Library / English Dictionary

PISTOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: pistolled    , pistolling   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A firearm that is held and fired with one hand

Synonyms:

handgun; pistol; shooting iron; side arm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pistol" is a kind of...):

firearm; piece; small-arm (a portable gun)

Meronyms (parts of "pistol"):

gunstock; stock (the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pistol"):

automatic; automatic pistol (a pistol that will keep firing until the ammunition is gone or the trigger is released)

derringer (a pocket pistol of large caliber with a short barrel)

forty-five (a .45-caliber pistol)

gat; rod (a gangster's pistol)

horse-pistol; horse pistol (a large pistol (usually in a holster) formerly carried by horsemen)

peacekeeper (the pistol of a law officer in the old West)

revolver; six-gun; six-shooter (a pistol with a revolving cylinder (usually having six chambers for bullets))

Saturday night special (a cheap handgun that is easily obtained)

semiautomatic; semiautomatic pistol (a pistol that is a semiautomatic firearm capable of loading and firing continuously)

Verey pistol; Very pistol (a pistol for firing Very-light flares)

zip gun (a crude homemade pistol)

Derivation:

pistoleer (someone armed with a pistol (especially a soldier so armed))

Credits

 Context examples: 

A method of euthanasia whereby a subject is shot in the brain with a captive bolt pistol causing immediate and permanent unconsciousness or death, followed by draining the body of blood.

(Captive Bolt and Exsanguination Euthanasia, NCI Thesaurus)

I don't care if Hugo does come at me with a pistol, returned Amy, who was not gifted with dramatic power, but was chosen because she was small enough to be borne out shrieking by the villain of the piece.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The light at the top was suddenly whisked out, and from the darkness came a reedy, quivering voice. “I have a pistol,” it cried.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then, with a pistol in either hand, I addressed him.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You’ll excuse the liberty, but if I was you I’d take my pistols with me.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I carried pistols and a dagger constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice, and by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

My scimitar, pistols, and pouch, were conveyed in carriages to his majesty’s stores; but the rest of my goods were returned me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Where did you get that dog-cart? Pull up, man!” he yelled, drawing a pistol from his side pocket.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)