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Glite Dictionary
staple gun

staple gun

7 3.6
A hand tool that pushes metal clips into wood or fabric to hold them
  • noun
  • /ˈsteɪpəl ɡʌn/
translation icon : grampadora
  • The handyman used a staple gun to fix the decorative fabric around the edges of the board.

I wake up, I've got staples, you know, like a staple gun.

Examples

  • He wasn't against mending Ruth's skirt hems with a staple gun, either.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • A staple gun, wire ties, and a couple of 10-foot 2x4s can make things much simpler.

    Blog text (24)

  • Just hand me your staple gun.

    Joe Somebody (2001)

  • Hey, I think I left my staple gun in the living room the other day.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Steven picks up the staple gun.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • A large man in a yellow helmet was pressing his orange staple gun against the far wall.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I pulled myself up off the floor and set the staple gun and crepe paper down on the table.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Joel Marks's invention, the PowerShot forward-acting staple gun, addresses these issues.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Marks is a prolific inventor of shop and office tools, including the PowerShot forward-acting staple gun.

    Academic text (2011)

  • To reupholster the chair, you will need a staple gun to secure the fabric tightly.

Synonyms

staplegun
vsstaple gun
4.5

A hand tool that pushes metal staples into wood or fabric

appears as two words while keeping identical meaning
tacker
vsstaple gun
7.6

A hand tool that pushes staples into materials to hold them together

is stronger and suited to heavy-duty stapling into wood or plastic

How Powerful

staple gun
7 3.6
tacker
7.6
stapler
27 1.0

Surface Forms

staple gun singular
staple guns plural

Morphology

staple + gun

The meaning 'a hand-held tool that drives staples' is directly derivable from combining 'staple' (a metal fastener) with 'gun' (a handheld device that projects or applies something). This follows a regular noun-noun compounding pattern in English (device that operates on X), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should infer the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Staple gun comes from the clear image of a tool that shoots staples like a gun. That picture of metal pieces being driven into wood or fabric helps explain why the word now means a small hand tool used to 'attach' materials quickly.