Whitworth gun

noun

A form of rifled cannon and small arms. The bore has a polygonal section, and the twist is rapid. The ball, which is pointed in front, is made to fit the bore accurately, and is very much elongated, its length being about three-and-a-half times its diameter.

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Meanings

nounWhitworth gun (plural Whitworth guns)

plural Whitworth guns

  1. A form of rifled cannon and small arms. The bore has a polygonal section, and the twist is rapid. The ball, which is pointed in front, is made to fit the bore accurately, and is very much elongated, its length being about three-and-a-half times its diameter.

    THE WHITWORTH GUN. — Mr. Whitworth, of Manchester, has succeeded in constructing several rifled breech-loading cannon of various calibres: his 3-pounder gun, 208 lbs. in weight, with a calibre of 1½ inches, a charge of 8 oz. of powder,[…]

    1863, Henry Lee Scott, Military Dictionary

Origin

Invented by Sir Joseph Whitworth of Manchester, England.

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Cite this entry
APA

Whitworth gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitworth%20gun

MLA

“Whitworth gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitworth%20gun. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Whitworth gun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Whitworth%20gun.

Source: Whitworth gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.