shotguns

5 definitions • 7 examples

a long gun that fires a large number of small metal bullets at one time, designed for shooting birds and animals:

sawn-off shotgun The robbers used a sawn-off shotgun in the raid.

used to refer to the seat next to the driver in a car or other vehicle:

ride shotgun The kids took turns riding shotgun.

"Shotgun!", she shouted, and jumped into the passenger seat.

call shotgun Has anyone called shotgun? If not, I do!

in American football, a formation used by the offence in which the quarterback stands further than usual behind the line of scrimmage (= the line on which the ball is positioned at the beginning of a period of action), with most of the other players spread out as receivers:

out of the shotgun The offence was working out of the shotgun for much of the first half.

The defence saw that the offence was in a shotgun formation and adjusted their strategy.

to drink an alcoholic drink from a can very quickly, by making a hole in the can, putting your mouth over the hole and then opening the can at the top:

I saw some workers shotgunning beers across the street.

a long gun that fires a large number of small metal bullets at one time, used esp. for hunting