potgun

potgun

English

Etymology

pot +‎ gun

Noun

potgun (plural potguns)

1. (obsolete) A pot-shaped cannon; a mortar.
   • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], OCLC 753964576:

     twelve pot-guns of brass

2. (obsolete) A pop gun.
   • c. 1730, Jonathan Swift, To Doctor D-l-y on the Libels writ against him

     When first in Print, you see him dread
     Each Pot-gun level'd at his Head

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for potgun in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

• Gupton, top gun