Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A form of breech-loading rifle in which the cartridge is exploded by the rapid impact at its base of a needle or small spike.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The carnage that repelled the Chancellor was due in part to the French infantry rifle, the chassepot, which proved to be a more effective instrument of destruction than the Prussian needle-gun.

    FORGE OF EMPIRES 1861-1871 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 2007

  • The carnage that repelled the Chancellor was due in part to the French infantry rifle, the chassepot, which proved to be a more effective instrument of destruction than the Prussian needle-gun.

    FORGE OF EMPIRES 1861-1871 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 2007

  • The carnage that repelled the Chancellor was due in part to the French infantry rifle, the chassepot, which proved to be a more effective instrument of destruction than the Prussian needle-gun.

    FORGE OF EMPIRES 1861-1871 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 2007

  • The carnage that repelled the Chancellor was due in part to the French infantry rifle, the chassepot, which proved to be a more effective instrument of destruction than the Prussian needle-gun.

    FORGE OF EMPIRES 1861-1871 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 2007

  • The carnage that repelled the Chancellor was due in part to the French infantry rifle, the chassepot, which proved to be a more effective instrument of destruction than the Prussian needle-gun.

    FORGE OF EMPIRES 1861-1871 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 2007

  • "Easy," Niven said, gesturing with the needle-gun.

    Starfishers Cook, Glen 1982

  • Earlier, he had seen the shape of the needle-gun lumping her underwear in a dresser drawer.

    Starfishers Cook, Glen 1982

  • But what struck him most was a recent Prussian invention, the needle-gun, which he saw would be the arm of the future.

    John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub R. E. Cholmeley

  • Nicholas von Dreyse, inventor of the needle-gun, is now living, at the age of seventy-eight.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866 Various

  • [46] There has been as much noise made over the needle-gun as by that famous and fascinating slaughter weapon; yet it is by no means an arm of tender years.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866 Various

Comments

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  • "What struck him most was a recent Prussian invention, the needle-gun, which he saw would be the arm of the future."

    --"John Nicholson, The Lion of the Punjaub" Author: R. E. Cholmeley, 1908.
    "My Lord, you may rely upon this, that if ever
    there is a desperate deed to be done in India,
    John Nicholson is the man to do it."
    Sir Herbert Edwardes to Lord Canning,
    March 1857.

    July 28, 2015