single-action

[ sing-guh l-ak-shuh n ]

/ ˈsɪŋ gəlˈæk ʃən /

adjective

(of a firearm) requiring the cocking of the hammer before firing each shot: a single-action revolver.

Words nearby single-action

single transferable vote, single whip, single wicket, single wingback formation, single-acting, single-action, single-barrel, single-blind, single-breasted, single-cell protein, single-celled

Origin of single-action

First recorded in 1850–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for single-action

We're not talking hunting rifles here at all, or single-action handguns.
Obama's Guns Task Force|Michael Tomasky|December 19, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Keeled under-cars for planes: single-action detaching-gear, turning car into boat with one motion of the wrist.
With The Night Mail|Rudyard Kipling
When you pull back and it is in the notch, that is known as single-action firing.
Warren Commission (3 of 26): Hearings Vol. III (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
It is taken for granted in the above discussion, and also in the following, that the fly-caster uses a single-action reel.
Fishing with Floating Flies|Samuel G. Camp

On the contrary, single-action reels are made of rather numerous materials and certainly in varying degrees of desirability.
Fishing with Floating Flies|Samuel G. Camp
The reel should be a single-action click reel, the lighter the better, if well made.
Favorite Fish and Fishing|James Alexander Henshall

British Dictionary definitions for single-action

single-action

noun

(modifier) (of a firearm) requiring the hammer to be cocked by hand before firing

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