The Collaborative International Dictionary
Swivel \Swiv"el\, n. [AS. sw[=i]fan to move quickly, to remove; akin to Icel. sveifla to whirl, shake, sv[=i]fa to ramble, to turn. See Swoop, and cf. Swift a reel, Swift, a.]
(Mech.) A piece, as a ring or hook, attached to another piece by a pin, in such a manner as to permit rotation about the pin as an axis.
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(Mil.) A small piece of ordnance, turning on a point or swivel; -- called also swivel gun.
--Wilhelm.Swivel bridge, a kind of drawbridge that turns round on a vertical axis; a swing bridge.
Swivel hook, a hook connected with the iron strap of a pulley block by a swivel joint, for readily taking the turns out of a tackle.
Swivel joint, a joint, the two pieces composing which turn round, with respect to each other, on a longitudinal pin or axis, as in a chain, to prevent twisting.
Wiktionary
n. A small cannon attached to a swivel or pivot. It was usually located on a ship's rail so it could have a large range of fire, and could fire anything ranging from small round balls of lead to cannon balls.
Wikipedia
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to switch between rifled and smoothbore barrels.
Swivel guns should not be confused with pivot guns, which were far larger weapons mounted on a horizontal pivot, or screw guns, which are a mountain gun with a segmented barrel.
An older term for the type is "peterero" (alternative spellings include "paterero" and "pederero"). The name was taken from the Spanish name for the gun, pedrero, a combination of the word piedra (stone) and the suffic -ero (-er), because stone was the first type of ammunition fired.
Usage examples of "swivel gun".
If you have to fire or feel you have to at a suspicious something, then please do it with a swivel gun, a small-bored one, or better yet, with a caliver loaded with ball and shot.
I gave the orders and runners started coming in with crates of swivel gun rounds.
Up and up, around the futtock shrouds and past the hooded swivel gun there to the topmast and further still towards the look-out who sat so calmly on the crosstrees, as if he was on a comfortable village bench.
Two armed seamen stood beside a swivel gun, but as the boat pulled away from the side they were unable to fire without hitting their comrades.
Sir Wladyclaw was able to equal or even top a number of his tales, and I told of the Mongol attack on Three Walls, of how I manned a swivel gun, and of how Conrad's army slaughtered the Tartar horde at our feet.
He asked me to add this to the number that he guessed he'd killed when he had been shooting the swivel gun, since his own arithmetic wasn't very good.
Sir Wladyclaw was able to equal or even top a number of his tales, and I told of the Mongol attack on Three Walls, of how I manned a swivel gun, and of how Conrad&rsquo.
Although instinct or training kept him gripping the swivel gun he seemingly had no fear, no desire to gain the safety of the mainyard.
Up and around the maintop, where two startled marines were cleaning a swivel gun, and gritting his teeth still harder to control the rising nausea as he felt the pull of his weight against his fingers while his body hung outwards on the futtock shrouds.