pistol

See also: pistöł

English

A pistol formation.

Etymology

Probably from Middle French pistole, which probably via Middle High German forms like pischulle from Czech píšťala (“firearm”, literally “tube, pipe”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.

Alternatively, from Middle English pistolet, from Middle French pistolet (“small firearm or small dagger”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪstəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstəl

Noun

pistol (plural pistols)

1. A handgun, typically with a chamber integrated in the barrel, a semi-automatic action and a box magazine.
2. The mechanical component of a fuse in a bomb or torpedo responsible for firing the detonator.
3. A creative and unpredictable jokester, a constant source of entertainment and surprises.
   • February 2012, Thomas Pugsley, Denial (episode) in Young Justice (TV series):

     KENT NELSON —Until my wife Inza convinced me there was more to life. Ah, she was a real pistol, that Inza.

   • 2012, Jimmy Correa, How My Prank Stories in ‘You Tube’ Made Me an Overnight Sensation, iUniverse, page 102:

     She features so many dance tunes and is a pistol with her sharp and witty remarks.

4. (Southern US) A small boy who is bright, alert and very active.
5. (American football) An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, but closer than in a shotgun formation, with a running back lined up behind him.

Usage notes

Shooters normally differentiate between a pistol and a revolver, which is named after its rotating chamber; however, in common usage, the word pistol is also imprecisely used to refer to any type of handgun.

Derived terms

• hotter than a pistol
• machine pistol
• muff pistol
• pistol carbine
• pistoleer
• pistol furniture
• pistol grip
• pistol pipe
• pistol-whip
• service pistol
• starting pistol
• Very pistol

 

Translations

handgun

• Albanian: pistoletë (sq) f
• Arabic: مُسَدَّس m (musaddas)
• Armenian: ատրճանակ (hy) (atrčanak)
• Azerbaijani: tapança, pistolet (az)
• Belarusian: пістале́т m (pistaljét)
• Bengali: পিস্তল (pistol)
• Bulgarian: пистоле́т (bg) m (pistolét)
• Burmese: သေနတ် (my) (senat)
• Catalan: pistola (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手槍／手枪 (zh) (shǒuqiāng), 手枪 (zh) (shǒuqiāng)

• Czech: pistole (cs) f
• Danish: pistol (da) c
• Dutch: pistool (nl) n
• Esperanto: pistolo
• Estonian: püstol
• Finnish: pistooli (fi)
• French: pistolet (fr) m
• Georgian: პისტოლეტი (ṗisṭoleṭi), დამბაჩა (dambača)
• German: Pistole (de) f, Faustfeuerwaffe f
• Greek: πιστόλι (el) n (pistóli)
• Hebrew: אֶקְדָח (he) m (ekdákh)
• Hindi: बंदूक (hi) f (bandūk), तमंचा (hi) m (tamañcā), पिस्तौल (hi) f (pistaul)
• Hungarian: pisztoly (hu)
• Icelandic: skammbyssa (is) f
• Ido: pistolo (io)
• Indonesian: pistol (id)
• Irish: piostal
• Italian: pistola (it) f
• Japanese: ピストル (pisutoru), 拳銃 (ja) (けんじゅう, kenjū), 手筒 (tezutsu), 弾き (hajiki), 銃 (ja) (じゅう, jū)
• Kazakh: пистолет (pistolet)
• Khmer: កាំភ្លើងខ្លី (kampləəng khləy), កាំភ្លើងដៃ (kampləəng day)
• Korean: 권총 (ko) (gwonchong) (拳銃 (ko)), 피스톨 (piseutol)
• Kyrgyz: пистолет (pistolet)
• Lao: ປືນພົກ (pư̄n phok), ປືນສັ້ນ (pư̄n san)
• Latin: pistolium n
• Latvian: pistole f
• Lithuanian: pistoletas m
• Luxembourgish: Pistoul
• Macedonian: пиштол m (pištol)
• Malay: pistol
• Maori: pītara, kope
• Mongolian: гар буу (gar buu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pistol (no) m

  Nynorsk: pistol m

• Ottoman Turkish: طبانجه (tabanca)
• Pashto: تفنګچه f (tofangčá), تمانچه (ps) f (tamānčá), تومانچه (ps) f (tomānčá), توپنچه (ps) f (topančá), توپنګچه f (topangčá), تپانچه (ps) f (tapānčá), ټپوک m (ṭaрúk)
• Persian: تپانچه (fa) (tapânče)
• Polish: pistolet (pl) m
• Portuguese: pistola (pt) f
• Quechua: maki illapa
• Romanian: pistol (ro) n
• Russian: пистоле́т (ru) m (pistolét), (colloquial) пу́шка (ru) f (púška)
• Scottish Gaelic: daga m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пиштољ m, самокрес m, (slang) пуцаљка f

  Roman: pištolj (sh) m, samokres (sh) m, (slang) pucaljka (sh) f

• Slovak: pištoľ f
• Slovene: pištola (sl) f
• Spanish: pistola (es) f
• Swahili: bastola (sw)
• Swedish: pistol (sv) c
• Tajik: пистолет (pistolet), таппонча (tapponča), туфангча (tufangča)
• Tatar: пистолет (pistolet)
• Thai: ปืนพก (bpʉʉn-pók), ปืนสั้น (bpʉʉn-sân)
• Tibetan: པི་སི་ཏོབ (pi si tob)
• Turkish: tabanca (tr)
• Turkmen: pistolet, pistolýet, sapança
• Ukrainian: пістоле́т m (pistolét)
• Urdu: بندوق f (bandūq), پستول f (pistaul), طمنچہ m (tamancā)
• Uyghur: تاپانچا (tapancha)
• Uzbek: toʻpponcha (uz), pistolet (uz)
• Vietnamese: súng ngắn (vi)
• Walloon: pistolet (wa)
• Welsh: pistol (cy) m, pistolion m pl
• Written Oirat: ᡌᡅᠰᡐᡆᠯ (pistol)
• Yiddish: פּיסטויל m (pistoyl), נאַגאַן m (nagan) (Nagant revolver)

the mechanical component of a fuse

• German: Zündpistole f
• Spanish: pistola (es) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swahili: bastola (sw)

jokester — see jokester

lively, bright small boy

• Dutch: opdondertje (nl) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: veitikka (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Betawi: ^{(please verify)} beceng
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} skammbyssa (is) f
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} pistol (id)
• Kurdish:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: ^{(please verify)} pītara, ^{(please verify)} pū hurihuri
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} pištola (sl)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} pistola (es) f

Verb

pistol (third-person singular simple present pistols, present participle pistoling, simple past and past participle pistoled)

1. (transitive) To shoot (at) a target with a pistol.

See also

• derringer
• pistole
• gat
• rod

Further reading

• Pistol offense on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• pilots, postil, sploit, spoilt

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Cebuano

Alternative forms

• piskot

Etymology

A minced oath of pisti.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pis‧tol

Interjection

pistol

1. expressing anger, surprise, excitement, etc.

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Danish

Etymology

From Middle French pistole or from German Pistole, either from Italian pistola or from Czech píšťala (“whistle”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pistoːl/, [pʰiˈsd̥oːˀl]
• Rhymes: -oːl

Noun

pistol c (singular definite pistolen, plural indefinite pistoler)

1. handgun, pistol

Inflection

Declension of pistol

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	pistol	pistolen	pistoler	pistolerne
genitive	pistols	pistolens	pistolers	pistolernes

See also

• pistol on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

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Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch pistool. Ultimately from Czech píšťala (“whistle”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.

Noun

pistol (first-person possessive pistolku, second-person possessive pistolmu, third-person possessive pistolnya)

1. a pistol (gun)

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Czech píšťala (“whistle, because of the shape”), via German Pistole

Noun

pistol m (definite singular pistolen, indefinite plural pistoler, definite plural pistolene)

1. a pistol (firearm)
   • 2012, Tatiana de Rosnay, translated by Kirsti Overgaard, Saras nøkkel [Sarah's Key]‎^[1]:

     Langs veggene sto politimenn med dystre ansikter, truende, med hendene på pistolene sine. Along the walls policemen stood menacingly with sombre faces, and with hands on their pistols.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

• “pistol” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Czech píšťala (“whistle”), via German Pistole

Noun

pistol m (definite singular pistolen, indefinite plural pistolar, definite plural pistolane)

1. a pistol (firearm)

References

• “pistol” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately from Czech píšťala (“whistle”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pistol c

1. a pistol (gun)

Declension

Declension of pistol
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pistol	pistolen	pistoler	pistolerna
Genitive	pistols	pistolens	pistolers	pistolernas

Related terms

Related terms

• ärtpistol
• kulsprutepistol

• leksakspistol
• vattenpistol

See also

• revolver