Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to steal.

1868		Temple Bar xxv 213: ... returned to his old trade of gunsmith, gunning being the slang term for thieving, or going on the cross [F&H].
1902		Sun. Times (Perth) 1 June 4/6: I I don’t care a tinker’s imprecation what he was [...] as long as he don’t start ‘gunning’ in my paddocks.
1903		(con. c.1888) H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 92: He began to ‘gun,’ which means to pickpockets [sic].
1905		Wash. Post (DC) 6 Aug. 12/6: ‘This is like gunning a souse,’ I thought.

2. (US, also gun out, pistol) to shoot, whether human targets or game.

1858		W. Pratt Ten Nights in a Bar-Room III i: I’ve been gunning with Tom Wilkins.
1898		Canfield Maid of Frontier 83: I’ll gun you if you do that again [DA].
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 148/2: Gunning (Amer.-Eng.). Shooting.
1916		H.L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap 35: Wilfred went pasty, indeed, thinking his host was going to gun him.
1916		‘Sapper’ ‘The Motor-Gun’ in Men, Women & Guns 38: ‘If there’ a gun in that wood, bedad! we’ll gun it’.
1925		D. Hammett ‘Corkscrew’ Story Omnibus (1966) 215: Shall I gun this la-ad now?
1931		R. Whitfield ‘About Kid Deth’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2007) 284: Who gunned out Rands?
1931		A. Bontemps God Sends Sun. 32: I seen a nigger pistol a white man in Texas once. [Ibid.] 40: At the picnic where Joe Baily and Tom Wright pistoled each other about her.
1931		C.B. Yorke ‘Snowbound’ in Gangster Stories Oct. n.p.: ‘A kid by the name of Kate Travers was gunned out awhile ago’.
1933		C.G. Booth ‘Stag Party’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 99: Gun him, if he jumps an exit.
1938		E. Hoffman Price ‘Revolt of the Damned’ in Double-Action Gang June 🌐 If he was gunning us out, he’d not come down here, he’d send torpedoes.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 157: Of course they never solved who gunned out Johnny Lazia.
1961		‘M.B. Longman’ Power of Black (1962) 141: Get some deputies to arrest anyone going gunning tonight.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 195: I’m sure sorry to hear somebody gunned him.
1998		Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 10: [He] was himself gunned to death outside a carwash in his native turf of Compton.

3. (US Und.) to work as a swindler, a confidence trickster.

1894		Mirror of Life 7 July 2/3: We spoke two weeks ago of a slippery joker [...] We found him gunning after prize-fighters.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 195: ‘Just wait until she gets hep that you’re a “gun”.’ ‘There isn’t going to be any more “gunning,” Jimmy [...] I’m going straight.’.

4. (Aus./US black) to attack, physically or verbally.

1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Oct. 1/1: The crooks, cronks and crawthumpers that are always gunning on the game.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 483: HALFCASTE ABO. GUNS GOV’T.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 102: Applying muscle is seen, for example, in a number of sports-related terms – to fire, to gun, to stuff, to stick.

5. (US campus) to have sexual intercourse.

1987

Eble Campus Sl. Spring 4: gun – have sex.

6. (US black) to look for trouble, to start a fight.

1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 106: Gunning [...] looking for an opportunity to start trouble.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Not everyone out here’s gunning to stick a spoon handle in your throat’.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘His wife warned me they were gunning for me’.

7. (drugs) to inject a drug.

1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 70: And if the shit ain’t right, if he cooks it up and guns it at home and it’s B-and-Q [...] then the first rule still applies.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 11: Gun — To inject a drug.

8. to take charge of, to dominate.

2011

J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 19: Sonny, to his credit, could gun a crew.