Meanings
plural elder-guns · alternative elderne gun · alternative eller-gun
- A popgun made of a hollowed shoot of elder, i.e. a harmless weapon.
… tis a great displeasure That an elder gun, can do against a cannon,
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, line 2046 (Quarto 1, 1600)1 more example
… that's a perillous shot out of an Elder Gunne, that a poore and a priuate displeasure can doe against a Monarch.
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, line 2046 (First Folio, 1623)
Cite this entry
elder-gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elder-gun
“elder-gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elder-gun. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elder-gun,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elder-gun.
Source: elder-gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.