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Glite Dictionary
set gun

set gun

9.9
A hidden gun that fires as a trap when someone trips a wire
  • noun
  • NSFW
translation icon : arma trampa
  • The hunter used a set gun to protect his property.

Examples

  • During the raid, one of the intruders triggered a set gun that had been carefully concealed.

  • The soldiers discovered a set gun hidden near the entrance to the camp.

  • Laws in many places explicitly prohibit the use of a set gun for property defense.

  • Many people are unaware of how a set gun operates.

  • The ranger set up a set gun to protect the campsite from intruders.

  • After reading about traps, he decided to use a set gun for better security around his property.

  • To catch trespassers, they installed a set gun that activates when someone trips the wire.

Synonyms

spring gun
vsset gun
  • NSFW
9.2

A hidden device set to shoot as a trap when someone touches or moves something near it

has identical meaning but uses a different conventional name

Surface Forms

set gun singular
set guns plural

Morphology

set + gun

The meaning 'a gun rigged to fire automatically' is directly derivable from combining 'set' in the sense 'prepared/rigged' with 'gun' — literally a gun that has been set (as a trap). This attributive/past‑participle pattern (set + noun) is a common and cross‑linguistic way to form compounds, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the intended sense.

Etymology

Set gun comes from the simple image of a gun that is set to fire by a thin wire or switch when it is moved. So a set gun is a 'trap' that fires 'automatically' when someone disturbs it.