between persons using firearms

Derived Forms

gunfighter, noungunfighting, noun

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