Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GUN, n. [W. gwn; Corn. gun.]

An instrument consisting of a barrel or tube of iron or other metal fixed in a stock, from which balls, shot or other deadly weapons are discharged by the explosion of gunpowder. The larger species of guns are called cannon; and the smaller species are called muskets, carbines, fowling-pieces, &c. But one species of fire-arms, the pistol, is never called a gun.