"ghost gun" meaning in English

See ghost gun in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: ghost guns [plural]
Etymology: Of ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are un-serialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. Known as “kit gun” or a “DIY gun.” Coined in 2012. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|ghost|gun}} ghost + gun Head templates: {{en-noun}} ghost gun (plural ghost guns)
  1. A gun without serial numbers that cannot be easily tracked, especially a home-made gun built with non-registered, partially finished or 3D printed components. Categories (topical): Firearms
    Sense id: en-ghost_gun-en-noun-x0cLIi~8 Disambiguation of Firearms: 58 42 Categories (other): English alliterative compounds, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English alliterative compounds: 60 40 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 62 38 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 62 38 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 61 39 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 64 36
  2. A gun that is not detectable by standard gun detection measures, such as a gun without much metal thus unable to set off metal detectors. Related terms: ghost bullet
    Sense id: en-ghost_gun-en-noun-pJ~7BNRn

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for ghost gun meaning in English (3.7kB)

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        "1": "en",
        "2": "ghost",
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      "expansion": "ghost + gun",
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Of ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are un-serialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. Known as “kit gun” or a “DIY gun.” Coined in 2012.",
  "forms": [
    {
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  "pos": "noun",
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          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "topical",
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            "Tools",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2017 November 27, Christina Caron, quoting Adam Skaggs, “‘Ghost Guns,’ Homemade and Untraceable, Face Growing Scrutiny”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 30, Tiffany Hsu, Alan Feuer, “A Rush to Block Downloadable Plans for 3-D Printed Guns”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 March 18, Nick Corasaniti, “The Target Was a Drug Ring. They Found ‘Ghost Guns.’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gun without serial numbers that cannot be easily tracked, especially a home-made gun built with non-registered, partially finished or 3D printed components."
      ],
      "id": "en-ghost_gun-en-noun-x0cLIi~8",
      "links": [
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          "serial number",
          "serial number"
        ],
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          "3D printed"
        ]
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    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A gun that is not detectable by standard gun detection measures, such as a gun without much metal thus unable to set off metal detectors."
      ],
      "id": "en-ghost_gun-en-noun-pJ~7BNRn",
      "links": [
        [
          "metal detector",
          "metal detector"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "40 60",
          "word": "ghost bullet"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "ghost gun"
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  "etymology_text": "Of ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are un-serialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. Known as “kit gun” or a “DIY gun.” Coined in 2012.",
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          "ref": "2017 November 27, Christina Caron, quoting Adam Skaggs, “‘Ghost Guns,’ Homemade and Untraceable, Face Growing Scrutiny”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2018 July 30, Tiffany Hsu, Alan Feuer, “A Rush to Block Downloadable Plans for 3-D Printed Guns”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
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          "type": "quotation"
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        "A gun that is not detectable by standard gun detection measures, such as a gun without much metal thus unable to set off metal detectors."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "metal detector",
          "metal detector"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "ghost gun"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (ae36afe and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.