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gunship

American

[guhn-ship] / ˈgʌnˌʃɪp /

noun

a helicopter or fixed-wing airplane armed with rapid-fire guns or cannons and used to provide close air support for troops in combat.

Etymology

Origin of gunship

First recorded in 1965–70; gun ¹ + ship ¹

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.

Another video shows the Born Free singer pumping his fist before a second gunship appears to fly by his mansion, which he has dubbed the Southern White House.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Experts said that was probably the first such use of a helicopter gunship in the occupied West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising about 20 years ago.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2023

Archaeologists guessed they were possibly leftover relics from a sunken Confederate gunship excavated a few years earlier in the same area, said Andrea Farmer, an archaeologist for the Army Corps of Engineers.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 28, 2022

Mando previously flew a Razor Crest class gunship.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2022

I continued to scan the sky and quickly spotted two more Sixer gunship squadrons off near the eastern horizon.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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