Gun \Gun\ (g[u^]n), n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain
         origin;
   cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly
         (like cannon)
   fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated
         fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
   mangonel, a machine for hurling
         stones.]
   1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile
         to a distance;
      any firearm or instrument for throwing
         projectiles,
      consisting of a tube or barrel closed at
         one end, in which
      the projectile is placed, with an
         explosive charge (such
      as guncotton or gunpowder)
         behind, which is ignited by
      various means. Pistols,
         rifles, carbines, muskets, and
      fowling pieces are
         smaller guns, for hand use, and are
      called small arms. Larger guns
         are called cannon,
     
         ordnance,
         fieldpieces,
         carronades,
         howitzers, etc.
     
         See these terms in
         the Vocabulary.
      [1913 Webster]

            As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
            When fire is in the powder runne.     --Chaucer.
     
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            The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
            cast a thing from a man long before there was any
            gunpowder found out.                  --Selden.
     
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   2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in
         a restricted sense, a
      cannon.
      [1913
         Webster]

   3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
     
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   Note: Guns are classified, according to
         their construction or
         manner of loading as rifled or smoothbore,
         breech-loading or
         muzzle-loading,
         cast or
         built-up guns; or
         according to their use, as field,
         mountain, prairie,
         seacoast, and {siege
         guns}.
         [1913 Webster]

   Armstrong gun, a wrought iron
         breech-loading cannon named
      after its English
         inventor, Sir William Armstrong.

   Big gun or {Great
         gun}, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence
      (Fig.), a
         person superior in any way; as, bring in the big
      guns
         to tackle the problem.

   Gun barrel, the barrel or
         tube of a gun.

   Gun carriage, the carriage on which a
         gun is mounted or
      moved.

   Gun cotton (Chem.),
         a general name for a series of
      explosive nitric
         ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
      cotton in
         nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
      formed
         substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
     
         results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It

              burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but
         quietly
      and harmlessly if free and open, and in small
         quantity.
      Specifically, the lower nitrates of
         cellulose which are
      insoluble in ether and alcohol in
         distinction from the
      highest (pyroxylin) which is
         soluble. See Pyroxylin, and
      cf.
         Xyloidin. The gun
         cottons are used for blasting and
      somewhat in
         gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
      with
         camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
     
         making collodion. See Celluloid, and
         Collodion. Gun
   
           cotton is frequenty but improperly called
     
         nitrocellulose.
         It is not a nitro compound, but an ester

              of nitric acid.

   Gun deck. See under Deck.


           Gun fire, the time at
         which the morning or the evening
         gun
      is fired.

   Gun metal, a bronze, ordinarily
         composed of nine parts of
      copper and one of tin, used
         for cannon, etc. The name is
      also given to certain
         strong mixtures of cast iron.

   Gun port (Naut.), an
         opening in a ship through which a
      cannon's muzzle is
         run out for firing.

   Gun tackle (Naut.), the blocks
         and pulleys affixed to the
      side of a ship, by which a
         gun carriage is run to and from
      the gun port.

  
         Gun tackle
         purchase (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
   
           single blocks and a fall. --Totten.

   Krupp gun, a
         wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
      after its
         German inventor, Herr Krupp.

   Machine gun, a
         breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
      mounted
         on a carriage or other holder, and having a
      reservoir
         containing cartridges which are loaded into the
      gun
         or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier
     
         models, such as the Gatling gun, the cartridges were
    
          loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In
         modern
      versions the loading of cartidges is
         accomplished by
      levers operated by the recoil of the
         explosion driving the
      bullet, or by the pressure of
         gas within the barrel.
      Several hundred shots can be
         fired in a minute by such
      weapons, with accurate aim.
         The Gatling gun,
         Gardner gun,
         Hotchkiss gun,
         and Nordenfelt
         gun, named for
      their inventors, and
         the French mitrailleuse, are
   
           machine guns.

  
         To blow great
         guns (Naut.), to blow a gale. See Gun,
         n.,
      3.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]