Shotgun

English Meaning

A light, smooth- bored gun, often double-barreled, especially designed for firing small shot at short range, and killing small game.

1. A smoothbore gun that fires shot over short ranges. Also called scattergun.
2. Football An offensive formation, used especially for passing, in which the quarterback receives the snap several yards behind the line of scrimmage.
3. Southern U.S. A house whose architecture is characterized by several rooms joined in a straight line from the front to the back: "Shotguns [are] so named because a shotgun fired through the front door of these long, narrow homes could pass straight through the house and out the back door without hitting any barriers” ( Melissa O. Fryauf). See Regional Note at beignet.
4. Of, relating to, or using a shotgun.
5. Obtained by or involving by coercion: a shotgun compromise.
6. Covering a wide range in a haphazard or ineffective manner: shotgun methods of testing the hypothesis that wasted time and money.
7. To shoot at with a shotgun.