The farmer's son brought home a Thanksgiving turkey from the wild that he killed with his shotgun.
You can't talk to a man / With a shotgun in his hand1971, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, “Smackwater Jack”, in Tapestry, Ode Records:
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An unusual custom is followed at Llangennith, when shotguns are fired at a wedding - to scare off evil spirits from the newlyweds.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 258:
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Slang The front passenger seat in a vehicle, next to the driver; so called because the position of the shotgun-armed guard on a horse-drawn stage-coach, wagon train, or gold transport was next to the driver on a forward-mounted bench seat. Can also be used in situations of claiming other resources such as bedrooms.
I call shotgun!
I call shotgun!
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We rode our bikes to it this morning—me, two of my brothers, four other neighborhood kids who were ready to be baptized, plus my father and some other neighborhood adults riding shotgun.1993, Octavia Butler, chapter 2, in The Parable of the Sower:
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Southern US, US, Especially A one-story dwelling with no hallways or corridors, with the rooms arranged in a straight line.
Elvis Presley was born in a two-bedroom shotgun in Tupelo, Mississippi.
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American football, Ball games, Football, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, often with a running back set to one or both sides of him.
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As a modifier Relating to shotguns, either in a present or past sense.
shotgun cartridges
shotgun seat
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As a modifier Relating to the threat of force or dubious means.
shotgun wedding
shotgun diplomacy
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As a modifier Relating to the use of numerous, diverse or indiscriminate means to achieve a particular result.
Etymology From shot + gun. Front passenger seat sense comes from ride shotgun.
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Lifestyle, SmokingSlang To inhale from a pipe or other smoking device, followed shortly by an exhalation into someone else’s mouth.
High as fuck, I light it up / Got pre-rolls for the whole month / She don't smoke but when I roll one / We shotgun the whole blunt2017, “Super Potent”, in Renaissance, performed by The Underachievers:
US, Slang To rapidly drink a beverage from a can by making a hole in the bottom of the can, placing the hole above one's mouth, and opening the top.
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US, Slang To send out many (requests, answers to a question, etc), especially in the hope that one obtains a positive result (i.e. reveals useful information, is correct, etc), in the manner of a shotgun firing many balls of shot such that one may hit a target.
An actual physical piece of paper shows that you're not just shotgunning out queries to every agent on the planet.2009, Writing Fiction For Dummies, →ISBN:
Science fiction writers are “shotgunning ideas” through their works, he said, and people tend to recall the pellets that hit the target.2011 December 6, John Schwartz, “Out of a Writer’s Imagination Came an Interactive World”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
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It's like they are on a generic mailing list and some photographer is just shotgunning cards out into the world with no thought as to who they are actually going to.2013, Zack Arias, Photography Q&A: Real Questions, Real Answers, page 197:
Understand the problem before fixing it. About the only scenario where shotgunning is useful is if there is a shorted IC and you cannot tell which one it is.1998, Stuart Ball, Debugging Embedded Microprocessor Systems, page 71: