horse pistol
1
9.9
- noun
- Archaic
- Heyward's aiming a horse pistol at Hawkeye. Hawkeye is nonplussed.
Examples
-
AMBROSE Present! # CORA covers Alice with her body, holding the reins of their bolting horses. # HEYWARD from horseback aims his horse pistol, FIRES ...
Fiction book (1992) -
I grew up with guns—rifles, shotguns, and a big old horse pistol.
Blog text (11) -
And I reached across for the horse pistol and shot Dermot, dead.
-
Out of view was a charged horse pistol that could calm even the most unsatisfied of customers.
Fiction book (1992) -
Who always like to be busy, and he was cleaning and reloading, the big horse pistol we had brought with us.
-
The cowboy holstered his horse pistol after the long ride through the desert.
-
During the reenactment, each soldier demonstrated how to wield a horse pistol effectively.
-
The museum displayed a beautifully crafted horse pistol that once belonged to a famous cavalry officer.
Synonyms
276
2.1
A small gun you hold and fire with one hand
15
4.6
A small gun carried at a person's side for protection
1
9.9
A small gun that often appears in old stories
1
9.9
A large pistol carried by soldiers on horses in the past
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun–noun compound 'horse pistol' transparently means a pistol associated with horses or horsemen because 'horse' modifies 'pistol' to indicate type/use. This follows common English compounding patterns (and similar patterns in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows 'horse' and 'pistol' can reasonably infer the intended meaning despite the term being somewhat historical.
Etymology
The noun horse pistol comes from the simple image of a large pistol kept for use by people on a horse. Because it was carried in a holster on the saddle and could be drawn while riding, the phrase means 'a large pistol carried by horsemen'.