Crossword clues for handgun
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. A small gun with a relatively short barrel, designed to be held and operated with a single hand.
WordNet
n. a firearm that is held and fired with one hand [syn: pistol, side arm, shooting iron]
Wikipedia
A handgun is a firearm designed to be handheld, in either one or both hands. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns (which usually can be braced against the shoulder).
Major handgun subtypes are the double action and pistol (including single-shot pistols, semi-automatic pistols, and machine pistols); other subtypes include derringers and pepperboxes.
The words "pistol" and "handgun" have overlapping variations in meaning.
Although handgun use often includes bracing with a second hand, the essential distinguishing characteristic of a handgun is its facility for one-handed operation.
Usage examples of "handgun".
But the heavy winter clothing she was wearing could have easily concealed a small handgun, and Anse was beginning to suspect that Noelle Murphy was someone who was often full of surprises.
Many of those newspapers that failed to report the whole story then seized upon the horror at the Appalachian School of Law to editorialize once again against handguns.
Colt autopistol as the single best handgun choice for defensive use under conditions of long-term survival.
Finally, the Colt autopistol will withstand the extensive shooting with full-power loads that most of us find necessary for practical mastery of a big-bore handgun.
The invasion should be launched as soon as the handguns and the armored amphibian, Firedragon I, were ready.
The rasp of fur and the rattle of hooves against rock, and as he looked down the bore of the handgun a pack of javelina burst out of a side-corridor where they had been hiding.
Alex had a handgun and a meter-long solid-steel bar he had wrapped with ordnance nonslip tape.
Alongside the handgun hop, they do the walkaway, the stamp-and-go shanty, the old Chisolm trailblaze.
The Confederation of Human Worlds ambassador to the Kingdom of Yahweh and His Saints and Their Apostles drew his handgun and blasted the lock off the front door to the meeting house.
They have shotguns, they have handguns, they have knives, they have blowtorches, they have army explosives, they have deer rifles.
The only special talent he possessed was in handling firearms, especially handguns.
They also passed laws that will legally put handguns into the fists of more drunks, half-wits and fruitcakes than ever before.
Along with cocaine and the usual cache of handguns, two machine guns were seized in the arrest.
Last year, the Legislature sent a lenient new message about handguns, and this year we got it.
If you really want to feel safe and secure, consider the number of handguns that enter the criminal underworld every day.