peashooter

See also: pea-shooter

English

WOTD – 27 January 2024

Etymology

A man using a peashooter (sense 1) in Paris, France.

From pea +‎ shooter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːˌʃuːtə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpiˌʃutəɹ/, [-ɾəɹ]
• Hyphenation: pea‧shoot‧er

Noun

peashooter (plural peashooters)

2. A toy weapon consisting of a tube through which dried peas or small objects are blown.

   Synonyms: beanshooter, bean-shooter

3. A person who uses such a device.
4. (weaponry, slang) Any small or ineffective gun or weapon.
   • 2012, Wayne Greenough, The Ferguson Murder, page 41:

     Compared to my forty-five, it's a toy. Christ, Thanet, why did you buy it in the first place? I would have given you one of mine, a real weapon, one with knock down power, compared to that peashooter on your hip.

Alternative forms

• pea-shooter

Hypernyms

• blowgun, blowpipe

Related terms

• peashooting

Translations

toy weapon

• Belarusian: гарохастрэл (haróxastrel)
• Bulgarian: плюкало n (pljukalo)
• Dutch: erwtenschieter (nl)
• Finnish: hernepyssy (fi)
• French: pétoire (fr)
• Galician: sucho m, zucho m
• Italian: cerbottana (it)
• Japanese: 豆鉄砲 (ja) (まめてっぽう, mameteppō)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: pukawka (pl) f
• Russian: горохострел (ru) m (goroxostrel)
• Spanish: cerbatana (es)
• Swedish: ärtbössa c, ärtpistol c, blåsrör n

person who uses such a device

• Finnish: hernepyssyllä ampuja
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

small or ineffective gun or weapon

• Finnish: hyödytön ase
• French: pétoire (fr) f (informal)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• peashooter (toy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• peashooter (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia