ramrod

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A rod used to force the charge into a muzzleloading firearm.
2. n. A rod used to clean the barrel of a firearm.
3. n. A harshly demanding overseer; a disciplinarian.
4. v. To exert strict control over; supervise closely.
5. v. To force passage or acceptance of: a group that ramrodded the bill through Congress.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A rod for ramming down the charge of a gun, pistol, or other firearm, especially for small hand-fire-arms. (Compare rammer.) Now that most small-arms load at the breech, ramrods are much less used than formerly. The ordinary ramrod for shot-guns, rifles, and the like was an unjointed wooden or iron rod, enlarged at the head or there fitted with a metal cap, and furnished at the other end with a screw or wormer for extracting a charge; when not in use it was carried in thimbles on the under side of the barrel.

Wiktionary

1. n. Device used with early firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant.
2. n. Ranch or trail foreman, usually the first or second person in charge. The person responsible for getting the work done.
3. n. military A World War II code name for short range fighter and bomber attacks to destroy ground targets, similar to circus attacks.
4. n. slang The penis.
5. v. transitive To force.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The rod used in ramming home the charge in a muzzle-loading firearm.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a rod used to clean the barrel of a firearm
2. n. a harshly demanding overseer
3. n. a rod used to ram the charge into a muzzle-loading firearm