Word.ws English Dictionary

pistols

pistols is the plural of pistol.

Meaning of pistol

Noun

pistol (plural pistols)

  1. (broadly) A handgun
    1. (broadly, precise) The type of handgun with the chamber integral with the barrel.
      • She leveled her pistol at the target.
  2. The mechanical component of a fuse in a bomb or torpedo responsible for firing the detonator.
  3. A lively, high-energy person.
    • She was gregarious, opinionated, and in charge, the kind of person you'd describe as a real pistol, and I was immediately drawn to her.2011, Diane Lierow, Bernie Lierow, Kay West, Dani's Story: A Journey from Neglect to Love, page 81
  4. An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, but closer than in a shotgun formation, with a running back lined up behind him.

See all 6 meanings of pistol

Phrases with pistols

7 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about pistols

What is pistols the plural of?
Pistols is the plural of pistol.

Words near pistols in the dictionary

  1. pistollike
  2. pistolling
  3. pistolls
  4. pistolman
  5. pistology
  6. pistols
  7. pistols at dawn
  8. Pistolvania
  9. pistolwhip
  10. pistolwhipped
  11. pistolwhipping

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pistols (page history and authors); pistol (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “pistols.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pistols. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.