handgun
nounUS /ˈhændˌɡʌn/
Etymology From hand + gun.
1
A small gun with a relatively short barrel, designed to be held and operated with a single hand.
- Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game.2009 January 13, M. R. Kropko, “Video-game addiction rejected as defence”, in Toronto Star:
- A related design and marketing innovation has been the sale to civilians of “vest busters,” handguns specifically designed to penetrate body armor.2013, Tom Diaz, The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry are Killing Americans and what it Will Take to Stop it, page 166:
- Derived terms
- antihandgun