A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1475, 1573, 1629
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Hand-gun, n. [ME. handgun (1445).] The name for any gun carried and fired in the hand. — c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace vii. 995.
With awblaster, gaynȝe, and stanys fast, And hand gunnys rycht brymly out thai cast 1573 Reg. Privy C. II. 236.
Ony culveringis, hagbuttis, or uther hand-gunnis 1629 Lowther's Jrnl. 43.]
[Crack like a hand-gun, a phrase applied to those who be bravado talkative folks
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"Hand-gun n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/hand_gun>
