The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
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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.
As swift as a pellet out of a gunne When fire is in the powder runne.
--Chaucer.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. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon.
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pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
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.
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.
WordNet
n. a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired [syn: barrel]
Wikipedia
A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a deflagration or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity. Barrels are part of firearms and artillery pieces.
The first firearms were made at a time where metallurgy was not advanced enough to cast tubes able to withstand the explosive forces of early cannon, so the pipe (often actually built from staves of metal) needed to be braced periodically along its length, producing an appearance somewhat reminiscent of a storage barrel.
Gun Barrel is a German heavy metal band formed in 1998 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. Gun Barrel was founded by Guido Feldhausen and Rolf Tanzius and released their first EP Back To Suicide (2000) with the line-up consisting of Guido Feldhausen ( vocals), Rolf Tanzius ( guitar), Holger Schulz (bass) and Florens Neuheuser (drums). They play traditional/old school heavy metal and they personally call their musical style "Power dive rock 'n' metal". So far they have released five studio albums, Power-Dive (2001), Battle-Tested (2003), Bombard Your Soul (2005), Outlaw Invasion (2008) and Brace For Impact (2012). Rolf Tanzius is currently the only original band member.
Usage examples of "gun barrel".
Underneath the case were multiple shelves filled with stacks of ammo, but most of the rounds were half-load wadcutters that would only foul a gun barrel if used too much, and anything live was the wrong caliber, .
No one had thought to bring the hammers and soft copper nails that were needed to spike the captured guns, so the worst they could do was slash their swords at the Emperor's wreathed initial that was embossed on each gun barrel.
I lifted my left trouser-leg a few inches, thrust the little gun barrel downwards, inside my sock and the inside top of my shoe, pulled the sock up and the trouser-leg down.
The lasers were meant to implode a deuterium pellet at the shell's heart and direct the resulting plasma down a pinhole pathway aligned with the axis of the gun barrel.
That meant he must face the gun from the side, bend over, turn his head to the left, and rest his cheek on the gun barrel as he sighted down it.
Black as a gun barrel, whipcord lean, with a ramrod posture and a shaven head, Barlet was a wizard at long-range gunnery.
And damn if he don't hop over the bow, push my gun barrel out of his way, and climb the bank.
Then there were the hammering explosions past his ears and the gun barrel hot against his shoulder.