"gunshy" meaning in English

See gunshy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ɡʌn.ʃaɪ/ Forms: more gunshy [comparative], most gunshy [superlative]
Etymology: From gun + shy. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|gun|shy}} gun + shy Head templates: {{en-adj}} gunshy (comparative more gunshy, superlative most gunshy)
  1. Afraid to use a gun.
    Sense id: en-gunshy-en-adj-947vTBeS
  2. Frightened by the sound of gunfire.
    Sense id: en-gunshy-en-adj-336JhUhI
  3. (figurative) Fearing the consequences of repeating an act, especially after being reprimanded. Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-gunshy-en-adj-Zik6-q3Q Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 8 8 84 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 7 8 85 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 6 7 87
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: gun shy, gun-shy Derived forms: are the Kennedies gun-shy Related terms: once bitten, twice shy

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "are the Kennedies gun-shy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gun",
        "3": "shy"
      },
      "expansion": "gun + shy",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From gun + shy.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more gunshy",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most gunshy",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "gunshy (comparative more gunshy, superlative most gunshy)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "once bitten, twice shy"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Afraid to use a gun."
      ],
      "id": "en-gunshy-en-adj-947vTBeS",
      "links": [
        [
          "gun",
          "gun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Paul Long, Training Pointing Dogs, 2nd edition, page 38:",
          "text": "But very few dogs become gunshy if they are introduced to the bang while they are overcome with the delight of chasing game, particularly if the trainer begins with a light noise and works up to louder noises in easy stages",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Frightened by the sound of gunfire."
      ],
      "id": "en-gunshy-en-adj-336JhUhI",
      "links": [
        [
          "gunfire",
          "gunfire"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "8 8 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 8 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 7 87",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After his last suggestion was laughed at by his colleagues, he was gunshy about making another suggestion.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, Penguin, →ISBN:",
          "text": "However, some people are gun-shy about like and engage in the hoity toity lingo that's called “hypercorrection.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Mark Oliver Everett (lyrics and music), “There I Said It”, in The Deconstruction, performed by Eeels:",
          "text": "You're gun shy / So am I / I understand with what you've been through",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fearing the consequences of repeating an act, especially after being reprimanded."
      ],
      "id": "en-gunshy-en-adj-Zik6-q3Q",
      "links": [
        [
          "Fear",
          "fear"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Fearing the consequences of repeating an act, especially after being reprimanded."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡʌn.ʃaɪ/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "gun shy"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "gun-shy"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gunshy"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "are the Kennedies gun-shy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gun",
        "3": "shy"
      },
      "expansion": "gun + shy",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From gun + shy.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more gunshy",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most gunshy",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "gunshy (comparative more gunshy, superlative most gunshy)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "once bitten, twice shy"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Afraid to use a gun."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gun",
          "gun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Paul Long, Training Pointing Dogs, 2nd edition, page 38:",
          "text": "But very few dogs become gunshy if they are introduced to the bang while they are overcome with the delight of chasing game, particularly if the trainer begins with a light noise and works up to louder noises in easy stages",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Frightened by the sound of gunfire."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gunfire",
          "gunfire"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After his last suggestion was laughed at by his colleagues, he was gunshy about making another suggestion.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, Penguin, →ISBN:",
          "text": "However, some people are gun-shy about like and engage in the hoity toity lingo that's called “hypercorrection.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Mark Oliver Everett (lyrics and music), “There I Said It”, in The Deconstruction, performed by Eeels:",
          "text": "You're gun shy / So am I / I understand with what you've been through",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fearing the consequences of repeating an act, especially after being reprimanded."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Fear",
          "fear"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Fearing the consequences of repeating an act, especially after being reprimanded."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡʌn.ʃaɪ/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "gun shy"
    },
    {
      "word": "gun-shy"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gunshy"
}

Download raw JSONL data for gunshy meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). 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.