gun muzzle
1
7.0
- noun
- /ɡʌn ˈmʌzəl/
:
boca del arma
- He carefully examined the gun muzzle to ensure it was clear of any obstructions.
Examples
-
During the inspection, the officer noticed the gun muzzle was still hot from recent use.
-
The black gun muzzle is a foot from his face.
Fiction book (1991) -
I stepped away from him, holding the gun muzzle-up, pointing to the overhead.
Fiction book (1995) -
Smoked puffed from a gun muzzle.
Fiction book (1999) -
Henessey starts to react, but a gun muzzle stops him.
Fiction book (1996) -
Jack presses the gun muzzle to the back of Jeremy's head.
Fiction book (2000) -
There was a snap and a brilliant flare of white, and the gun muzzle exploded in his face.
Fiction book (1995) -
The police found the suspect with the gun muzzle pointed at the ground.
Synonyms
26
7.1
The open end of a gun barrel where a bullet comes out
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a literal noun–noun composition: 'muzzle' denotes the open end of a barrel and 'gun' specifies the type of device, so the combined meaning (the open end of a gun barrel) is directly derivable from the parts. This straightforward, compositional relation is cross-linguistically common and would be transparent to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Gun muzzle comes from the word muzzle, which originally named an animal's 'mouth' or 'nose'. Think of a gun having a 'mouth'—the muzzle is the open end of the barrel where the bullet comes out, so the image helps you remember its meaning.