shotgun seat

noun

Definition of shotgun seat

: the front passenger seat of a vehicle We blasted out of bayou country, Bernie behind the wheel, me in the shotgun seat.— Spencer Quinn — see also ride shotgun at ride entry 1

Examples of shotgun seat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Customers generally have an iPad mounted in their fire engine’s shotgun seat where the captain sits, as well as an iPad for battalion chiefs and other leaders. — Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 Oct. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shotgun seat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for shotgun seat

after ride shotgun "to occupy the seat next to the driver," from the practice in the U.S. West during the late 1800's of seating a guard armed with a shotgun next to the driver on stagecoaches containing valuables

Note: The phrase ride shotgun was used by the journalist and fiction writer Alfred Henry Lewis (1855-1914) in a short story published in 1912 ("Old Monte: Official Drunkard," Cosmopolitan Magazine, vol. 53, no. 4, September, 1912, p. 470). Cf. earlier shotgun messenger, denoting the guard sitting next to the coach driver (Express Gazette, vol. 18, no. 7, July 15, 1893, p. 159).

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