proof charge

Thus the proof-shot with proof-charge may in reality be proving the gun less faithfully than its first service-charge and service-shot,—a mode of proof-practice for heavy artillery very different from that imposed for safety on every fowling-piece.

1862, Edward Pellew Halsted, The Armstrong Gun. A Rejoinder to the Letter of Sir W. Armstrong, page 37:

The late Ordnance Select Committee therefore, after having obtained particulars of proof of guns in nearly all theother countries in Europe, came to the conclusion that the proof should be based on the highest charge which the gun will fire on service, and recommended the following proof which was approved in July 1864 and remains still in force, viz., two rounds of 1 1/4 the highest service (battering) charge, and service projectiles; but, in consequence of the results obtained in recent trials with Pebblepowder, experiments are being carried on to determine the future proof charge.

1872, Francis Sadleir Stoney, Charles Jones, A Text-book of the Construction and Manufacture of the Rifled Ordnance in the British Service, page 112:

Amd. the official "Extracts of Artillery Proceedings" tell us, 4:3:72, tha the Superintendent, Royal Gun Factories, "proposes tha the proof charge for the 12-inch gun of 35-tons shall be 115 lbs.

1873, W. Dawson, “Powder Pressures in the First 35-Ton Gun”, in Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, volume 17, number 70, page 4:

In case barrels sent for proof for the use of nitro powders are intended by the senders to sheet charges of powder or shot greater than the ordinary service charges of the like respective bores set forth in Scale 6, in the said Schedule, then the quantities of powder and shot so intended to be used shall be declared in wwriting, and a proof charge proportionate thereto shall be used.

(firearms) A charge of powder and ball, greater than the service charge, fired in an arm, as a gun or cannon, to test its strength.


bunker buster

(military) A bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.


slock

en-verb

slock (third-person singular simple present slocks, present participle slocking, simple past and past participle slocked)

slocks (present singular third-person)
slocking (participle present)
slocked (participle past)
slocked (past)

Coined or popularized by Tim Wells, who is widely known among hunters for this style of hunting.

(intransitive, transitive) To hunt (wild game) with preindustrial tools such as spears, blowguns, slingshots, arrows, crossbows, or others.


energy weapon

The window display was made up of an assortment of rather curiously shaped guns, rifles as well as small arms; and a glowing sign in the window stated: THE FINEST ENERGY WEAPONS IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.

1941 July, Alfred Elton van Vogt, “The Seesaw”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 27, number 5, page 60:

A weapon that fires a beam or pulse of energy instead of a projectile.


gaining twist

(firearms) In rifled firearms, a twist of the grooves, which increases regularly from the breech to the muzzle.


nuclear option

From analogy with the political decision to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a war.

So now that the Republicans have used the nuclear option to kill the poor filibuster to clear the way for the elevation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, we can lose perspective.

2017 April 5, Steven Waldman, “Learning to Love the Nuclear Option”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US politics) A procedure by which the United States Senate can decide any issue with a simple majority, rather than the usual supermajority.


smart bomb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-smart bomb.wav


poodle shooter

Key's in the ignition and I've got this damn "poodle-shooter" on you.

2007, Stephen Hunter, Point of Impact, page 287:

Nice little "poodle shooter" you got there, vampire.

2008, J.R. Ward, The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide, page 291:

(derogatory, slang) A carbine that discharges the 5.56 millimetre calibre cartridge.


firepan

A pan for holding or conveying fire, especially (firearms) the receptacle for the priming of a gun.


rope dart

A weapon that originated in ancient China, consisting of a long rope with a metal dart at the end, used to attack long-range targets repeatedly.

繩鏢

weapon consisting of a dart at the end of a rope


meteor hammer

Calque from Chinese 流星錘／流星锤 (liúxīngchuí).

zh-l

流星錘／流星锤 (liúxīngchuí)

A weapon which originated in ancient China, consisting of two weights connected by a rope or chain.


leaf sight

A hinged sight on a firearm, which can be raised or folded down.


bowwoman

And if we may compare modern with ancient archery the performances of some of our bowmen and bowwomen may be said to fairly rival the historic and partly fabulous exploits of famous mediaeval archers […]

1874, The Gentleman's Magazine (part 2, page 164)


trench knife

He desired to cut certain throats with a sharp trench-knife that he had.

1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 294:

A knife designed for use in hand-to-hand fighting in trenches, typically having a double-edged blade and a knuckleduster on the handle.


multiple rocket launcher

en-noun

multiple rocket launcher (plural multiple rocket launchers)

(military) An artillery weapon consisting of an array of rails or tubes used to fire rockets.


horse pistol

Above the chimney were sundry villainous old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily-painted cainsters disposed along its ledge.

1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, section I:

From time to time he pulled the trigger of the horse-pistol; from time to time he rested the butt on his ledge and rammed a charge home.

1926, Ford Madox Ford, A Man Could Stand Up— (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 559:

A type of large pistol carried on the pommel of a saddle while riding.


lockplate

(firearms) The plate that covers the lockwork of a gun.


lockwork

(firearms) The assembly forming the firing mechanism of a gun.


boxlock

(firearms) A style of double-barrelled shotgun with concealed, self-cocking hammers that use a break-open action.


TNT equivalent

The amount of energy released by an explosion expressed in terms of the amount of TNT needed to generate a similar explosion. Used especially to describe nuclear bombs.


fireworthiness

The state, condition, or quality of being fireworthy.


fireworthy

en-adj

fireworthy (comparative more fireworthy, superlative most fireworthy)

more fireworthy (comparative)
most fireworthy (superlative)

In re-adjusting it a second time the stock was not in perfect apposition, and the wiseacre, whose business it was to render the weapon fireworthy, observing this defect, sought to remedy it by striking the butt end sharply upon the ground.

1845, New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences:

(of a firearms) Worthy or capable of firing; able to be fired; combustible.


ribauldequin

/ɹɪˈbəʊdɪkɪn/

An engine of war used in the Middle Ages, consisting of a protected elevated staging on wheels, and armed in front with pikes. After the 14th century it was furnished with small cannon.

ribauldequin

synonym of organ gun — see also organ gun


mag book

From the shape and opening method of the container, similar to a codex (colloquially referred to as books), and being used to store and carry "mags".

(weaponry) A container used to store and carry ammunition clips.


aim-crier

(archery) One who encouraged an archer by crying "Aim!" when he was about to shoot.


suicide belt

A belt packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers.


suicide vest

A vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers.

Sprengstoffweste

vest with explosives, worn by suicide bombers


explosive belt

The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad: in one characteristically slick and chilling Isis video – entitled “a message to the Jordanian tyrant” – a smiling, long-haired young man in black pats the explosive belt round his waist as he burns his passport and his fellow fighters praise the memory of Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.

2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

A belt packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by a suicide bomber.

حِزَام نَاسِف

belt with explosives, worn by suicide bombers


painstick

(science fiction) A weapon consisting of a baton capable of delivering a jolt of pain on contact with the body.


Dane axe

(historical) An early battle axe, primarily used during the transition between the European Viking Age and early Middle Ages.


concussion grenade

en-noun

concussion grenade (plural concussion grenades)

From concussion + grenade, from the loud noise and shockwave it generates.


rechamber

en-verb

rechamber (third-person singular simple present rechambers, present participle rechambering, simple past and past participle rechambered)

rechambers (present singular third-person)
rechambering (participle present)
rechambered (participle past)
rechambered (past)

To rebore or alter the chamber of (a firearm).


North Vietnam

When we visited Laos, I had lunch with Souvanna Phouma. During the course of the lunch, he said we ought to bomb Red China, that it was the effective way to stop their aid to North Vietnam.

1976, Hubert H. Humphrey, The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 333:

Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Democratic Republic of Vietnam

(historical) A state (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) that governed northern Vietnam in 1945–1975.

Vietnam i Veriut

(historical) a state (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) that governed northern Vietnam in 1945–1975


recoil pad

(firearms) A soft rubber (or similar) attachment added to the butt of a long firearm to absorb some of the recoil.


cup discharger

(firearms) A cup-shaped bracket, mounted on the end of a rifle barrel, used to propel hand grenades.


safetied

He looked at his guys; nervous and fingering their safetied weapons. One of them hunched over and vomited

2014, The Twilight of Liberty, page 205:

Others had unloaded and permanently safetied weapons on their arms. Thanks to nanobot enhancements, others were now extraordinarily powerful

(firearms) On which the safety mechanism is engaged.


macana

A wooden sword-like weapon of various native cultures of Central America and South America.


aerogun

According to aero experts these planes will be capable of carrying six passengers, five machine guns, a special rapid fire aerogun and about fifty bombs, and will be practically immune from injury due to attacks by the light battleplanes […]

1918, Illustrated World, volume 29, number 3, page 406:


thunder-stick

Alternative spelling of thunderstick (referring to a firearm).


fire-stick

A troop of soldiers, armed with fire-sticks, entered the valley.

I knocked the man down, and he ran into the woods, leaving his fire-stick on the ground.

"Arna means by the fire-stick a gun," explained Sa'-zada.

1904, W.A. Fraser, “The Narrative of Buffalo and Bison”, in Metropolitan, volume 20, number 11, pages 195–196:

A gun or cannon, especially a rifle. Originally used by or ascribed to members of non-European cultures or anthropomorphized animals describing firearms.


nail bat

Snow was already pivoting, growling his annoyance, nail-bat swinging. I swept my right leg out and connected with his ankles. He toppled flat on his back, air releasing from his lungs in a gasped rush.

Miller, please lead the lady forward. It is time she came to know me. Miller headed down the stone path, adrenaline coursing through his veins much like the witchfire in the walls. Lucy followed, playfully bouncing the nail bat in her hands.

2011, Christopher J Proft, Fervent Haight:

These include spears, blowguns, rocks, sticks, morning stars, nail bats, punjisticks, torches, bolas, chakras, atlatls, meteor hammers, quarterstaffs, ballistas and slingshots.

2011, Allen Smith, Watching Grandma Circle the Drain:

(colloquial, informal, slang) A weapon made by hammering nails into a wooden baseball bat, used for offense or defense.


déculassement

en-noun

déculassement (countable and uncountable, plural déculassements)

(firearms) An accidental blowing off of, or other serious damage to, the breechblock of a gun.

(firearms) The removal of the breechblock for the purpose of disabling the gun.


forecharge

The fore-charges were individually packed in thin metal containers and loaded in the gun that way;

2014, Arthur J Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow:

(weaponry) The shot in the forward part of a firearm cartridge.


trap shooting

The sport of shooting at pigeons liberated, or glass balls or clay pigeons launched into the air, from a trap.


artillery wheel

artillery wheel (plural artillery wheels)

(military) A kind of heavily built dished wheel with a long axle box, used on gun carriages, usually having 14 spokes and 7 felloes; hence, a wheel of similar construction for use on automobiles, etc.


underhammer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underhammer.wav

(firearms) A firing mechanism where the hammer is mounted under the frame, behind the barrels, and forward of the trigger.


elephant gun

Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

A large-calibre firearm capable of killing an elephant or other big game.


iron bomb

(military aviation) A dumb bomb, a type of gravity bomb, an unguided bomb dropped from an aircraft.


dumb bomb

From dumb + bomb, coined to contrast with smart bomb.

An airdropped bomb without any guidance system to control it after launch.


Nitro Express

From the cordite propellant used, which is composed of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine, and express, due to the higher velocities available with cordite compared to black powder.

A large-calibre cartridge with adequate ballistics to kill big game.


civil defense

Efforts to protect the citizens of a state from military attack.

دفاع مدني

efforts to protect the citizens of a state from military attack


parazonium

From Latin parazonium, from Ancient Greek παραζόνιον (parazónion).

A long ceremonial dagger from Roman times.


bollock dagger

(historical) A dagger with a distinctively shaped shaft having two oval swellings at the guard resembling the male testes.


juvember

[…] and that said section be further amended so as to include and make it unlawful for any person to use sling juvembers or other contrivance by which to throw or project rocks, pebbles, shot or other missiles.

1889, Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina, chapter 194, section 6, page 857:

Your issue of February, 1975 has a photo (see cut) and caption by Erwin D. Stephens describing this longish beanshooter as a "juvember." Please fill me in on the derivation of "juvember." At first glance it appears to be a synthetic word, a contraction of either June or July and either November or December.

1978, Roy Wilder, a letter in The State (North Carolina magazine), volume 46, page 5

The nuts were little round balls, hard as granite, and […] there was hardly any meat in them, so we mostly shot them in our "juvembers", (a kind of slingshot).

2002, William Walker, Walker Family History, →ISBN, page 96:

(North Carolina Lumbee dialect) A slingshot.


nukage

From nuke + -age. Attested since the 20th century.

Go down the left path around the nukage pit and past the closed door. Carefully climb the steps and blast the Imps waiting near the green flames to the right.

I scoop black beans and cheese into a salsified (read: artificially red) wrap and wait my turn for nukage at the microwave.

2005, Emily Franklin, Piece, Love, and Happiness: The Principles of Love, page 64:

The process of nuking something, in various senses.


parabellum

For Latin parā bellum (“furnish war”), from the Latin adage sī vīs pācem, parā bellum (“if you want peace, prepare for war”).

A type of cartridge used in some handguns.


kasuyu

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo

A traditional axe-like weapon from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


Enola

Created for the titular character in the 1886 American novel Enola, derived from alone spelled backwards.

A place in the United States:
A town in Faulkner County, Arkansas.


hot shot

After being struck by three hot shots from the coastal fort, the attacking ship of the line burned uncontrollably until the flames reached her powder magazine and she blew up.

(historical, military, nautical) Round shot that has been heated to a glow before firing in order to set wooden enemy ships afire.


bombs away

Launch the torpedo on three! 1... 2... 3! Bombs away!

(usually military) Said after a projectile is unleashed.


gun furniture

(firearms, obsolete) The trigger, trigger plate, its guard, and (when present) the heel plate to the stock.


Euromissile

An American or Soviet missile stationed in a European country during the Cold War


RIS

rail interface system
rail interface system#English

(firearms) Abbreviation of rail interface system.


thermonuclear bomb

thermonuclear bomb (plural thermonuclear bombs)

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon#English


isomer bomb

From isomer + bomb from being a bomb fuelled by nuclear isomer changes.

A more useable size might be 1 g with an accelerated decay of 200 kg of TNT. The isomer bomb obtained funding, but was canceled as nonsensical.

2013, David Hafemeister, Physics of Societal Issues: Calculations on National Security, Environment, and Energy, Springer, →ISBN, page 23:

But in recent years, a group of fringe scientists aided by defense industry insiders has convinced the Pentagon that America's post-9/11 survival depends on developing an isomer bomb. While proponents compare it to the Manhattan Project, opponents point out that independent researchers have not been able to duplicate the results attained by isomer enthusiasts, and that many assumptions behind the bomb contradict the laws of physics. Though Congress canceled isomer bomb development in 2004, the Department of Energy found $5 million to continue the research.

2011, Karolina Dean...Where the HELL is my monkey?, “The Pentagon's fascination with fringe science”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):

Danger Room has closely followed developments related to miniature nuclear weapon, such as the “isomer bomb,” a notional weapon based on some rather controversial physics of accelerating the decay of nuclear isomers. Like Red Mercury, nuclear isomers never grows old. In January, the first ever isomer bomb was detonated in front of millions of viewers. Of course the bomb in question was fictional, a handy plot device in the new Knight Rider series. It was set to go off if the car dropped to below 100 mph; how original is that as a plot device?

2009, David Hambling, “Red Mercury Mania Returns as Saudis Buy Up “Mini-Nuke” Material”, in Wired:

The AWE's emphasis is on basic research and the potential for energy storage. But Thomson does not believe that an isomer bomb can be ruled out, saying that the controversy over Collins' claims has not been fully resolved. He adds: "A secondary role of AWE is to provide independent advice to the UK government on potential threats to the security of the UK, so an understanding of the fundamentals of isomer physics is essential."

2008, David Hambling, “Discredited pseudoscience or a newly useful technology?”, in The Guardian:

In America, the most controversial research has involved trying to "trigger" — get energy out of — a Hafnium isomer. In Russia, there has been plenty of controversy over Hafnium, as well. A 2005 paper on induced decay of the nuclear isomer 178m2Hf and the ‘isomeric bomb’ written by E. V. Tkalya, is deeply skeptical of the physics involved.

2008, David Hambling, “Russia’s Isomer Bomb, Funded by Your Taxes”, in Wired:

The hafnium isomer bomb concept is the product of a physicist's imagination. The hafnium, or isomer, bomb, is proposed by an expert who needs research funding to prove that the reaction takes place.

2008, Richard M. Swiderski, Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore and Effects of Mercury, McFarland, →ISBN, page 229:

For those who want all the nitty gritty details on the very weird life and death of DARPA’s isomer bomb, you can read my book, or for a shorter overview, you can read David Hambling’s New Scientist article along with my Washington Post Magazine article.

2008, Sharon Weinberger, “Is the Pentagon Funding Isomer Bombs Again?”, in Wired:

Washington bureaucracy works in strange ways. I was immediately asked what stake the arms control groups at State had in a fight over whether or not DARPA was to be allowed to waste $40 million on what my instincts said was very bad science. But we did have a reason to get involved: the proponents of isomer weapons suggested that–although the energy release derived from excited states of nuclei–because the mechanism did not involve either fission or fusion, an isomer bomb would not be a nuclear weapon. That would mean it could be tested even under the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and could even be tested in the atmosphere, despite the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty

2007, Peter D. Zimmerman, “The Strange Tale of the Hafnium Bomb: A Personal Narrative”, in American Physical Society News:

Take the so-called hafnium bomb, also known as the isomer bomb. According to its proponents, this futuristic weapon would harness the immense energy in subatomic particles known as isomers to deliver kiloton yields in a tiny package.

2006, Daniel G. Dupont, “Far-Out Physics”, in Scientific American, →DOI:

• Pure isomer bomb: 0.1 to 5 MeV gamma-rays;

2005, Andre Gsponer, “Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects”, in arXiv:

The problem of developing the isomeric bomb on the basis of these isomeric nuclei is considered. The experimental data analysis shows that development of the hafnium bomb at present is nonreal, because the existing plans of its creation are based on the noncorrectness of obtained experimental data

2005, E.V. Tkalya, “Induced decay of the 178m2Hf and isomeric bomb”, in Physics Uspekhi:

I think a hydrogen bomb can be made that is started by an isomer bomb not an atomic bomb.

2004, Kurt stocklmeir, “Re: laser cooling”, in sci.math (Usenet):

(military, weaponry) a type of theoretical radiological nuclear weapon that relies on an induced rapid change in the state of nuclear isomers to generate an intense gamma ray flash.


trisula

It may be wondered, at first sight, that the innumerable texts left by Buddhism give us no positive information with regard to the meaning and origin of the trisula.

1894, Eugène Goblet d'Alviella, The Migration of Symbols:

The trisula placed upon a pillar surmounted by flames is the monogram of Buddha.

1945, William J. Fielding, Strange Superstitions and Magical Practices, page ii. 15:

She had a trishul in one hand. Her long raven-black hair was left loose.

2004, Khushwant Singh, Burial at Sea, Penguin, page 96:

The trishula is most commonly associated with the god Shiva, one of the most prominent Hindu deities and the primary god in the sect of Hinduism known as "Shaivism."

2014, Micah Issitt, Carlyn Main, Hidden Religion, page 168:

(Hinduism, Buddhism) A trident, seen as a religious symbol of Hinduism and Buddhism.


ammosexual

Ammosexuals are very protective of their fetish, and attack even the slightest gun safety measure on the grounds that they interfere with their pleasure.

2014 June 5, GOP_Decline_and_Fall [username], “Re: Forget gun control: New plan is to stop mass shootings”, in alt.politics.liberalism (Usenet):

With the infestation of guns and ammosexuals the USA has, you might just kill yourselves off. The Wild West folks had nothing compared to what the ammosexuals are carrying round everywhere. What could possibly go wrong?

2015 July 14, A [username], “Re: St Louis black alderman begs thugs to stop shooting each”, in soc.retirement (Usenet):

It's about sticking it to the ammosexuals or the bleeding hearts or whomever.

2015, Martin Forstrom, "Ditch your guns to prevent suicides", The Wildcat (Arizona University), Volume 109, Issue 27, 28 October 2015 - 29 October 2015, page 9

(slang, derogatory) A person obsessed with owning guns; a zealous supporter of the right to bear arms.


limp-wrist

en-verb

limp-wrist (third-person singular simple present limp-wrists, present participle limp-wristing, simple past and past participle limp-wristed)

limp-wrists (present singular third-person)
limp-wristing (participle present)
limp-wristed (participle past)
limp-wristed (past)

(firearms) To hold a handgun with an insufficiently-firm-and-stiff grip while firing, allowing recoil to move the frame of the gun too far rearwards and causing the recoil spring to absorb too little energy from the slide for the action to cycle properly.


progun

en-adj

progun (comparative more progun, superlative most progun)

more progun (comparative)
most progun (superlative)

Under the pro-gun leadership of Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves (R), the state Senate also approved several other NRA-supported bills this week.

2014, NRA Institute for Legal Action, "Mississippi: Senate Committee Passes Comprehensive Pro-Gun Legislation"

(politics) Supportive of gun rights, especially supportive of more expansive gun rights or strongly opposed to greater gun control.


robomb

[…] to provide 30,000 temporary emergency houses for war workers in war production areas in England. These will help replace some of the 500,000 houses estimated to have been completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe and robombs.

1944, United States. President, Report to Congress on Lend-lease Operations, page 40:


fire lance

(historical) A weapon, first used by the Chinese, consisting of a spear with one or more primitive flamethrowers attached.

火槍

spear with one or more flamethrowers attached


ammo belt

(informal) A strip used to hold bullets, sometimes connected to some firearms.


chappe

From French chappe. Compare chape (from Middle English).

In everyday situations, swords were worn with or carried in a scabbard. […] Until about 1310, no metal fitting was put at the top, only a chappe at the point end to prevent it from wearing away, but after this date there was always[…]

1997, R. Ewart Oakeshott, A Knight and His Weapons:

The chappe helped prevent the scabbard's end from being worn down and kept the sword's tip from poking through. The chappe originally meant a flap extension of the grip itself.

1998 November 1, John Clements, Medieval Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods And Techniques, Paladin Press:

Alternative form of chape (“metal at the bottom of a scabbard”)


rapid fire pistol

en-noun

rapid fire pistol (plural rapid fire pistols)

An Olympic shooting event, competed at 25 meter range.


LAM

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of light antiarmor/antiarmour missile.

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of land attack missile.

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of loitering attack missile.


open carry

Coordinate term: concealed carry

In most places, open carry is relatively uncommon compared to lawful concealed carry. Open carry has long been a norm in Arizona, and open carry advocates in many other states today are seeking to renormalize the practice.

2018, Nicholas J. Johnson, David B. Kopel, George A. Mocsary, Michael P. O'Shea, Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy, 2nd edition, Wolters Kluwer, →ISBN, page 736:

Open-carry laws, it’s often noted, wouldn’t allow Black people to wander through the supermarket with huge guns slung over them and the confidence they could impose on others this way; […]

2022 May 30, Rebecca Solnit, “US mass shootings will continue until the majority can overrule the minority”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly US) The practice of openly carrying a firearm in public.


taiaha

A traditional Māori wooden staff weapon, used for short, sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts, usually decorated on one end.


barrel bomb

(military aviation) A barrel filled with explosives, used as an improvised unguided bomb and dropped from a helicopter or airplane.


unsight

en-verb

unsight (third-person singular simple present unsights, present participle unsighting, simple past and past participle unsighted)

unsights (present singular third-person)
unsighting (participle present)
unsighted (participle past)
unsighted (past)

Just jeep as the Sten magazine emptied there came a single shot from the far end of the lane and in the same instant a bullet cracked over Butler's head.The jeep swung sharply to the right, unsighting him.


trap house

From trap (“vehicle or location used for drug exchange or manufacture”) + house.

compound

2010 October, United States Marine Corps F-35B West Coast Basing Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Vol. I, page 141.
It was used to train aerial gunners in proper firing techniques by placing the gunner in a vehicle, which was driven around the track, while the gunner fired at targets launched from trap houses.

(gun sports, trap shooting) A small building from which targets are launched.

gun sports; trap shooting; gun sports; trap shooting


centurion's staff

In his right hand [Gaius] carried his centurion's staff, while his left held a rolled parchment, with Pilate's signature, guaranteeing Eleazor's pardon.

2006, Sean Young, Violent Sands, page 67:

Likewise [Marcellus] cast away his Centurion's staff and his arms, further declaring, "From this day forth I make an end of fighting for your Emperors..."

2013, A.R. Allison & al. translating Antonio Gallonio, Torture of the Christian Martyrs, page 65:


vine staff

en-noun

vine staff (plural vine staffs or vine staves)

vine staffs (plural)
vine staves (plural)

Calque of Latin vītis (“vine; vine staff”).

cal

(historical) A cane originally made of twisted grapevine trimmings and used by Roman centurions to beat the soldiers under their command; the various mushroom-headed batons later borne by them as a mark of office


qama

Borrowed from Classical Persian قمه (qamma).


mare's leg

A lever-action rifle with a short buttstock and short barrel.


fissban

A ban on the production of fissile material.


layer cake

A type of layering of materials, used in some nuclear bombs.


fall of the wall

(history) The deconstruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 1990.


Rodman gun

Designed by Union artilleryman Thomas Jackson Rodman (1815–1871).

Any of a series of heavy columbiads with a curved bottle shape, designed to fire both shot and shell, and used in the era of the American Civil War.


cold weapon

From cold + weapon, possibly a calque of Russian холо́дное ору́жие (xolódnoje orúžije, “cold weapon”), from холо́дное (xolódnoje) (the nominative neuter form of холо́дный (xolódnyj, “cold”)) + ору́жие (orúžije, “arm, weapon; weaponry”): see the 1876 quotation.

calque

холо́дное ору́жие

A fencing-room in which twenty or thirty couples of men are practising, is a fair illustration of a mélée with cold weapons.

1863 January 17, “How to Make Soldiers”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume VIII, number 195, London: […] C. Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 446, column 1:

The most effective weapons in the hands of the Caucasians was the sword, or as the Russians call it "the cold weapon" ["khalodnoye orúdiye," as opposed to firearms "agniovoye orúdiye"], the use of which, in hand-to-hand fight, was their special forte.

1876, Hugo Stumm, “The Field of Operations and the Russian Resources of Operations in General”, in F. Henvey, P. Mosa, transl., The Russian Campaign against Khiva in 1873. […], part I, Calcutta, West Bengal: Foreign Department Press, →OCLC, section II (The Russian Bases of Operations in Central Asia), page 157:

Pistols, carbines and musketoons were the firearms of the cavalry; a sword or sabre the cold weapon.

1890, Theodore Ayrault Dodge, “Army Organization and Tactics. Early Seventeenth to Early Eighteenth Century.”, in Gustavus Adolphus: A History of the Art of War from Its Revival after the Middle Ages to the End of the Spanish Succession War, […] (Great Captains), volume II, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 571:

There are perhaps more variations of the dao than there are of any other cold weapon.

2009, Zhang Yun, “The History and Features of Dao”, in The Complete Taiji Dao: The Art of the Chinese Saber, Berkeley, Calif.: Blue Snake Books, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 27:

(weaponry) A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.


overpowder

[…] to allow for the extra space taken up by the special overpowder wad.

1908 July 11, “Rubber Sandwich Wads”, in Forest and Stream, volume 71, page 71:

A two part wad column for use in shotshells is provided which consist of an overpowder component comprising inner and outer concentric cylindrical walls attached to a skirted end plate […]

1971, Canada Patent Office, The Patent Office Record, Application No. 085,160:

On firing, some of the hot gases from burning powder were able to bypass the overpowder and filler wads and reach the shot charge.

2015, Vincent J.M. DiMaio, Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms, Ballistics, and Forensic Techniques, Third Edition:

(firearms) Serving to hold in the gunpowder.


uchigatana

A kind of sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan.


Dr. Strangelove

en-noun

Dr. Strangelove (plural Dr. Strangeloves)

[ˈdɑk̚tɚ ˈʃt͡ʃɹeɪ̯nd͡ʒɫʌv]

From the character Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

When it was important in 1969 for Henry Kissinger to gain a reputation as a “secret swinger” to create a Dr. Strangelove reputation and provide cover for secret trips, he would appeal to White House wags and their friends (Richard Moore, television producer Paul Keyes, and this writer) for lines making that point.

2008, William Safire, Safire's Political Dictionary, →ISBN, page 654:

Just as the central question of the nuclear age was how to keep a Dr. Strangelove from pushing the button, the central question of the geoengineering age will be how to prevent a Dr. Strangelove from hacking the climate.

2010, Jeff Goodell, How to Cool the Planet, →ISBN:

His game theory became the foundation for modern finance. Dr Strangelove went to work on Wall Street.

2015, Katrine Marcal, Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?, →ISBN, page 62:

In both the world of new science and that of quick-fix military technology we need, more than ever, to be on perpetual guard against the Dr Strangeloves of the future.

2012, Dr J Richardson, War, Science and Terrorism: From Laboratory to Open Conflict, →ISBN:

The Darth Vaders, Dr. Strangeloves and many people in positions of power have advocated the use of nuclear weapons to resolve conflicts.

2014, Jerry Kroth, Implosion: Delusion, denial, and the prospect of collapse, →ISBN, page 240:

But CIA observers everywhere choked when CNN announced that a psychological trauma team, mustered by the American Psychological Association, would converge in Oklahoma City to treat survivors of the explosion and the victims' families—led by none other than Dr. Louis Jolyon West of UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute, the breeding ground of some of the most necrotizing Dr. Strangeloves in the mind control business.

2014, Alex Constantine, Virtual Government: CIA Mind Control Operations in America, →ISBN, page 255:

Someone who is likely to launch a nuclear attack or otherwise destroy the world.


urumi

Borrowed from Malayalam ഉറുമി (uṟumi) / Tamil உறுமி (uṟumi).

An Indian sword with a flexible whip-like blade.


banana clip

It included 44 AK-47 rifles, and 260 large-capacity banana clips.

2006, Gideon Burrows, Kalashnikov AK47, page 45:

(firearms) A curved ammunition clip for the AK-47 assault rifle.


sporting clays

A sport where the player attempts to shoot clay pigeon targets at a series of stations along a course.


roburite

From Latin rōbur (“hardness, strength”) + -ite.

affix

An explosive formerly used in mining, made from chlorinated dinitrobenzene oxidized by ammonium nitrate.


long rifle

(firearms) An American style of rifle with an unusually long barrel, used in hunting and warfare.


hush puppy

When we used it in our “hush puppy” against a sentry, the target was almost always hit only once, in the head.

Normally, they would have used the silenced .22 ‘Hush Puppy’ pistol to dispatch both the dog and the sentry, but this was an exercise.

2021, Christophe Downes, War Crimes for the Political Elite:

(military slang) A semiautomatic handgun fitted with a suppressor, used by special forces personnel to quietly take out guard dogs and sentries.


airshoot

The impressive results: naval gunfire support qualification achieved an 86.3 average, scoring 100 in two surface gunnery shoots , and a 95 grade for an airshoot.

1984, Surface Warfare - Volume 9, Issue 2, page 27:

We had an account to settle with these compound mortars, and were therefore pleased when an RAF jeep arrived to link us with two Spitfires to carry out airshoots on these deadly nuisances.

2002, Denis Falvey, A Well-known Excellence, page 160:

(rare, weaponry) A shot at something that is in the air, or a shot in midair.


nuclear triad

intercontinental ballistic missile
intercontinental ballistic missile

Three traditional components of a nuclear weapons arsenal: strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.


aerosol bomb

thermobaric weapon
thermobaric weapon#English

(weaponry) A type of thermobaric weapon.


megacannon

The prisoners—the President, the First Lady, and their son, nine-year-old Billy—their hands tied securely behind their backs, were marched from the ship and across the floor of the canyon to the base of an enormous megacannon.

1996, David Cody Weiss, Bobbi J. G Weiss, Randy Kornfield, Jingle All the Way: A Novelization, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 2:

“Look,” he says, “I’m a razor from the ship’s bridge crew. The Rain brought down the zone and then hosed down the fleet with that DE megacannon outside—"

2009, David J. Williams, The Burning Skies, Bantam Spectra, →ISBN, page 105:

All of which leads us back to Captain Stockton’s decision to ignore ship-builder Ericsson’s warnings about the megacannon Peacemaker that killed Secretary Upshur and his nonconfrontational ways and gave us the volatile Secretary Calhoun, who set the boiler to going with threats and rumblings of secession from the Southland.

2011, Winston Groom, Kearny's March: The Epic Journey That Created the American Southwest, 1846-1847, Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, pages 21–22:

When they hit cruisers, they use hangar spam to mow down corvettes and bastions. When battleships are researched? Megacannons with proton and neutron launchers everywhere.

2021 December 21, AdamZeeper, “Countering artillery battleships”, in reddit.com:


kilotonnage

The regions contaminated by local fallout depend critically on local weather conditions, particularly wind, and cannot be accurately predicted, but the total areas are roughly proportional to the size (kilotonnage) of the fission part of the bomb.

1967, Patricia Joyce Lindop, A Poor Man's Guide to Nuclear Weapons, page 8:

In addition, the intense study of the nuclear winter phenomenon now going on in both the United States and the Soviet Union may push the arms competition further into lighter, low-kilotonnage weapons.

1985 March 14, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, page 32:

Nuclear tests were nationally televised, and data on systems, kilotonnages, and weapons were published by major American newspapers.

2014, Robert A. Pape, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War:

The destructive power of an explosive, measured in kilotons.


Colt

en-proper noun

Colt (countable and uncountable, plural Colts)

From colt, as a nickname or occupational name for someone who looked after horses and asses. The given name may also be short for Colton. The revolver is named after American inventor Samuel Colt (1814–1862).

named-after

A male given name transferred from the surname.

St. Francis County
St. Francis County#English

A town in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States.

St. Tammany Parish
St. Tammany Parish#English

An unincorporated community in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States.


Colt

Only in it she held a derringer in her hand, not a Colt. But that look of disbelief on Leonard's face could not have been more real.

1993, Judith Pella, Frontier Lady (Lone Star Legacy Book #1), Baker Books, →ISBN:

He saw the shotgunner stagger into the lingering cloud of smoke. He jumped to his feet before the man could reload and charged toward him. The man dropped his shotgun and clawed for his pistol, a blueblack hole in his left leg, near the groin. John stopped and fired his Colt, aiming for the man's heart. But Luke's left leg gave way and tilted him sideways, so the bullet from John's gun struck his right shoulder, spun him like a top. His pistol slipped from his hand.

2007, Jory Sherman, The Savage Gun, Penguin, →ISBN:

His soldier's instinct had him dropping to the ground before he even thought of it, and Captain Hargreaves fired his Colt. The bullet zoomed over Butsko's head and whacked in the chest of the hapless soldier who'd been standing behind him. Butsko rolled over on the ground, stopped, and brought his rifle quickly to his shoulder as Captain Hargreaves fired again, his bullet burrowing in the muck six inches from Butsko's face. Butsko fired at Captain Hargreaves ...

2013, Len Levinson, River of Blood, →ISBN:

Clint snap-aimed and fired his Colt. The man's stetson whirled off his head. So did part of his skull. The second gunman bounced up and fired a shot at the Gunsmith. The bullet struck the dead flesh of Clint's cover. The Gunsmith fired back and saw a crimson spider appear at the man's shoulder. The gunman groaned and bolted for the side exit. Clint pointed his Colt and squeezed the trigger. The hammer struck the firing pin and drove it into an empty chamber.

2014, J.R. Roberts, Gundown in Paradise, →ISBN:

A revolver (gun) (from Colt's Manufacturing Company), associated especially but not exclusively with the American Wild West.


splatter-gun

Mr. Vee here has his Makarov and his Sicilian splatter-gun on the sling there, plus what, exactly, is that? Looks like an AK47 frame, but what the hell is that barrel?

2000, Harold Covington, Slow Coming Dark: A Novel of the Age of Clinton, →ISBN:

"That splatter-gun won't avail thee none, old man,” Bianca said.

2011, Rodolphus, The Wolf Doth Grin, →ISBN:

Fading in on the screech of a magnificently over-wrought electric guitar, the drums arrive like a splatter-gun, the riff chewed up and spat out without ceremony over six-and-a- half minutes of angry hell.

2011, Malcom Dome, Mick Wall, Metallica: The Music and the Mayhem, →ISBN:

Foliar application with splatter-gun.

2013, Robert L Reid, The Manual of Australian Agriculture, →ISBN, page 377:

A shotgun, assault weapon, or other gun that repeatedly fires quickly and in an imprecise fashion.


letter of last resort

en-noun

letter of last resort (plural letters of last resort)

A handwritten letter from the British Prime Minister to the commanding officers of nuclear submarines, specifying the action to be taken if an enemy nuclear strike destroys the British government.


Gold Code

(US) A launch code for nuclear weapons, provided to the President of the United States.


decapitation strike

decapitation strike (plural decapitation strikes)

An initial attack (often nuclear) that aims to destroy the command and control mechanisms of the enemy, preventing retaliation.

斬首行動

attack aiming to destroy the central command and control


suicide special

suicide special (plural suicide specials)

Saturday-night special
Saturday-night special#English

(US, slang) Synonym of Saturday-night special (“an easily-obtained handgun”)


Rem

(Egyptian mythology) An Egyptian fish god who fertilized the land with his tears.


aerobomb

Extracting aerobomb's aerodynamic drag coefficient curve C_(df) from 3-dimensional theodolite film data is formulated as an optimal tracking control problem (OTCP), where the C_(df) the control function and the flight testing data are the desired trajectories.

1999, Yangquan Chen, Extracting aerobomb's aerodynamic drag coefficient curve from theodolite data via iterative learning 1:

(dated) A bomb dropped from an aircraft.


Jedburgh staff

Jedburgh staff (plural Jedburgh staffs or Jedburgh staves)

Jedburgh staffs (plural)
Jedburgh staves (plural)

(historical) A kind of Scottish polearm.


Angolagate

(informal) A 2008 controversy around arms sales by France to Angola between 1993 and 2000.


Texas toothpick

Texas toothpick (plural Texas toothpicks)

New Orleans gamblers are said to use the bones (also called coon dogs and Texas toothpicks) for luck.

2011, Joanne O'Sullivan, Book of Superstitious Stuff, →ISBN:

In the southern United States, the baculums of raccoons— nicknamed Texas toothpicks—are considered signs of luck and fertility.

2016, Ann Downer, The Animal Mating Game, →ISBN:

(informal) A raccoon baculum, carried as a lucky charm.


counterexplosion

An explosion triggered by, or in response to, another explosion.


thirty-thirty

"What do you know about thirty-thirties?" "Huh, I know lots. My other pop was tellin' me you could git a man with a thirty a whole heap farther than you could with any ole forty-four or them guns. I shot heaps of rabbits with his."

1919, Hennry Herbert Knibbs, The Ridin' Kid from Powder River, page 16:

Now that the season has arrived in many parts of the country for the nimrods to load their trusty Thirty-Thirties and go forth in quest of the elusive deer, it seems an appropriate time to say a word about the skilleting of venison — which can be a pretty tough and dry proposition if not properly handled.

1960, The Cattleman, volume 47, page 46:

“I'll get one of those thirty-thirties out of the rack and slip her into the boat . Maybe we won't use it, and maybe we will . We might meet that Pirate Shark, you know!”

2014, Robert E. Howarad, The Pirate Story Megapack: 25 Classic and Modern Tales, page 2301:

(firearms) A thirty calibre firearm designed for cartridges that originally held thirty grains of smokeless powder.


wildcat cartridge

wildcat cartridge (plural wildcat cartridges)

(firearms) A cartridge modified from another calibre rather than being commercially produced.


wall hanger

In this case, the restoration is legitimate even though the gun will be a wall hanger and never be fired.

1982, John E. Traister, How to Buy and Sell Used Guns, page 153:

A firearm that does not function or is considered unsafe to shoot, usually an older firearm that appears antique or ornate in design, hung on the wall of a room as decoration.


KEW

kinetic energy weapon
kinetic energy weapon#English

(weaponry) Acronym of kinetic energy weapon.


Welrod

All clandestine equipment devised at Station IX in Welwyn Garden City had names starting with Wel, e.g. Welbike, Welman.

(firearms, historical) A British bolt-action, magazine-fed suppressed pistol devised during World War II.


sleeve gun

(historical) An experimental device developed for the British Army during World War II, essentially a noise-suppressed Welrod pistol minus the pistol grip.


Euro-deterrent

A number of European governments publicly criticized France to the clear dismay of French leaders. The effort by Paris to portray its nuclear weapons as the 'European deterrent' (or Euro-deterrent) failed to win many hearts and minds in Europe.

2015, Ramesh Thakur, “The Nuclear Debate”, in Nuclear Weapons and International Security: Collected Essays, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 72:


Eurodeterrent

/ˌjʊəɹəʊdɪˈtɛɹənt/

The idea of a Eurodeterrent, essentially based on Anglo-French or Franco-German cooperation, has not materialized, for national political reasons. In the meantime the Soviet Union has increased the number of its SS-20 nuclear missiles and of its Backfire bombers, which were excluded from the SALT II agreement as “non-strategic,” but which can, with their respective ranges, easily hit the obsolete French and British nuclear arsenals and the European airports on which the strategic air-forces are based.

1980, Leopold Łabędź, “1983: How Europe Fell”, in Policy Review, number 17, Washington, D.C.: Hoover Institution, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11:

If a group of European nations under EU, WEU [Western European Union]or other auspices succeeded in building a collective ‘Eurodeterrent’, some Americans might conclude that US commitments and forces in Europe were no longer necessary.

1999, Kōrō Bessho, Identities and Security in East Asia (Adelphi Papers; 325), Oxford: Oxford University Press for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, →ISBN, page 40:

The proposed unified nuclear deterrent of the European Community (before November 1993) and the European Union (after November 1993).

Eurodeterrent

proposed unified nuclear deterrent of the European Union


telescopic sight

telescopic sight (plural telescopic sights)

A device used e.g. on a rifle in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.


EFP

EFP (countable and uncountable, plural EFPs)

The RAF device which killed Herrhausen is generally described as a platter charge, rather than an Iraq-style EFP. That's because the RAF are not thought to have had the skill to produce an EFP.

2008 July 29, David Hambling, “Superbomb Mystery: The Herrhausen Assassination”, in Wired, →ISSN:

explosively formed penetrator
explosively formed penetrator#English

(weaponry, countable) Initialism of explosively formed penetrator.


go nuclear

en-verb

go nuclear (third-person singular simple present goes nuclear, present participle going nuclear, simple past went nuclear, past participle gone nuclear)

goes nuclear (present singular third-person)
going nuclear (participle present)
went nuclear (past)
gone nuclear (participle past)

In this context, the humiliating defeat of 1971 and the Indian nuclear test were major factors in the Pakistani decision to go nuclear.

2000, Hooman Peimani, Nuclear Proliferation in the Indian Subcontinent, →ISBN, page 28:

A decision to go nuclear has important adverse diplomatic repercussions as well. Trying to build a nuclear arsenal is not the way to win friends in the international community.

2008, Ted Galen Carpenter, Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America, →ISBN, page 111:

This agreement codified nuclear apartheid, leaving in place three types of nuclear states: the five recognized nuclear powers (the United States, Britain, China, France, and the Soviet Union), NATO and Warsaw Pact allies with access to nuclear weapons but not ownership, and a large class of non-nuclear states who renounced their right to go nuclear.

2010, Shane J. Maddock, Nuclear Apartheid, →ISBN:

(of a country) To acquire nuclear weapons.

Some have suggested that nuclear disarmament will increase the chance that conventional wars will occur since nation states will no longer be deterred by the thought that wars can go nuclear.

1984, Douglas P. Lackey, Moral Principles and Nuclear Weapons, →ISBN, page 236:

This paper does not deal with nuclear terrorism as Thomas Schelling once defined it — namely being he 'balance of nuclear terror' between the major nuclear weapon state - but rather refers to terrorist groups going nuclear.

2012, Paul Wilkinson, Technology and Terorrism, →ISBN, page 48:

The best place to be if things went nuclear was in a bomb shelter.

2015, Dean Marquis, Roxanne of Dark Energy: A Construct of Science Fiction, →ISBN:

To involve the use of nuclear weapons, especially in war.

“We cut the show short, and the brothers went nuclear on me afterward,” said Sammy. “They crucified me for that."

2011, Kevin Dodds, Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography, →ISBN, page 150:

He snickered. Janelle was going nuclear. “Why didn't you tell me?” she shouted.

2015, James Patterson, NYPD Red 3, →ISBN:

There's barely a week that goes by without me going nuclear about something or other to do with middle age as portrayed in the media.

2015, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years, →ISBN:

(figurative) To throw a fit; To become enraged with an angry outburst.


Mother of all Bombs

From a reinterpretation of the acronym MOAB (originally for "Massive Ordnance Air Blast"), using the mother of all construction.

(military) A type of large-yield conventional bomb, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast.


Father of all Bombs

In reference to the US Mother of all Bombs, which the Russian military sought to surpass.

(military) A type of Russian-designed, large-yield conventional bomb, the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power.


Tokarev

(firearms) A Soviet service pistol, the TT-33 and TT-30

(firearms) A handgun deriving from the TT-30 design pattern


Makarov

Borrowed from Russian Макаров (Makarov). A transliteration of the Russian surname Макаров (Makarov).

name translit

(firearms) A Soviet service pistol, the PM

A Soviet service pistol, the PM
A Soviet Cold-War era service pistol

(firearms) A handgun deriving from the PM design pattern


starter pistol

A handgun that fires blanks in order to start races.


smoke bomb

Smoke bombs would be used. The thick fumes resulting from their explosion between the lines would cover our advance.

1916, Patrick MacGill, chapter 3, in The Great Push: An Episode of the Great War, London: Herbert Jenkins, page 48:

Over every German battery would soar the observation plane indicating by tinsel or smoke bombs the location of the guns […]

1918, Willis J. Abbot, chapter 9, in Aircraft and Submarines: The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of War’s Newest Weapons, New York: Putnam:

Margot would plant smoke-bombs in Kuno’s bedroom and then rush in to rescue him from the fumes.

1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 13, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1942, page 147:

The agent gave them the two camera-cases you saw. […] He told them that the blue case contained a very powerful smoke-bomb. The red case was the explosive. As one of them threw the red case, the other was to press a switch on the blue case and they would escape under cover of the smoke.

1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 9, in Casino Royale, London: Jonathan Cape:

(military) An explosive or incendiary device designed to produce smoke in order to mark a position or produce a smokescreen.


pyroballogy

A variant of pyrobology, from pyro- (prefix meaning ‘fire, heat’) (from Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire; lightning”)) + Ancient Greek βάλλειν (bállein, “to throw”) + -logy (suffix indicating a branch of learning or study of a particular subject) (from Ancient Greek -λογῐ́ᾱ (-logíā), from λόγος (lógos, “word, speech; reason, reckoning; account, explanation”)). βάλλειν is derived from βᾰ́λλω (bállō, “to hurl, throw; to strike, touch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to pierce; to throw, to hit by throwing”).

refn

From Codex Vindobonensis 3069, folio 11, recto, from the collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna, Austria.

der

[H]e was enabled, by the help of ſome marginal documents at the feet of the elephant, together with Gobeſius’s military architecture and pyroballogy, tranſlated from the Flemiſh, to form his diſcourse with paſſable perſpicuity.

1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter III, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume II, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 18:

[H]e threw a faithless cipher of moon into the sky, put beneath it a fatherless girl craving affection, and then helpless before the doom of his own contrivances watched in his mind, possibly on that very prom night or in a car parked on an overlook up in the Blue Ridge mountains, the hideous pyroballogy of some vile teenager with a hanging lip, his suspenders disengaged, prying off her gown with his grice-fingered hands and then bucking away like a country stink-cat, whereupon she— […]

1981, Alexander Theroux, Darconville’s Cat, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 137:

Pyroballogy, Lieutenant Drinkwater, is the art of throwing fire. 'Tis both scientific and alchemical, and that is why officers in my profession cannot purchase their commissions like the rest of the army, so it is. […] 'Tis an ancient art, this pyroballogy. Archimedes himself founded it at the siege of Syracuse and the Greeks had their own ballistic fireballs.

1984, Richard Woodman, “Powder and Shot: February 1801”, in The Bomb Vessel, London: John Murray, →ISBN; republished as The Bomb Vessel: A Nathaniel Drinkwater Novel (Mariner’s Library Fiction Classics), Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Sheridan House, 2000, →ISBN, part 1 (Tsar Paul), page 45:

And how, by what law of mechanics, can such decisions contribute to the maintenance of its gyration? It is that they are taken suddenly and violently: explosions of disgust. It is what's called repulsion, one of the forces most commonly employed in pyroballogy.

1985, Kris Hemensley, editor, The Best of The Ear: The Ear in a Wheatfield 1973–76: A Portrait of a Magazine, Melbourne, Vic.: Rigmarole Books, →ISBN, page 20:

Instead of clarifying the geometry of fortification, however, the treatises only bring confusion, such that Toby's attempts to follow the rules of pyroballogy result in his mistaking a parabola for a hyperbola, and so on.

2015, Anders Engberg-Pedersen, “The Geometry of War: Siege Architecture and Narrative Form”, in Empire of Chance: The Napoleonic Wars and the Disorder of Things, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN:

(weaponry, obsolete, rare) The study of artillery; the practice of using artillery as a weapon.


bunker-busting

(military) Having the penetrative quality of a bunker buster.


pivot gun

(historical) A gun mounted on a pivot or revolving carriage, so as to turn in any direction.


countervalue

en-verb

countervalue (third-person singular simple present countervalues, present participle countervaluing, simple past and past participle countervalued)

countervalues (present singular third-person)
countervaluing (participle present)
countervalued (participle past)
countervalued (past)

From counter- + value. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., records the first use of the word in 1660 and the first use in the modern sense in 1965, where it is described as a "euphemism for attacking cities".

(military) To target an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.


countervalue

(military) Targeting an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.


Win

A diminutive of the female given name Winifred.


two-hand sword

From Middle English thwahandswerd, to hond swerd, twa hand swerde, twohande sworde.

Come with thy two-hand sword.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

Faria on the other side […] with a zealous feruour reached Coia Acem, such a blow with a two hand Sword on his Head-piece of Maile, that he sunke to the ground […]

1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, London: Henrie Fetherstone, Volume 3, Chapter 2, Section 1, p. 257:

1822, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Man, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume I, Chapter 6, p. 111,
[…] Charlie, growing wroth, squeezed the Lady Jane so strait with the left arm, that she was forced to cry out; and putting his right over his shoulder, he drew out his tremendous two-hand sword […]

He stepped forward as he spoke, and his esquire gave him the two-hand Sword of State, heavy enough to behead a bisonoid.

1963, H. Beam Piper, chapter 4, in Space Viking, New York: Ace Books, page 18:

A sword with a handle or grip that is intended to be grasped with both hands.


corseque

A pole weapon with a spike and two lateral blades on a shaft.


Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America


scrub gun

(Australia, firearms, informal) a short firearm, designed for use in dense foliage.


Cold Warrior

Like many other ‘Cold Warriors’ of the European political center, [Raymond] Aron had only limited sympathy for the United States—‘the U.S. economy seems to me’, he wrote, ‘a model neither for humanity nor the West’.

2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

(history) A participant in the Cold War.


Molotov breadbasket

en-noun

Molotov breadbasket (plural Molotov breadbaskets)

Molotov bread basket
Vyacheslav Molotov
Winter War

Coined around 1940 to describe cluster munitions used in Finland by the Soviet Union during the 1939–1940 Winter War. From Molotov + breadbasket, after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Compare Molotov cocktail.

“Molotov breadbasket” is a large bomb container which, whirled by its fins, drops low, then sprays out a mass of 4 1/2 pound incendiary bombs.

1940, “Soviet army's new weapons”, in Life, volume 8, number 14, page 34:

The Russian air force dropped RRAB-3 ‘Molotov bread basket’ incendiary cluster munitions on Finland during the ‘Winter War’ in January 1940, and perhaps even earlier.

2010, Gro Nystuen, Stuart Casey-Maslen, The Convention on Cluster Munitions: A Commentary, page 6:

(specifically) The RRAB-3, a Soviet cluster bomb.


duelling pistol

duelling pistol (plural duelling pistols)

a type of pistol that was manufactured in matching pairs to be used in a duel


chain shot

chain shot (countable and uncountable, plural chain shots)

(historical, military, nautical) A projectile consisting of two cannon balls or half balls linked by a chain, fired from cannons mostly to attack spars and rigging.

kettingkogel

projectile consisting of two cannon balls linked by a chain


fire cart

Synonym of hwacha (historical Korean weapon)


denuke

en-verb

denuke (third-person singular simple present denukes, present participle denuking, simple past and past participle denuked)

denukes (present singular third-person)
denuking (participle present)
denuked (participle past)
denuked (past)

There have been suggestions by a number of American neoconservative hawks to denuke Iran with “swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime.

2014, Jahangir Amuzegar, The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy:

(transitive, colloquial) Short for denuclearize.


bump stock

(firearms) An attachment on a gun used to make it fire repeatedly by using the gun's recoil to pull the trigger, modifying it to function in a similar way to a machine gun.


bumpfire

A method of firing semi-automatic firearms which uses recoil forces to "bump" the trigger finger, in order to significantly increase the cyclic rate.


I would rather have a .22 than an axe or a club, that's for sure

2001, Chilco Choate, The Fire Still Burns: A Life of Trail Talk and Contrary Opinions, page 29:

(firearms) A standard kind of firearm designed to fire bullets that are approximately 0.22 inch in diameter.


He was wearing the normal jungle fatigues and had a .45 in a holster on his waist.

2013, T. Van Ewell, Recon Airplane Company: III Corps, Vietnam, page 182:

(firearms) A standard kind of firearm designed to fire bullets that are approximately 0.45 inch in diameter.


I had hoped that he had a .38 on him but that wasn't the case.

2012, Arnie Greenberg, A Fine Conundrum: A 'Joey Fine' Mystery, page 165:

(firearms) A standard kind of firearm designed to fire bullets that are approximately 0.38 inch in diameter.


butt spike

Meanwhile, the men in the middle and rear pushed those in front, while simultaneously providing cover from javelins and arrows with their raised pikes and stabbing fallen adversaries with the butt spikes.

2002, Robert L. O'Connell, Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present:

(historical, weaponry) A small blade or spike on the rear end of a spear, used as a counterbalance and as a backup if the spear broke.


half-pike

1709-1711, The Tatler
paying the Salute with the Halfpike

(military) A short pike, sometimes carried by officers of infantry, sometimes used in boarding ships; a spontoon


IWB

(firearms) Initialism of inside the waistband.


Trident

The nuclear weapon that is the nuclear deterrent of the United Kingdom


zappozap

Synonym of kasuyu (“traditional African weapon”)


bhangmeter

From bhang + -meter, with the first element being a pun on bang, mocking the idea that the machine would work. Coined by Fred Reines in 1950.

A non-imaging radiometer used to detect nuclear detonations and determine the yield of the nuclear weapon.


fail-deadly

From fail + deadly, modelled on fail-safe.

(military) In nuclear weapons strategy: encouraging deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if the command-and-control infrastructure has been damaged by the enemy's first strike.


SLAM

en-noun

SLAM (countable and uncountable, plural SLAMs)

supersonic low altitude missile
supersonic low altitude missile#English

(military, aviation, weaponry) Acronym of supersonic low altitude missile.

stand-off land attack missile
stand-off land attack missile#English

(military, aviation, weaponry) Acronym of stand-off land attack missile.


nickelling

Further trials were carried out to establish their accuracy life and whether they developed any tendency to nickelling under Service conditions.

1962, Edmund George Barton Reynolds, The Lee-Enfield Rifle, page 158:

(firearms) The metallic fouling of a gun's bore with fragments of bullet casing.


bomb crater

Scene near Ingatestone, L.N.E.R., shortly after the locomotive of a London-Harwich train had fallen into a bomb crater.

1943 September and October, “Notes and News: Locomotive in Bomb Crater”, in Railway Magazine, page 311, photo caption:

A hole in the ground created by the explosion of a large bomb, usually one dropped by a bomber (aircraft).


securite

A high explosive in the form of a yellowish powder.


brinkman

It compels the 'brinkmen' to realise that, if they seek to make war on the Soviet Union, they cannot count on cooperation from Britain or France, and probably not from Western Germany.

1958, The Labour Monthly, volume 40, page 18:

The brinkmen Kennan abhorred were supreme realists, and if "the assumption that state behavior is a fit subject for moral judgment" is baseless, then anything, even the realism of atomic blackmail, would be permissible.

1970, John W. Coffey, Realist social thought in America: Reinhold Niebuhr and George F. Kennan:

The Syrian force was pulled back quickly and with reportedly heavy losses, but it stayed around long enough to remind the world that the Syrians are still the biggest blusterers and brinkmen in the Middle East.


dussack

From German Dussack, Dussägge, from Czech tesák.

A short cutlass or sabre used in the 16th and 17th centuries.


SLCM

In principle, ALCMs and SLCMs differ only in their launch platforms; it therefore might be possible for ALCMs to be launched from SLCM launchers with only minor modifications.

1990, Frank Von Hippel, R. Z. Sagdeev, Reversing the Arms Race, →ISBN:

Hence SLCM's do not fit easily into either a disarming first strike or a retaliatory category.

1991, Greg Schmergel, US Foreign Policy in the 1990s, →ISBN, page 122:

And since over 80% of US SLCMs will be non-nuclear, the correlation between SLCM-capable launchers and US nuclear SLCMs is even more tenuous.

2012, Jürgen Altmann, Joseph Rotblat, Verification of Arms Reductions: Nuclear, Conventional and Chemical, →ISBN:

Initialism of sea-launched cruise missile.


novichok

novichok (countable and uncountable, plural novichoks)

From Russian новичо́к (novičók, literally “newbie, newcomer”).

bor

Those still fixated on the problem and not the solution will argue that the United States should take no action on the CWC until Russia “comes clean” about the novichok program under the Memorandum of Understanding.

1995, Amy E. Smithson, Chemical Weapons Disarmament in Russia: Problems and Prospects, page 60:

Novichoks are allegedly the deadliest NAs ever produced and are potentially five to eight times more potent than VX.

2013, Mahdi Balali-Mood, Mohammad Abdollahi, editors, Basic and Clinical Toxicology of Organophosphorus Compounds, page 14:

Theresa May has identified the nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury as a novichok.

2018 March 13, Ian Sample, “Novichok nerve agents – what are they?”, in The Guardian:

The poisoning also turned Novichok into something of a Russian calling card.

2020 September 2, “Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned With Novichok, Germany Says”, in New York Times:

In an earlier interview with the Guardian, a Kremlin insider said that “in half a year or a year, novichok will catch up with Prigozhin,” a reference to the 2020 poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

2023 August 23, Pjotr Sauer, “Prigozhin’s death would leave lasting mark on Russian army and elite”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Any of a group of deadly organophosphate nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s to evade restrictions on chemical weapons.


cocoa powder

en-noun

cocoa powder (usually uncountable, plural cocoa powders)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cocoa powder.wav

(firearms) A form of brown gunpowder, also known as brown powder.


war golok

A traditional Philippine sword, derived from the Southeast Asian/Australasian agricultural instrument, the golok. It is a straight double-edged bladed rectangular-topped slashing weapon without a thrusting point.


golok

A cutting tool, similar to a machete, used in agriculture and as a weapon in Indonesia and Malaysia.


benchrest

From bench + rest, since the gun is mounted on a rest placed on a table or bench.

(gun sports) A shooting sport in which very accurate and precise rifles are shot at paper targets.


S&W

Initialism of Smith & Wesson: an American manufacturer of firearms, ammunition and restraints founded in 1852.


LMG

light machine gun
light machine gun#English


rebarrel

en-verb

rebarrel (third-person singular simple present rebarrels, present participle rebarreling, simple past and past participle rebarreled)

rebarrels (present singular third-person)
rebarreling (participle present)
rebarreled (participle past)
rebarreled (past)

She plans to rebarrel the rifle, as it is not shooting straight.


case head

The part of a cartridge case opposite the bullet.


boltface

(firearms) The front surface of a bolt in a firearm or back of the firing chamber, against which the cartridge rests.


Initialism of ArmaLite Rifle, which was named after the company that originally designed the weapon.

An AR-15 once again made an appearance at a mass shooting, this time at a Parkland, Fla., high school on Wednesday. The suspect in the shooting, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, purchased the semiautomatic rifle about a year ago, according to a law enforcement official.

2018 February 16, Julie Vitkovskaya, Patrick Martin, “4 basic questions about the AR-15”, in The Washington Post:

Should We Be Forced to See Exactly What an AR-15 Does to a 10-Year-Old? [title]

2022 May 31, Susie Linfield, “Should We Be Forced to See Exactly What an AR-15 Does to a 10-Year-Old?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the past decade, semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 have become the weapon of choice for young killers, and I needed to see what America was willing to put into the hands of teenagers in the name of freedom.

2023 March 27, Helen Lewis, “How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?”, in The Atlantic:

(trademark) A lightweight, semi-automatic rifle, based on the original design of the ArmaLite AR-15.


percussion lock

en-noun

percussion lock (plural percussion locks)

(firearms) A kind of lock for a gun in which a hammer strikes upon a percussion cap on the nipple, igniting the charge.


cry aim

en-verb

cry aim (third-person singular simple present cries aim, present participle crying aim, simple past and past participle cried aim)

cries aim (present singular third-person)
crying aim (participle present)
cried aim (participle past)
cried aim (past)

(obsolete) To encourage an archer when shooting by crying "aim".


signal pistol

A handgun designed to discharge an illumination flare.


percussion bullet

en-noun

percussion bullet (plural percussion bullets)

(firearms) A bullet designed to explode on striking its target.


submissile

(firearms, military) A missile that detaches from a larger missile.


hand cannon

An early firearm requiring manual ignition through a touch hole.


A-bomb maiden

Hiroshima maiden
Hiroshima maiden#English


Hiroshima maiden

Hiroshima maiden (plural Hiroshima maidens)

(historical) Any of a group of Japanese women who were disfigured by the thermal flash from the fission bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and who subsequently went on a highly publicized journey to get reconstructive surgery in the United States in 1955.


Claíomh Solais

From Irish Claíomh Solais (literally “Sword of Light”).

bor

(Irish mythology) The "Sword of Light", one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann which belonged to Núadu.


ghost gun

From ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are unserialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. First use appears c. 2001 in Sunday People.

The two companies warrant attention because their marketing focuses “on the anonymous, untraceable nature of the guns they allow to be made — and the many examples of ghost guns used in crimes,” Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the center, said in an email.

2017 November 27, Christina Caron, quoting Adam Skaggs, “‘Ghost Guns,’ Homemade and Untraceable, Face Growing Scrutiny”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In New York, state lawmakers announced legislation on Monday that would require makers of ghost guns to have a gunsmith license and register the firearms.

2018 July 30, Tiffany Hsu, Alan Feuer, “A Rush to Block Downloadable Plans for 3-D Printed Guns”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The suspects in New Jersey are accused of trying to sell several homemade AR-15 assault-style rifles that are known as ghost guns because they cannot be tracked.

2019 March 18, Nick Corasaniti, “The Target Was a Drug Ring. They Found ‘Ghost Guns.’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A gun without serial numbers that cannot be easily tracked, especially a homemade gun built with nonregistered, partially finished or 3D printed components.


jackass battery

en-noun

jackass battery (plural jackass batteries)

(historical, military, US) A group of cannons pulled by mules, used in 19th century warfare.


bruck back

Alternative spelling of bruckback (“shotgun”)


brucky

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-brucky.wav


bruckback

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bruckback.wav


counterrecoil

The carriage consists of recoil and counterrecoil mechanism.

Of or pertaining to opposition or counteracting of recoil in a gun.


.357 Magnum (a class of firearm cartridge).


calibered

(firearms, in combination) Having the specified caliber.


York round

(archery) six dozen, four dozen, and two dozen arrows shot at each of three distances


American round

(archery) five ends, of six arrows each, shot at each of three distances


nuclear famine

nuclear famine (countable and uncountable, plural nuclear famines)

Famine resulting from the harmful effects of nuclear war on agriculture.


paltik

(Philippines) A crude homemade firearm, often made using scrap metal.


cartridge belt

A belt having pockets to store the cartridges for a firearm.


court sword

A light ceremonial sword worn as part of court dress.


drummy

Yeah, niggas acting funny, hit 'em with that drummy all in his tummy

2023 September 18, “Chasing Ur High” (track 14, 2:11 from the start), in Desire (lyrics), What We Didn’t Have:

(slang, African-American Vernacular) The drum magazine of a firearm.


unsafetied

(firearms) On which the safety mechanism is not engaged.


bulawa

(historical) A ceremonial mace or baton, used by the military of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.


tracer bullet

bullets which include a pyrotechnic component, allowing their path through the air to be seen.


INF

Initialism of intermediate-range nuclear forces.

initialism

w:Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Ellipsis of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.


mouse gun

(firearms, colloquial) A pocket pistol, especially one of a particularly small caliber.


Jeddart staff

en-noun

Jeddart staff (plural Jeddart staffs or Jeddart staves)

Jeddart staffs (plural)
Jeddart staves (plural)


mainshaft

(archery) The primary shaft of an arrow into which the foreshaft containing the arrowhead is inserted.


nodachi

Borrowed from Japanese 野太刀 (nodachi, literally “field tachi”).

bor

A large long Japanese sword, having a long handle suitable for multiple two handed grip positions.


space gun

a large gun or cannonlike structure capable of launching an object into space.

Isaac Newton
Newton's cannonball
space gun


trunnion plate

A raised rim forming a shoulder around the trunnion of a gun.


mustard seed

en-noun

mustard seed (countable and uncountable, plural mustard seeds)

Being myself much given to the collection of birds for scientific purposes, a line of operation, requiring, in most cases, the finest shot that can be procured, I use mustard seed habitually, and have learned, incidentally as it were, its efficacy when directed against birds which, it might be thought, could not be brought down with it.

1873 November 22, Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., “Use of Small Shot”, in The American Sportsman, volume 3, number 8, West Meriden, Conn., page 117:

“ […] Much as I hated to do it, while that sow was chasing after him, I let him have it in the stern with a light load of mustard-seed shot. That combination worked!” […] The mustard-seed shot he mentions are No. 12's and the load was extremely light.

1972 May, Robert Halverson, “Punishment …Or Reward?”, in Field & Stream, volume 77, number 1, page 223:

Hmmmm... you suppose if you miss, you might blow a 1+1/2" hole anyway, with that rig? :) Even #9? 22rf shot (mustard seed) is supposed to be #12, not sure what that would do either. :/

2007 June 6, alv...@example.com, “Re: the downside”, in rec.knives (Usenet):

(firearms, also attributively) Small lead shot, usually of size No. 12, used for shooting birds and other animals at close range.


powder mine

An excavation filled with gunpowder for blasting rocks, etc.


horse artillery

horse artillery (usually uncountable, plural horse artilleries)

(military, historical) Field artillery with comparatively light guns and the gunners mounted on horses.


dottie

(MLE) Alternative spelling of dotty (“shotgun”)


horizontal proliferation

Coordinate term: vertical proliferation

weapons of mass destruction
weapon of mass destruction

The spread of weapons of mass destruction to states that did not previously have them.


vertical proliferation

Coordinate term: horizontal proliferation

The increase in the stocks of weapons of mass destruction of states that already had them.


driving band

(military) A band of soft metal near the base of an artillery shell which is forced into engagement with the gun's rifling upon firing, allowing the rifling to spin up the shell and providing a gastight seal around the base of the shell.


deagle

en-verb

deagle (third-person singular simple present deagles, present participle deagling, simple past and past participle deagled)

deagles (present singular third-person)
deagling (participle present)
deagled (participle past)
deagled (past)

Someone from the FortniteBR subreddit recently posted a short clip of his gameplay where his character deagled another player in the head.

2018 April 16, Erwin Cruz, “'Fortnite:' Epic looking on hit reg changes; Meteor showers spotted”, in Blasting News:

Don’t say stupid things because you got deagled in a scrim.

2019 February 15, Alan Bernal, quoting Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff, “NICKMERCS hits out at Fortnite PC players for bashing console players”, in Dexerto:

(transitive, slang, video games) To shoot with a Desert Eagle.


spring searcher

en-noun

spring searcher (plural spring searchers)

(firearms) A pronged tool to search for defects in the bore of a gun.


fire arrow

(military, historical) A metal dart or arrow furnished with a combustible such as gunpowder for setting fire to ships.


trench club

An improvised hand-held weapon used by raiding parties in World War One


cuttoe

(obsolete) A large knife or small sword.


butt pad

(firearms) A piece of padding placed on the butt of a gun for comfort and to absorb recoil.


safety lock

(firearms) A lock with some device for preventing accidental firing of the weapon.


time-gun

(historical) A gun fired by means of an electric current, formerly used to signal a specific time of day.


shortbow

/ˈʃɔː(ɹ)tbəʊ/

A small bow that has a strong tension, and is usually about a meter tall.


warbow

/ˈwɔː(ɹ)bəʊ/

A bow (weapon that shoots arrows) used in combat.


Red Star

A depiction of a red star, often used as a symbol of communism and the Soviet Union.


crowbill

From crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”) + bill (“beak of a bird”). Sense 1 (“kind of forceps”) is probably from its appearance, while sense 2 (“type of poleaxe”) is a calque of French bec de corbin (literally “crow or raven's beak”).

calque

(weaponry, historical) Synonym of bec de corbin (“poleaxe with a modified hammerhead and a spike mounted on the top of the pole”)


athamé

(hyperforeign) Alternative form of athame


proof mark

(firearms) A mark stamped on a gun to show that it has been tested successfully.


Hanfordite

(rare, historical) Someone working at the Hanford Site, a nuclear production facility active during World War II.

(rare) Someone from or residing in Hanford, California, United States.


John Roscoe

“Why,” Joe the Joker says, “the joke is, I will not be asleep in the sack, and my hands will not be tied, and in each of my hands I will have a John Roscoe, so when the sack is delivered to Frankie Ferocious and I pop out blasting away, can you not imagine his astonishment?”

Alternative form of roscoe (“a handgun”)


four-minute warning

en-noun

four-minute warning (plural four-minute warnings)

(idiomatic) A UK government public alert system in use during the Cold War to advise of an imminent nuclear attack.


wad hook

two spiral blades arranged something like a corkscrew and fastened to a ramrod for extracting spherical objects from the bottom of a bore-hole, particularly a bullet from the barrel of a firearm

pesuri

two spiral blades arranged something like a corkscrew for extracting spherical objects from the bottom of a bore-hole, particularly a bullet from a firearm


decocker

(firearms) A device in certain firearms that uncocks the weapon.


double flash

On 22 September 1979 at about 1 a.m. GMT, a US Vela satellite passing over the South Atlantic detected a double flash of light in the vicinity of Prince Edward Island.

2010 May, Norman Dombey, “Double Flash”, in London Review of Books (blog), London: LRB Limited:

One of the sensors on satellites in the U.S. Nuclear Detonation System uses a relatively simple device to detect the “double flash” of a nuclear detonation anywhere on earth.

2015 July, Eileen Patterson, “The Double Flash Meets the Bhangmeter”, in Clay Dillingham, editor, National Security Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, archived from the original on 2020-11-01, page 12:

The detected signal was a “double flash” characteristic of nuclear test signals recorded on 41 previous occasions by Vela satellites.

2019 September, William Burr, Avner Cohen, Lars-Erik De Geer, Victor Gilinsky, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, with Sokolski, Henry, Weiss, Leonard, and Wright, Christopher, “Blast From the Past”, in Jonathan Tepperman, Ravi Agrawal, Dan Ephron, Cameron Abadi, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Kathryn Salam, Sarah Wildman, James Palmer, Benjamin Soloway, Nina Goldman, editors, Foreign Policy, The Slate Group:

The characteristic visual phenomenon produced by the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear weapon, consisting of a very brief, bright flash of light which dims rapidly, followed by a second, gradually brightening flash.


line gun

(science fiction) A beam weapon, that shoots a long-duration beam to burn through the target, like a laser cutter


zip gun

As pertaining to my idea of zip guns, we didn't use the old type of zip gun any more because they were too dangerous. That was just a pipe and a piece of wood and nail and rubber band.

1968, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders:

The simplest zip gun seen by the author was a metal tube in which a .22 Magnum cartridge was inserted. It was fired by striking the protruding base of the cartridge with a hammer.

1998, Vincent J.M. DiMaio, Gunshot Wounds, page 282:

During the interview, Flaco whips out a zip gun he's hidden beneath his testicles during the pat-down search prior to transfer to GID, and presents it to Detective Rydell.

. “Oh, so we got annuduh tough guy here,” he said, pulling out a gun from his leather jacket. It looked like a real gun, but who knew, maybe it was zip gun.

2012, Arnold Silveri, Turning the Corner on Life, page 59:

(firearms) A crude homemade weapon that fires a projectile.


buttplate

(firearms) The plate affixed to the rear end of a rifle stock.


sodatol

A high explosive consisting of a mixture of sodium nitrate and trinitrotoluene.


bunny buster

(Australia, informal, firearms) a firearm, or type of ammunition, intended for rabbit shooting.

(Australia, informal, archery) a blunt rubber arrowhead intended for rabbit shooting


barrack buster

From their use against British army and RUC barracks.

Any of several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering group of the Provisional Irish Republican Army


FOBS

(historical) Acronym of fractional orbit bombardment system.


binary weapon

A chemical weapon in which the toxic agent is stored as two separate precursors that are relatively harmless prior to being combined.


go code

(US, military) A launch code to commence a nuclear attack.


junk gun

(US, firearms, slang) Synonym of Saturday-night special


fairy dart

Hence, by having a fairy dart in your possession, you can defy the fairies, or can even turn them from active enemies into powerful friends and personal patrons. This curious property makes the stone arrowhead a most valuable charm ...

The shape is believed to have been derived from its being originally the mounting of an elf-shot or fairy dart, i.e. flint arrowhead. An old man in Kincardineshire […]

1969, Joseph Jacobs, Alfred Trübner Nutt, Arthur Robinson Wright, William Crooke, Folklore:

Cattle are shot with stones and can only be cured by a "fairy dart" or ancient stone arrowhead. These objects are kept in numerous wrappings by every properly qualified "fairy doctor," who rub[s] them on the sick beasts with appropriate charms ...

1918, Folklore Society (Great Britain), Publications:

(archaeology) A prehistoric stone arrowhead; an elf arrow.


nucleomitophobia

Coined by psychiatrist Milton Arnold Dushkin in the early 1960s, from nucleo- (“atomic nucleus”) + mito- (“mitosis”) + -phobia (“fear of”), in reference to a supposed resemblance of atomic fission to cellular division.

Nikita Krushchev's war of nerves was plainly having an effect on the U.S. citizenry... There were the usual neurotics. In Chicago, public officials received a spate of calls from women complaining that their hair curlers were radioactive, from men suspicious of the olives in their martinis. (Chicago Psychiatrist Milton A. Dushkin named the ailment "nucleomitophobia"—fear of the atom).

1961 September 29, “The People: Ready to Act”, in Time:

A physician says the Nuclear Age has spawned a new phobia—nucleomitophobia, or fear of the atom. An article in Today's Health, a magazine published by the American Medical Assn., said public officials have received a rash of calls from persons who believe they are radioactive.

1961 November 19, Cedar Rapids Gazette, page 122:

When they are frantically expanding armament and making preparations for war, and they need to create war hysteria, they encourage man-made nucleomitophobia to spread rampantly, letting people know how radioactivity is already "threatening normal life in the United States." But when they want to sell their milk, they have to try "to find ways and means to set people's minds at ease regarding the question of radioactivity." Under the capitalist system, which is characterized by irresoluble contradictions, such jokes cannot be avoided.

1963 January, Michael Freeberne, translating an article in the 1 March 1962 Hongqi (《红旗》) in "Chinese Vignettes", Problems of Communism, Vol. XII, No. 1, p. 15

Bertie Rupp, who wanted to become a farmer in his youth, is entrapped by city life and achieves brief celebrity as the man who aestheticized continuous computer stationery. Disenchantment and nucleomitophobia (an exaggerated fear of atomic Armageddon) cause him to drop out.

1988, Brian Stableford, "American Book of the Dead", Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual

I SUFFER, I HASTEN TO SAY, FROM NUCLEOMITOPHOBIA, THE FEAR of atomic attack, and my quest for a cure has led me to grapple with the great debate on war and peace as it is being carried on in the United States.

1999, Arthur Herzog III, The War–Peace Establishment, page vii:

Fear of nuclear weapons is known as nucleomitophobia. The same term applies to fear of atomic energy... The fear is based on a feeling by individuals that they have no control over the fate of the world and that nuclear weapons can kill off all of human life and civilization. This fear is also related to a fear of death and a fear of apocalypse, or the end of the world.

2008, Ronald M. Doctor & al., The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties, 3rd ed., s.v. "nuclear war and nuclear weapons"

Fear of nuclear radiation, now especially atomic bombs.


baton round

(firearms) Any of various generally non-lethal projectiles made of plastic, rubber, wood, etc.


swammy

I just sold a swammy with ten homis on it

2013 May 13, French Montana featured by A$AP Ferg (lyrics and music), “Work REMIX”, in Trap Lord:

C4 run man through the alley
Get a man down with the swammy
Get a man down with the whammy
Boot couple niggas on the road
No face no case with the bally (booting)

2015 November 1, “Dem Man Know”, C4 (814) (lyrics):

We some bastards no daddies, swammies start blasting

2017 January 15, “Kennington Where It Started”, MizOrMac (Harlem Spartans) (lyrics):

Do road with my shank on me
Or do I keep my strap out off at neighbours
No space for the swam […]

2017 July 17, OFB (RV, Kash, Lowkey, Headie One, Bradz & Tuggzy) (lyrics and music), “Loyal”, 0:21–0:25:

(slang, New York City, MLE) gun, firearm


shashka

The question of form naturally concerns only the cutting weapon. Indeed, it is to a certain degree idle to discuss it at all, or at least of no great moment. To be convinced of this it is sufficient to compare the curvature of the yatagan with the less decided curvature of the shashka. Yet no Cossack would probably exchange his shashka for a yatagan, nor would any Turk give up his yatagan for a shashka, because that is all a matter of usage.

1894, L.R. Hamersly & Company, The United Service, volume 12:

Shashka blades came from various sources, some being locally made and others imported from Russia. In the 19th century, many came from Germany too, and Solingen, in particular, produced a number of shashka blades displaying imitations of the "running wolf" mark of Passau.

1982, Leonid Tarassuk, Claude Blair, The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms & Weapons:

Modern shasqua, 38 inches overall length. HRC322.

2009, Hank Reinhardt, Hank Reinhardt's The Book of Swords:

Bill moved nearer to the table, his eyes on the shashka.

A kind of guardless, lightly-curved sabre used in Russia.


nanoweapon

A nanoscale weapon (typically biological, or in a swarm)


patch box

(firearms) A lidded container fitted to a gun to hold the cloth patches used when shooting round shot.


Thompson SMG

Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun#English


mag dump

(firearms, slang) The act of firing at a target continuously or repeatedly until the magazine of ammunition is empty.

The act of firing an entire magazine-full of ammunition from a fully-automatic weapon in a single burst.


mag dump

en-verb

mag dump (third-person singular simple present mag dumps, present participle mag dumping, simple past and past participle mag dumped)

mag dumps (present singular third-person)
mag dumping (participle present)
mag dumped (participle past)
mag dumped (past)

(firearms, slang, intransitive) To perform a mag dump.


FMJ

full metal jacket
full metal jacket#English

(firearms) Abbreviation of full metal jacket.


JHP

jacketed hollow point
jacketed hollow point#English

(firearms) Abbreviation of jacketed hollow point (“bullet”), a type of round. a lead bullet with a metal jacket that surrounds the whole side, and a hollowed out or dented in front tip


collar bomb

A bomb fitted around the neck of a person, as the collar. Typically used in kidnapping and ransoming.


wire gun

Guns were in rapid transit from Windsor, Portsmouth, Aldershot, Woolwich - even from the north; among others, long wire guns of ninety-five tons from Woolwich.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 126:

(weaponry) A former type of canon the construction of which included an internal layer of wire windings.


heat-ray

In the other cases the shells had missed, and the batteries had been at once annihilated by the Heat-Rays. Heavy losses of soldiers were mentioned[.]

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 125:

(science fiction) A weapon that fires a beam of extremely high temperature.


glizzy

From Glock + -izzy (suffix forming hip-hop-sounding words). The "hot dog" sense comes from comparison to the extended magazine of a pistol. Both of these senses were ascribed to the Washington metropolitan area until piquing the curiosity of the world in June–July 2020 when internet users endeavoured to upload pictures containing sausage buns just to say the term.

suf

Got the Glizzy locked in the stizzy
Pop the clizzy, going sixty down a one-wizzy

1999, Big Pun (lyrics and music), “It’s So Hard”, in Yeeeah Baby:

Got the Glock locked in the stick
Pop the clip, going sixty mph down a one-way

Glizzy means a glock. A Glizzy is a handgun.

2020 June 29, “What does “Glizzy” mean?”, in DailyRapFacts, archived from the original on 2020-07-17:

Speak with your chest my yute, don't hint me
Badman step on the L with a glizzy

2020 July 16, Double Lz (lyrics and music), “Straight Outta Tottenham”:

Hold six from the nine, don’t sing when it hit you
Let them see what the glizz do

2020 February 12, “Plugged In”, #BSIDE 30 X Bgod X Dizz X Msavv (lyrics), Fumez The Engineer (music), 1:43–1:46:

So when we pulled up it was so hard to get in. That bitch was too thick. Everybody and their mammy was out that bitch. I got out the car and tucked my glizzy, zooted. The whole gang started striding toward the line, and I forgot I had a ratchet on […]

2020, Deshawn Rankin, Dirty Hearts, Page Publishing, Inc, →ISBN:


ERW

(military) Initialism of enhanced-radiation weapon (“neutron bomb”).


rearsight

(firearms) A sight at the rear of a weapon.


fishspear

He went outside and aimed a fishspear in the direction of the noise.

2012, Leo Katz, Bad Acts and Guilty Minds: Conundrums of the Criminal Law:


French 75

(military, historical) The Canon de 75 modèle 1897, an artillery piece capable of firing 75 mm shells.


Bren gun

From Brno (city in Moravia, Czechoslovakia) and Enfield, site of the British Royal Small Arms Factory.

A light machine gun manufactured in Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992.


on stun

Captain James Kirk: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun."

1966 September 8, George Clayton Johnson, The Man Trap (Star Trek), season 1, episode 1:

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(science fiction) An intensity setting of the fictional phaser energy weapon, from the television series Star Trek (1966–69), which non-lethally stuns its target.


RPK

Romanization of Russian РПК (RPK), which is an initialism of ручной пулемёт Калашникова (ručnoj pulemjót Kalašnikova, “Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun”).

A Soviet 7.62×39mm cartridge light machine gun


LOW

(rail transport) The station code of Lo Wu in Hong Kong.