gun something down Definition

gun
noun

1. Any weapon which fires bullets or shells from a metal tube.
2. Any instrument which forces something out under pressure.

Example: spray gun
3. colloq
A gunman.
Example: a hired gun
4. A member of a party of hunters.
5. The signal to start a race, etc.

verb

gunned, gunning
1. colloq
To rev up (a car engine) noisily.

Idiom: go great guns

colloq
To function or be performed with great speed or success.

Idiom: jump the gun

See under jump.

Idiom: stick to one's guns

See under stick².

Etymology: 14c as gonne: probably from the Scandinavian female name Gunnhildr, both parts of which mean ‘war', from the medieval habit of giving large engines of war female names.

Phrasal Verb: be gunning for someone

To be searching determinedly for them, usually with hostile intent.

Phrasal Verb: be gunning for something

To try to obtain it.
Example: were gunning for a pay rise

Phrasal Verb: gun someone or something down

To shoot them or it with a gun.