gun chamber
- noun
- /ɡʌn ˈtʃeɪmbər/
- Specialized
- Always make sure the gun chamber is empty before cleaning your firearm.
Examples
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When loading a revolver, each gun chamber holds one round of ammunition.
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The spent cartridge remained stuck in the gun chamber after firing.
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The gun chamber was empty after the last shot.
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He inspected the gun chamber for any debris.
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Always make sure the gun chamber is empty before cleaning your firearm.
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When loading a revolver, each gun chamber holds one round of ammunition.
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He inspected the gun chamber for any debris after the last shot.
Synonyms
Part of a gun where a bullet sits before you shoot
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the part of a gun where the ammunition is loaded' is directly compositional from 'gun' (firearm) + 'chamber' (a compartment/place for a cartridge). This noun–noun relation (the chamber of a gun) follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Gun chamber comes from the simple image of a small 'room' inside a gun: the chamber is the enclosed space where a bullet sits before the gun is fired. So, gun chamber means 'the part of a gun where the ammunition is loaded'.