Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔫 To reset a gun 🤔 To tilt again
to recock

to recock

1 7.9
To pull back the firing part of a gun or device so it is ready to fire again
  • verb
  • /ˌriːˈkɒk/
  • Specialized
: recargar
  • The soldier quickly recocked his rifle to prepare for another shot.

Examples

  • Nation recocked the Daisy, while Billy Joe put the beast out of its misery.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Many modern rifles are gas-operated, meaning that they divert some of the hot expanding gases from the barrel to actually recock the gun (as opposed to being recoil or blowback operated).

    Blog text (13)

  • After firing a shot, he needed to recock the shotgun before aiming again.

  • To ensure the device would work correctly, she had to recock the mechanism after each use.

Synonyms

to cock
vsto recock
  • Specialized
38 8.2

To pull back a gun's hammer or trigger so it is ready to fire

sets the mechanism into that ready position again after firing or use

Surface Forms

recock infinitive
recocked past
recocked past participle
recocking present participle
recocks third person singular

Morphology

recock = cock (transparent) = re + cock

This is straightforward repetition of the verb 'cock', meaning to set the mechanism again after prior use.

Etymology

Recock comes from re- 'again' and cock 'to set a gun's hammer', just like when you cock a pistol. So to recock means to set a gun or mechanical device 'again' so it is ready to fire.