to pistol-whip

8 9.6

Hit someone with the handle or barrel of a gun

verb
/ˈpɪstəlˌwɪp/

NSFW

: golpear con una pistola

She has a friend whose husband nearly lost an eye after he was pistol-whipped in a restaurant.
pistol-whipped a man
pistol-whipped her older sister
pistol-whipped and robbed

And a pistol whip that punk good.

Examples

You pistol whipped your father.

Guncrazy (1992)
Emil scoops up the gun and pistol-whips Leon.

Fiction book (2001)
And one of them pistol-whipped my ass.

Cops and Robbers (2017)
No, but I asked this one, he knows how to pistol whip a man and not leave no marks.

National Lampoon's TV: The Movie (2006)
We broke for it, and they pistol-whipped you.

Fiction book (1997)
And right away he pistol whips me, right in the mouth, you see?

Wild Card (2015)
I feel like pistol whipping somebody!

National Lampoon's TV: The Movie (2006)
I'm not a fan of getting pistol-whipped and robbed.

The Accountant² (2025)
Mr. Nash pistol-whipped a little old lady at a stickup near Leimert Park, Tuesday morning.

The Black Dahlia (2006)
The robber approached the victim and pistol-whipped him to intimidate him into giving up his wallet.

Synonyms

to lash

vsto pistol-whip

36 4.8

To hit something forcefully with a whip

uses a hard short object like a firearm handle rather than a flexible one

to lather

vsto pistol-whip

NSFW

1 9.3

To beat someone severely with a whip

focuses on using a hard short object rather than extreme severity

How Violent

to bludgeon

NSFW

23 8.8

to pistol-whip

NSFW

8 9.6

to beat

NSFW

∞ 1.2

to strike

553 2.4

to hit

∞ 1.0

to tap

174 1.0

Surface Forms

pistol-whip infinitive

pistol-whipped past

pistol-whipped past participle

pistol-whipping present participle

pistol-whips third person singular

Morphology

pistol-whip = pistol + whip (transparent) = pistol + whip

The action is directly described by using a pistol as if it were a whip; a learner who knows 'pistol' and 'whip' can reasonably infer the meaning.

Etymology

Pistol-whip comes from putting pistol ('a small gun') and whip ('to hit') together, so you can picture someone swinging a gun like a whip to strike another person. So pistol-whip means to hit or beat someone with the handle or barrel of a pistol.