potgun en · NOUN
Etymology
From pot + gun.
Meanings
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(obsolete) A pot-shaped cannon; a mortar.
twelve pot-guns of brass
1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
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(obsolete) A pop gun.
When first in Print, you see him dread Each Pot-gun level'd at his Head
c. 1730, Jonathan Swift, To Doctor D-l-y on the Libels writ against him:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| potguns | Number=Plur | lexicographic |