Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

peashooter

American  
[pee-shoo-ter] / ˈpiˌʃu tər /

noun

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

peashooter British  
/ ˈpiːˌʃuːtə /

noun

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

"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 peashooter

First recorded in 1860–65; pea 1 + shooter

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.

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

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2023

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

From Washington Post • Feb. 22, 2022

All you need for an amusing afternoon is a bush and a peashooter.

From The Guardian • Jul. 13, 2017

Four-time champion Ian Ashmeade, from Haddenham in Cambridgeshire, said he had been training hard to regain the title of peashooter "supreme" which he lost to Rob Bresler, from Ely, last year.

From BBC • Jul. 13, 2013

Hearing the normally brash pint-size peashooter so worried made me realize just how much trouble we were in.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

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.