ˈhandgun
a. A name for any fire-arm carried and fired in the hand (with or without a rest), as opposed to a great gun or cannon. Apparently Obs. (in actual use) before 1700; the term has been revived in the 20th c. (orig. in the U.S.).
| 1446 in Archæologia XXII. 63 Bought ii handgunnes deere. c 1449 Marg. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 67 I. 83 Wykets..to schote owte atte, bothe with bowys and with hand gunnys. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 13 Kynge Edwarde..hede withe hym..three hundred of Flemynges with hande-gonnes. 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 6 Preamb., Crossebowes, little short Handguns, and little Hagbuts. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Arquebuse, a handgunne. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 117 They having not above 3 or 4 Hand-guns, the rest of them being arm'd with Lances. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. 293 Hand-guns..in our own country..seem to have been used as early as 1375. 1957 Amer. Speech xxxii. 191 The word handgun is very old... Since the 1930s its use as a generic term in place of pistol [etc.]... Recent use has made familiar, at least in writing, such derivatives as..handgun work,..applied to shooting the handgun at paper targets. 1961 Webster, Handgun, a firearm held and fired with one hand. 1968 Economist 22 June 43/3 California's Department of Justice estimates that there are 3·5 million concealable hand-guns (pistols and revolvers) within the state. |
b. Comb., as handgun-maker, handgun-shot.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 79 The handgunshot was innumerable and incredible. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 26 Handgun-maker: Fee. ― 24. 6. 8. |
Hence † handgunner; handgunning vbl. n.
| 1530 Palsgr. 229/1 Han[d]gonner, covleurinier. 1957 Amer. Speech XXXII. 190 It is inevitable..that colloquialisms of the handgunner overlap with those of the rifleman. Ibid. 191 Handgunning offers a great diversity of matches (slow, timed, and rapid fire). |