Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a coach guard, armed with a blunderbuss and pistols against highwaymen, etc.

1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 9 Jan. 397/2: milling extraordinary, Between a Swell Dragsman and his Shooter, alias the Guard. The latter was seconded by the worthy Book-keeper, and Jarvey by the Porter, .
1876		‘Some Road Slang Terms’ in Malet Annals of the Road 395: 4. Of CoachmenThe shooter...The guard .

2. (UK/US Und.) a gun, a revolver.

1849		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Fight with the ‘Bar’’ Spirit of the Times 10 Nov. (N.Y.) 452: One Sunday morning, I took ‘Brown Betsy,’ my old two shooter, and all the dogs, and off I sot for the cane brake in the hollow.
1850		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’ Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: He tuk hold er the shooter.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 5 Oct. n.p.: Both carry shooters, loaded and cocked.
1867		Sportsman 29 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] Let the would-be murderer [...] try his ‘shooter’ on others of the blues.
1877		W. Black Green Pastures and Piccadilly Ch. xiii: Then Jack drew his shooter out and shot Billy Bill through the head [OED].
1879		Eve. Chronicle (Virginia City) 10 June in M. Lewis Mining Frontier (1967) 203: I oiled up my shooter.
1885		C.A. Siringo Texas Cow Boy (1950) 33: They [...] asked me how much I would take for my ‘shooter?’.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 15 Jan. 7/1: You should have seen that Johnnie whipping out his shooter when the fight was first declared off.
1893–4		H. Lawson ‘Shooting the Moon’ in Roderick (1972) 149: I kept the shooter, and if he hadn’t sent it [i.e. money] I’d have been the late John Mitchell long ago.
1900		Marvel XIV:357 13: Draw your shooter, mate. I can’t get at mine.
1901		Boys Of The Empire 23 Apr. 37: I observe ye ain’t armed with the same kind and size o’ shooters.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 57: He had personally passed through a number of holdups by hoboes who [...] had relieved him of his six-shooters.
1920		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Is Acting an Art’ Sporting Times 18 Dec. 1/3: When I grab my six-shooter, and rescue a tart, / Or dive off a cliff into the bay, / You may call it a stunt, but I tell you it’s art.
1920		E. Blair in College Days (Eton) 4 1 Apr. in Complete Works X (1998) 65: We don’t let croaksters vamoose like that in Arizona. I waved my shooter and emptied two rounds of dope into the galley-pullers.
1936		A. Russell Gone Nomad 56: Every one carried a ‘shooter’ in his pocket.
1946		C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐 The kind of shooter they use for paper targets.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 11: We had chivs, choppers, chains, razors, knives, hammers, iron bars and coshes. But we knew the Blacks had shooters.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 56: There are posh shops, smart bars and theatres, there are brasses, and the law carry shooters.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 123: Why did you pull the shooter.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 200: Shooter Commonest expression for a firearm, usually but not exclusively a pistol.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 8: I flashed the shooter at him and the silly old sod fainted.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 196: shooter: a gun or pistol.
1989		(con. 1950s–60s) in G. Tremlett Little Legs 58: The sheriff had his shooter.
1999		Guardian Guide 12–18 June 8: He was digging up shooters to help Lindsey ‘deal with’ the Finnegans.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 165/2: shooter n. 2 a firearm.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 253: A melt like Geordie Keith was not going to be trusted with a shooter.
2010		K. Richards Life 162: Quite a few of the guys we were traveling with were carrying shooters.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 174: There wis me sitting in the chair behind ehs desk, pointing ehs ain fucking shooter right at him.

3. (US) a shooting jacket.

1842

Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 3 Sept. n.p.: Look at the hands of the sporting cove in the ‘shooter’.

4. (gambling) the player currently throwing the dice in a game of craps.

1902		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Dec. 6/2: Everybody can be with the shooter by placing their money in a circle marked ‘Come Bets.’.
1933		(con. 1973) ‘Paul Cain’ Fast One (1936) 114: Five . . . Seven, out. Next man. Who likes this lucky shooter?
1945		C. Himes If He Hollers 38: The shooter nursed the dice, blew on them, said, ‘Now do your stuff, babies. Come out on seven’.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 204: I watched him making small bets against the shooter.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 22: The shooters were jammed about the table beneath a glare of light.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 139: The shooter winked [...] He threw the dice.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 23: [as 1957].
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 176: Nine’s the point. Take ’em, Mister Shooter, and see what you can do.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 106: They jump into the action like new shooters at a crap table.
2002		Simon & Burns ‘The Target’ Wire ep. 1 [TV script] He fade a few shooters. Played out till the pot's deep.

5. (US black) the leading attraction.

1935

M. Fulcher ‘Believe Me’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 27 Apr. 5/5: Porto Rico, the shooter on the the Apollo amateur program.

6. one who fires a weapon, an assassin.

1943		R. Chandler Lady in the Lake (1952) 235: I been a shooter more years than you been alive, son.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 132: He [...] put the shooter through a plate-glass window.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 30: Young shooters such as Jimmy Burke, Anthony Stabile.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 26: Mannie dials 999 and asks for shooters.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 283: The best thing you could do is push for bail in exchange for the shooter in that robbery.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 116: He was never a shooter, but he watched other people use guns.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 41: Matty had made that mistake [...] being too aggressive with a likely shooter .
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 21: The hit had gone completely haywire. The shooters missed with their bullets.
2016		F. Stuart ‘Dispatches from the Rap Wars’ in chicagomag.com 🌐 Each rapper in the gang has one or two ‘shooters.’ These are the members who make good on the threats the rappers dish out in their lyrics and on social media. And, yes, that means shooting—and sometimes killing—people.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘Get to the potential shooters. Let them know we don’t want that’.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 71: Keith was the shooter.

7. a press photographer.

1991		D. Jenkins You Gotta Play Hurt 36: Shag Monti, our ace shooter, was in the throng, busily sputtering Nikon motor.
1997		R. Bragg All Over Bar the Shoutin’ 203: A shooter for the AP, he had heard of my newspaper—‘good, good photographs’.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 10: Did you see any other shooter soutside? [...] Photographers.

8. (US) an important individual, a ‘player’.

2004

R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 83: The bookies attracted other shooters in the underground econom — the guys who owned the chop shops and the car thieves who supplied them.