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zip gun

American  

noun

  1. a homemade pistol, typically consisting of a metal tube taped to a wooden stock and firing a .22-caliber bullet.

zip gun British  

noun

  1. slang a crude homemade pistol, esp one powered by a spring or rubber band

"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 zip gun

First recorded in 1945–50

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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.

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