peashooter

American  

[pee-shoo-ter] / ˈpiˌʃu tər /

noun

1. a tube through which dried peas, pea, beans, or small pellets are blown, used as a toy.

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peashooter British  

/ ˈpiːˌʃuːtə /

noun

1. a tube through which pellets such as dried peas are blown, used as a toy weapon

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Etymology

Origin of peashooter

First recorded in 1860–65; pea ¹ + shooter

Example Sentences

Riding roughshod through the wilderness of D.C. like a rotund headless horseman in a dark suit, white shirt and red tie; wielding his trusty, husky musky sword and a peashooter armed with ignorance and fear, the new Trump empire feels like four years after only three days.

From Salon

By 1975, the Camaro’s strongest V-8 was a 155-horsepower peashooter.

From New York Times

“You don’t take a peashooter to a gunfight,” Keatinge said, expressing his dismay with the sanctions announced so far.

From Washington Post

Other alleged pranks at the Caithness office had included putting ice down clothing, taping someone who had fallen asleep to his chair, placing tape on the beard of another colleague, pouring shredded paper over a member of staff, throwing papers and using a pen casing as a peashooter.

From BBC

“If you’re talking about fighting Covid and the Delta variant and winning this battle once and for all, a mask is like a peashooter and the vaccine is like a cannon,” the mayor said on Wednesday.

From New York Times

Related Words

• cannon
• handgun
• hardware
• mortar
• piece
• pistol
• revolver
• rifle
• shotgun