Shotgun vs. Pistol

Shotgunnoun

(firearms) A gun which fires loads typically consisting of small metal balls, called shot, from a cartridge.

Pistolnoun

A handgun, typically with a chamber integrated in the barrel, a semi-automatic action and a box magazine.

Shotgunnoun

(slang) The front passenger seat in a vehicle, next to the driver; so called because the position of the shotgun-armed guard on a horse-drawn stage-coach, wagon train, or gold transport was next to the driver on a forward-mounted bench seat.

‘I call shotgun! (I claim the right to sit in the passenger seat.)’;

Pistolnoun

The mechanical component of a fuse in a bomb or torpedo responsible for firing the detonator.

Shotgunnoun

A one-story dwelling with no hallways or corridors, with the rooms arranged in a straight line.

‘Elvis Presley was born in a two-bedroom shotgun in Tupelo, Mississippi.’;

Pistolnoun

A creative and unpredictable jokester, a constant source of entertainment and surprises.

Shotgunnoun

(American football) A play formation in which the quarterback is a few feet behind the snapper when the ball is hiked, ideally allowing for an easier pass play.

Pistolnoun

(Southern US) A small boy who is bright, alert and very active.

Shotgunnoun

Relating to shotguns, either in a present or past sense: e.g. shotgun cartridges, shotgun seat.

Pistolnoun

(American football) An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, but closer than in a shotgun formation, with a running back lined up behind him.

Shotgunnoun

Relating to the threat of force or dubious means: e.g. shotgun wedding, shotgun diplomacy.

Pistolverb

(transitive) To shoot (at) a target with a pistol.

Shotgunnoun

Relating to the use of numerous, diverse or indiscriminate means to achieve a particular result: e.g. shotgun marketing, a shotgun approach.

Pistolnoun

The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, - now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names. See Illust. of Revolver.

Shotgunverb

To inhale from a pipe or other smoking device, followed shortly by an exhalation into someone else’s mouth.

Pistolverb

To shoot with a pistol.

Shotgunverb

To verbally lay claim to (something)

‘I got a day off because I shotgunned it.’;

Pistolnoun

a firearm that is held and fired with one hand

Shotgunverb

To hit the ball directly back at the pitcher.

Pistol

A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in ca.

Shotgunverb

To rapidly drink a beverage from a can by making a hole in the bottom of the can, placing the hole above one's mouth, and opening the top.

Shotgunverb

To send out many (requests, answers to a question, etc), especially in the hope that one obtains a positive result (i.e. reveals useful information, is correct, etc), in the manner of a shotgun firing many balls of shot such that one may hit a target.

Shotgunnoun

A light, smooth-bored gun, often double-barreled, especially designed for firing small shot at short range, and killing small game.

Shotgunnoun

firearm that is a double-barreled smoothbore shoulder weapon for firing shot at short ranges

Shotgunnoun

a smooth-bore gun for firing small shot at short range.

Shotgunnoun

the front passenger seat in a vehicle

‘I took the shotgun seat’;

Shotgunnoun

used to claim the right to sit in the front passenger seat of a vehicle on a particular journey

‘‘Shotgun!’ she yelled and tossed the keys to Veronica’;

Shotgunadjective

aimed at a wide range of things; having no specific target

‘many companies use the shotgun approach, aiming advertising at the widest possible audience’;

Shotgunadjective

denoting a long, narrow single-storey house whose rooms are arranged one behind another

‘his family lived in a shotgun shack in South Memphis’;

Shotgunverb

shoot at or kill with a shotgun

‘he had been shotgunned by drug dealers’;

Shotgunverb

consume (a canned drink) in one go by puncturing the can, putting one’s mouth over the resulting hole, and then opening the can by means of the ring pull to produce a rapid flow

‘a group of us shotgunned beers’;

Shotgun

A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, or sometimes a single solid projectile called a slug. Shotguns are most commonly smoothbore firearms, meaning that their gun barrels have no rifling on the inner wall, but rifled barrels for shooting slugs (slug barrels) are also available.