shooter n.1
1. a coach guard, armed with a blunderbuss and pistols against highwaymen, etc.
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, . | ||
‘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.
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. | ‘Mike Hooter’s Fight with the ‘Bar’’||
Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: He tuk hold er the shooter. | ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’||
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 5 Oct. n.p.: Both carry shooters, loaded and cocked. | ||
Sportsman 29 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] Let the would-be murderer [...] try his ‘shooter’ on others of the blues. | ||
Green Pastures and Piccadilly Ch. xiii: Then Jack drew his shooter out and shot Billy Bill through the head [OED]. | ||
Eve. Chronicle (Virginia City) 10 June in Mining Frontier (1967) 203: I oiled up my shooter. | ||
Texas Cow Boy (1950) 33: They [...] asked me how much I would take for my ‘shooter?’. | ||
Bird o’ Freedom 15 Jan. 7/1: You should have seen that Johnnie whipping out his shooter when the fight was first declared off. | ||
‘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. | ||
Marvel XIV:357 13: Draw your shooter, mate. I can’t get at mine. | ||
Boys Of The Empire 23 Apr. 37: I observe ye ain’t armed with the same kind and size o’ shooters. | ||
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. | ||
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. | ‘Is Acting an Art’||
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. | in||
Gone Nomad 56: Every one carried a ‘shooter’ in his pocket. | ||
Thrilling Detective May 🌐 The kind of shooter they use for paper targets. | ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in||
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. | ||
Guntz 56: There are posh shops, smart bars and theatres, there are brasses, and the law carry shooters. | ||
Sir, You Bastard 123: Why did you pull the shooter. | ||
Signs of Crime 200: Shooter Commonest expression for a firearm, usually but not exclusively a pistol. | ||
Minder [TV script] 8: I flashed the shooter at him and the silly old sod fainted. | ‘Get Daley!’||
Doing Time 196: shooter: a gun or pistol. | ||
(con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 58: The sheriff had his shooter. | ||
NZEJ 13 35: shooter n.Firearm. | ‘Boob Jargon’ in||
Guardian Guide 12–18 June 8: He was digging up shooters to help Lindsey ‘deal with’ the Finnegans. | ||
Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 165/2: shooter n. 2 a firearm. | ||
Raiders 253: A melt like Geordie Keith was not going to be trusted with a shooter. | ||
Life 162: Quite a few of the guys we were traveling with were carrying shooters. | ||
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.
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.
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Dec. 6/2: Everybody can be with the shooter by placing their money in a circle marked ‘Come Bets.’. | ||
(con. 1973) Fast One (1936) 114: Five . . . Seven, out. Next man. Who likes this lucky shooter? | ||
If He Hollers 38: The shooter nursed the dice, blew on them, said, ‘Now do your stuff, babies. Come out on seven’. | ||
(con. 1920s) Hoods (1953) 204: I watched him making small bets against the shooter. | ||
Imabelle 22: The shooters were jammed about the table beneath a glare of light. | ||
Corner Boy 139: The shooter winked [...] He threw the dice. | ||
Rage in Harlem (1969) 23: [as 1957]. | ||
Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 176: Nine’s the point. Take ’em, Mister Shooter, and see what you can do. | ||
Corner (1998) 106: They jump into the action like new shooters at a crap table. | ||
Wire ep. 1 [TV script] He fade a few shooters. Played out till the pot's deep. | ‘The Target’
5. (US black) the leading attraction.
‘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.
Lady in the Lake (1952) 235: I been a shooter more years than you been alive, son. | ||
Carlito’s Way 132: He [...] put the shooter through a plate-glass window. | ||
Wiseguy (2001) 30: Young shooters such as Jimmy Burke, Anthony Stabile. | ||
Vinnie Got Blown Away 26: Mannie dials 999 and asks for shooters. | ||
Scholar 283: The best thing you could do is push for bail in exchange for the shooter in that robbery. | ||
Westsiders 116: He was never a shooter, but he watched other people use guns. | ||
Lush Life 41: Matty had made that mistake [...] being too aggressive with a likely shooter . | ||
Alphaville (2011) 21: The hit had gone completely haywire. The shooters missed with their bullets. | ||
🌐 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. | ‘Dispatches from the Rap Wars’ in chicagomag.com||
Old Scores [ebook] ‘Get to the potential shooters. Let them know we don’t want that’. | ||
Hitmen 71: Keith was the shooter. |
7. a press photographer.
You Gotta Play Hurt 36: Shag Monti, our ace shooter, was in the throng, busily sputtering Nikon motor. | ||
All Over Bar the Shoutin’ 203: A shooter for the AP, he had heard of my newspaper—‘good, good photographs’. | ||
Star Island (2011) 10: Did you see any other shooter soutside? [...] Photographers. |
8. (US) an important individual, a ‘player’.
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. |
In derivatives
armed.
Boss of Britain’s Underworld 159: If they’re coming after us all shoootered up, what d’yer expect us to do? Got shot, or something? |