Dictionary

hired gun en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. A person who is employed as an armed guard, enforcer, or mercenary and who is prepared to use gunplay or similar violent methods in order to assert the interests of their employer.
   • The hired guns, who protect diplomats, dignitaries and businesspeople, tear through the streets of the capital in convoys of armored SUVs. 2008 December 9, Rania Abouzeid, “Iraqis Welcome Blackwater Indictments”, in Time:
2. (broadly, idiomatic) A person who is employed to advance the interests of their employer, especially in a vigorous manner using such methods as political lobbying, legal advocacy, or persuasion.
   • [O]ne of Gore's senior advisers, top-tier lobbyist Peter Knight, is a hired gun for pharmaceuticals giant Schering-Plough. 1999 November 22, Viveca Novak, “The Claritin Case”, in Time:

Forms

Relateds

mercenary

Synonyms

gunfighter (person employed as an armed guard, enforcer, or mercenary)