handgun

From hand +‎ gun.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhændˌɡʌn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

handgun (plural handguns)

2. A small gun with a relatively short barrel, designed to be held and operated with a single hand.

   Synonym: pistol (broadly synonymous)

   Hypernyms: firearm < gun < ranged weapon < weapon

   Hyponyms: pistol (precisely hyponymous), semiauto, revolver, wheelgun, derringer

   Coordinate terms: rifle, long gun; air gun; see also Thesaurus:firearm

   • 2009 January 13, M. R. Kropko, “Video-game addiction rejected as defence”, in Toronto Star‎^[1]:

     Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game.

   • 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:

     A related design and marketing innovation has been the sale to civilians of “vest busters,” handguns specifically designed to penetrate body armor.

• gunhand