slap leather

present singular third person slaps leather · participle present slapping leather · participle past slapped leather · past slapped leather

1. USidiomaticTo make a quick motion to draw one's handgun from its holster, especially in a duel in the Old West.

   [T]he western . . . provides a ready armature for other dramas that have nothing to do with slapping leather, riding horseflesh or kissing purty gals.

   2001 August 17, Stephen Hunter, “'American Outlaws': The Young And the West-less”, in Washington Post, retrieved 07 Jul 2015

   2 more examples

   Murphy plays Tom Destry, the peace-loving son of a notorious gunslinger. . . . Though he prefers to talk rather than slap leather, Destry manages to keep the bad guys at bay.

   2010, “Movies: Destry (1954)”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Jul 2015

   With .45s strapped to their sides, gunslingers—30 men, six women, even an 11-year-old kid—slogged through the mud in their cowboy boots to reach a dirt-caked boardwalk where, one after another, they slapped leather to see who would reign as Oklahoma’s fastest gun.

   2015 April 20, Kelly Bostian, “Quick-draw cowboys face off to find Oklahoma's fastest guns”, in Tulsa World, retrieved 07 Jul 2015

   Synonyms: fill one's hand