† ˈwind-gun Obs.
[f. wind n.1 + gun n.]
A gun for shooting a missile by the force of compressed air: = air-gun.
| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xii. §6. 104 The experience of windgunnes assureth vs that ayre duly applyed is able to giue greater motion vnto heauy bodies then vnto light ones. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 181 As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly. 1779 Phil. Trans. LXIX. 399 That air compressed to one tenth in a wind gun possesses a power not much short of gunpowder. 1800 Sporting Mag. XVI. 273 It will not be out of place here to add some remarks on wind-guns. |
| fig. 1663 Cowley Cutter Coleman St. Prol., They [sc. critics] shoot, alas, with Wind-gunns, charg'd with Air. 1680 Collect. Poems 190, I am one of those that have been shot at by Wind-Guns, which have prejudiced my Reputation. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 274 His whisper'd theme, dilated and at large, Proves after all a wind-gun's airy charge. |