roscoe U.S. slang.
(ˈrɒskəʊ)
Also rosco and with capital initial.
The surname Roscoe used as a term for a gun, usu. a pistol or revolver. See also John Roscoe s.v. John 4.
| 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 72 Roscoe,..a revolver... ‘Stash your roscoe before you come back to the kip.’ 1927 Amer. Speech. II. 387/2 During the harvest season, individuals and gangs harvested the harvesters at the point of the rod or Roscoe (gun). 1930 Sat. Even. Post 28 June 161 Slide back the shutters in the steel windows, jam your roscoes through and blast hell out of everything in sight. 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 457/2 They settle him on a rosco rap. 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Oct. 10/16 Favorite roscoes and tommy guns of gangland's paladins. 1958 Sat. Even. Post 20 Sept. 86/1 Mickey and a sinister young hood..waved a couple of loaded roscoes at the cashier. 1965 E. Lacy Moment of Untruth vii. 111 ‘I know you're a dick, but..’..‘What makes you think that?’ ‘At the bull fight, when I stood up to let you pass—felt the roscoe on your hip.’ 1979 E. Newman Sunday Punch viii. 62 ‘You'll shoot me if I don't sell?’.. His hand went to the bulge again. ‘Is that what they call a {oqq}roscoe{cqq}?’ |