pump-action

American  

[puhmp-ak-shuhn] / ˈpʌmpˌæk ʃən /

adjective

1. (of a shotgun or rifle) having an action that extracts the empty case, loads, and cocks the piece by means of a hand-operated lever that slides backward and forward; slide-action.

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pump-action British  

adjective

1. (of a shotgun or other repeating firearm) operated by a slide-action mechanism feeding ammunition from a magazine under the barrel into the breech

2. spraying or dispensing liquid by means of a pump rather than using a propellant

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Etymology

Origin of pump-action

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pump-action

"We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant's Mossberg pump-action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer," Pirro said.

From Barron's ● May 3, 2026

The firearms are described as a Mossberg 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

According to prosecutors, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was carrying a semi-automatic handgun, a pump-action shotgun and three knives as he charged past a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

Allen was found in possession of a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol, the document alleged.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026

Another sort of instrument lay beside it—a twelve- gauge pump-action shotgun, brand-new, blue-barreled, and with a sportsman’s scene of pheasants in flight etched along the stock.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

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