thunderstick
nounEtymology From thunder + stick. Originally used by or ascribed to members of non-European cultures or anthropomorphized animals describing firearms.
1
A gun or cannon, especially a rifle, as seen from the imagined perspective of an uncivilized person or an animal.
- The man pointed his thunderstick at the buffalo, and with a great noise and fire, the buffalo fell down dead.
- We sneaked into the soldiers' camp, and stole five thundersticks.
4 more examples
- ...the Men, when they hunt us with their arrows or a thunder-stick which strikes with a loud noise...1904, W.A. Fraser, “The Narrative of Buffalo and Bison”, in Metropolitan, volume 20, number 11, pages 195–196:
- Two men with beards... carrying thundersticks... were in the village above...1931 He Dog, interviewed by Mari Sandoz (John Colhoff, interpreter), in The Beaver Men: Spearheads of Empire (University of Nebraska Press, 1964)
- We have heard that they have magic thunder sticks; that all they need do is point the stick at a man and thunder and lightning comes out of it and the man dies.1938, Mark Raymond Harrington, The Indians of New Jersey: Dickon among the Lenapes:
- (Two bears discussing a rifle found lying on the ground): Thunderstick? ...You actually said 'Thunderstick?'... That, my friend, is a Winchester 30.06.1985, Gary Larson, Bride of the Far Side:
2
A narrow plastic balloon that is used as a promotional noise maker by hitting one against another.
- Called “James Tenney and Milton Babbitt : American Iconoclasts,” the mini-festival begins on Saturday with a work by Mr. Tenney, who died in 2006, on a program including pieces by Larry Polansky, Michael Byron and Henry Cowell (the 1925 “Ensemble” for string quartet and thundersticks). Mr. Babbitt is honored on Sunday with a program that includes, among other works, a premiere by Christopher Buchenholz.2008 February 8, The New York Times, “Classical Music/Opera Listings”, in New York Times: