From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Pistol \Pis"tol\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Pistoled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pistoling}.] [Cf. F. pistoler.] To shoot with a pistol. ''To pistol a poacher.'' --Sydney Smith.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Pistol \Pis"tol\, noun [F. pistole, pistolet, It. pistola; prob. from a form Pistola, for Pistoja, a town in Italy where pistols were first made. Cf. {Pistole}.] The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, -- now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names. See Illust. of {Revolver}.
{Pistol carbine}, a firearm with a removable but-piece, and thus capable of being used either as a pistol or a carbine.
{Pistol pipe} (Metal.), a pipe in which the blast for a furnace is heated, resembling a pistol in form.
{Pistol shot}. (a) The discharge of a pistol. (b) The distance to which a pistol can propel a ball.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a firearm that is held and fired with one hand [syn: {handgun}, {side arm}, {shooting iron}] [also: {pistolling}, {pistolled}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
75 Moby Thesaurus words for "pistol": automatic, blow to pieces, blow up, blowgun, blowpipe, brain, bring down, burn to death, charge, cock, cut down, cut to pieces, deal a deathblow, detonate, discharge, disintegrate, drop, eject, fell, fire, fire off, firearm, flamethrower, frag, gat, give the quietus, gun, gun down, gun for, handgun, heater, hit, incinerate, jugulate, lapidate, lay low, let fly, let off, load, musket, peashooter, pelt, pepper, pick off, piece, plug, poleax, pot, potshoot, potshot, prime, repeater, revolver, riddle, rifle, rod, sawed-off shotgun, shoot, shoot at, shoot down, shoot to death, shooting iron, shotgun, silence, six-gun, six-shooter, snipe, stab to death, stone, stone to death, strike, strike dead, take a potshot, torpedo, vaporize
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
pistol n. [IBM] A tool that makes it all too easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot. "Unix 'rm *' makes such a nice pistol!"
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
pistol [IBM] A tool that makes it all too easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot. "Unix "rm *" makes such a nice pistol!" [{Jargon File}]
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