ˈgun-play orig. U.S.
[gun n. 3 b.]
The use of fire-arms; a shooting affray; skill in shooting.
| 1897 Typogr. Jrnl. Jan., The talk of ‘gun-plays’ at the Federation Convention..is without a germ of truth. 1899 Ade Doc. Horne vi. 57 So you made good with the gun⁓play did you. 1904 N.Y. Even. Post 7 Nov. 1 The feud has been the cause of several assaults and gunplays in Chinatown. 1913 C. E. Mulford Coming of Cassidy ii. 30 I've heard so much about Bradley's gun-play that I'm some curious. 1928 Sunday Dispatch 22 July 9/3 Other charges of gunplay were made against the officer. 1956 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Nov., Years of disorder and lightly controlled gun-play. 1958 Listener 9 Oct. 553/1 Perhaps gunplay and fisticuffs are as formal a part of the ‘western’ as blood and bodies are of the detective novel. |