.45 caliber
3
7.2
- adjective
- /ˈfɔrˌfɪfθ ˈkælɪbər/
- Specialized
:
.45 de calibre
- And the carbine was in preference to a .45 caliber SMG, usually an Ingram, a weapon I had little use for due to its near-uncontrollability in full-auto fire.
- .45 caliber handgun
- .45 caliber pistol
- .45 caliber bullet
Examples
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Haq brought two .45 caliber automatic pistols with him that day, along with a knife and a hatred of Jews.
Blog text (4) -
He proudly displayed his collection of .45 caliber firearms at the gun show.
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If you hit a fully armored assailant with a .45 caliber, he will go down.
Blog text (4) -
Thirty-odd years later, I carried a .45 caliber automatic, backed up by a 12-gauge pump and sometimes a .30 caliber carbine.
Blog text (9) -
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, drew a Colt .45 caliber pistol on Ford.
Blog text (1) -
Next, Kurt takes his father's .45 caliber cavalry revolver out of his jeans and places it in the saddlebag in exchange for a pick, which he will use to clean the rocks and dung out of the horse's hooves.
Fiction book (2002) -
The detective found a .45 caliber bullet lodged in the wall.
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The suspect was carrying a .45 caliber revolver when he was arrested.
Synonyms
1
7.5
A gun barrel or bullet about 0.45 inch wide
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
.45 + caliber
This phrase is compositional: 'caliber' means the diameter of a gun barrel or bullet, and '.45' is a numeric measurement, so a learner who understands numbers/decimals and the noun 'caliber' can infer it refers to a diameter of 0.45 (inches). The measurement + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary English composition, making the meaning readily derivable for B1 learners.
Etymology
.45 Caliber names the bullet's size: .45 means 0.45 inches across, almost half an inch, and caliber refers to the 'width' of the bullet. That's why .45 caliber describes a gun or its ammunition with that larger bullet size.