Gun

gun, in general, any weapon that discharges shot, shells, or bullets by the explosion of gunpowder or some other explosive from a straight tube. See firearm; artillery; small arms.

---

gun

Weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube from which a missile or projectile is shot by the force of exploding gunpowder or some other propellant. The term is often limited today to the so-called big guns, cannon larger than a howitzer or mortar. It may also be used to refer to military small arms such as the rifle, machine gun, and pistol, as well as to nonmilitary firearms such as the shotgun. Though the Chinese used gunpowder in warfare from the 9th century, guns were not developed until the Europeans acquired gunpowder in the 13th century. The earliest guns (c. 1327) resembled old-fashioned soda bottles; they apparently were fired by applying a red-hot wire to a touchhole drilled through the top. Separating the barrel and the powder chamber resulted in breechloaders, which continued to be used in naval swivel guns and fortress wallpieces well into the 17th century. Small arms, as distinguished from hand cannon, did not exist until the development of the matchlock in the 15th century. See also flintlock, wheel lock.

---

gun [gən]

(ordnance)

A piece of ordnance, consisting essentially of a tube or barrel, for throwing projectiles by force, usually the force of an explosive but sometimes that of compressed gas, a spring, or so on.

---

gun

1. See spray gun.

2. A pressure cylinder for delivering freshly mixed concrete pneumatically.

3. Shotcrete material delivery equipment; also see shotcrete gun.

---

(jargon)

gun - (ITS, from the ":GUN" command) To forcibly terminate a program or job (computer, not career). "Some idiot left a background process running soaking up half the cycles, so I gunned it." Compare can.

---

Gun 

(in Russian, ruzh’e), a smoothbore hand firearm.

The gun appeared in the 14th to 15th centuries and was called variously a harquebus, couleuvrin, or, in Russian, pishchal’. After the invention of the matchlock in the 16th century, more sophisticated guns called muskets appeared and were adopted for the infantry. In the late 17th century smoothbore muzzle-loading flintlock guns became widespread in Russia and in the Western European countries. In the 19th century smoothbore firearms were replaced by guns with rifled bores. Smoothbore firearms continued to be used only as hunting guns.