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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

son of a gun en · INTJ

Etymology

Euphemistic variant of son of a bitch. There are folk etymologies suggesting nautical origins, such as a reference to the disputed parentage of a child born aboard a ship (between the guns), or a child fathered by a soldier (also referred to as a "gun"). However, these etymologies are not supported by evidence.

Meanings

  1. (euphemistic) Used to express anger, contempt, disgust, astonishment, disappointment, etc.
    • Son of a gun! I just got stung by a wasp!

Translations (7)

es hijo de fruta (euphemism) · pl skurczybyk (euphemism) · pt filho da polícia (euphemism) · ru ку́рицын сын (euphemism) · ar اِبْنُ الفَاعِلَةِ (euphemism) · it figlio di buona donna (euphemism) · fr ça alors (euphemism)

son of a gun en · NOUN

Etymology

Euphemistic variant of son of a bitch. There are folk etymologies suggesting nautical origins, such as a reference to the disputed parentage of a child born aboard a ship (between the guns), or a child fathered by a soldier (also referred to as a "gun"). However, these etymologies are not supported by evidence.

Meanings

  1. (euphemistic) son of a bitch
    • You Apollo's son, You're a son of a gun 1726, The British Apollo, 3rd edition, volume 2, [London]: Theodore Sanders, page 379:
    • I don't break, I can hold the chrome / And it's weighing a ton and I'm a son of a gun 2002, “The Seed (2.0)”, in Phrenology, performed by The Roots:
    • Why, I say, old feller, what a happy feller I once thought you, and what a miserable son of a gun you really are! 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
    • That son of a gun stole my wallet!
    • "Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?" 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
    • A plaugue tauke dee, dou damn’d Shon of a Gun, de Deevil carry dee away alive for me; […] 1690, anonymous author, Teagueland Jeſts, or Bogg-Witticisms, part 2, page 138:
  2. Used encouragingly or to compliment.
    • You son of a gun, you did it!

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
sons of guns Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

son-of-a-gun stew · I'll be a son of a gun

Descendants

sanamagón