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Definition 2024


shooting_iron

shooting iron

See also: shooting-iron

English

Alternative forms

Noun

shooting iron (plural shooting irons)

  1. (chiefly US, idiomatic, dated) A firearm, especially a handgun.
    • 1895, G. A. Henty, In the Heart Of The Rockies, ch. 15:
      "It ain't the rifle, Harry," Sam said good-temperedly; "it is the eye that is wrong, not the shooting-iron."
    • 1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, ch. 25:
      Look like a fool walking about with an empty shooting-iron in my hand.
    • 1943 June 14, Cheap Firepower:June,
      The U.S. Army's newest war tool, the M-3 submachine gun, unveiled last week. . . . a stark, crude, unlovely shooting iron.

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