son of a gun

noun

son of a bitch

“You son of a gun, you did it!”

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Meanings

nounson of a gun (plural sons of guns)

plural sons of guns

  1. euphemisticson of a bitch

    That son of a gun stole my wallet!

    5 more examples

    A plaugue tauke dee, dou damn’d Shon of a Gun, de Deevil carry dee away alive for me; […]

    1690, anonymous author, Teagueland Jeſts, or Bogg-Witticisms, part 2, page 138

    You Apollo's son, You're a son of a gun

    1726, The British Apollo, 3rd edition, volume 2, [London]: Theodore Sanders, page 379

    Why, I say, old feller, what a happy feller I once thought you, and what a miserable son of a gun you really are!

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

    "Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?"

    1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

    I don't break, I can hold the chrome / And it's weighing a ton and I'm a son of a gun

    2002, “The Seed (2.0)”, in Phrenology, performed by The Roots
  2. Used encouragingly or to compliment.

    You son of a gun, you did it!

interjection
  1. euphemisticUsed to express anger, contempt, disgust, astonishment, disappointment, etc.

    Son of a gun! I just got stung by a wasp!

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
gitson of a motherless goatwow

Origin

Euphemistic variant of son of a bitch. There are folk etymologies suggesting nautical origins, such as a reference to the disputed parentage of a child born aboard a ship (between the guns), or a child fathered by a soldier (also referred to as a "gun"). However, these etymologies are not supported by evidence.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic اِبْنُ الفَاعِلَةِ
  • اِبْنُ الفَاعِلَةِ (ibnu l-fāʕilati)euphemism
French ça alors
  • ça alorseuphemism
Italian figlio di buona donna
  • figlio di buona donnaeuphemism
Polish skurczybyk
  • skurczybykeuphemism
Portuguese filho da polícia
  • filho da políciaeuphemism
Russian ку́рицын сын
  • ку́рицын сын (kúricyn syn)euphemism
Spanish hijo de fruta
  • hijo de frutaeuphemism
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: son of a gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.