gun

1 a portable weapon from which a shot is discharged by gunpowder <while her father preferred hunting with a crossbow, she preferred a gun> Synonyms arm, firearm, heat [slang], piece, small arm Related Words derringer, forty-five (or .45), gat [slang], handgun, pistol, revolver, rod [slang], roscoe [slang], sidearm, six-gun, six-shooter, zip gun; self-loader, semiautomatic; blunderbuss, breechloader, culverin, fieldpiece, firelock, flintlock, harquebus (or arquebus), matchlock, musket, rifle, shotgun, smoothbore, twenty-two (or .22); AK-47, assault rifle, assault weapon, automatic, carbine, machine gun, machine pistol, repeater, submachine gun, tommy gun; speargun

2 guns pl  large firearms (as cannon or rockets) <the field commander called for the big guns to be deployed for the full-scale assault> Synonyms guns, ordnanceRelated Words ammunition, armament, arms, munitions, weaponry, weapons