stun gun
24
5.0
- noun
- /stʌn ɡʌn/
:
pistola de electrochoque
- The police officer used a stun gun to safely subdue the aggressive suspect.
- use stun guns
- police stun gun
- hit with a stun gun
If you can imagine you are working in that building, you probably don't want to see stun guns on an autopsy report.
- If you can imagine you are working in that building, you probably don't want to see stun guns on an autopsy report.
- Tom and Jackie are they subdued them with stun guns.
Examples
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Which do you prefer, Mr. Sheldon, the pepper spray or the stun gun?
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These gentlemen have kindly volunteered to demonstrate ... how a stun gun is used to subdue a suspect.
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What are you gonna do, use your stun gun on me?
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How about a stun gun?
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Here, take my stun gun.
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Is this a real stun gun?
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I believe you were hit with a stun gun.
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- Don't make me use my stun gun.
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The instrument allegedly used in all three cases was an electronic shock device, or stun gun, now standard issue for New York City police.
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The Clown presses a sleek stun gun to Selina's neck.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
1
8.2
A long stick that gives a short electric shock to stop someone temporarily
How Incapacitating
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a weapon that temporarily incapacitates by delivering an electric shock' is directly derivable from combining 'stun' (to cause temporary unconsciousness or daze) with 'gun' (a weapon), i.e. a gun that stuns rather than fires bullets. This noun-noun compounding pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Stun gun comes from the clear image of a small, hand-held weapon that gives a quick electric shock to stun someone. Because stun means to make a person unable to move for a short time and gun shows it is a weapon you point, the name explains why it means 'a device that briefly stops a person with electricity'.