straight shooter

plural straight shooters · alternative straight-shooter

1. idiomaticA person who is honest and forthright.

   The image he projects seems at home here in Iowa: the straight-shooter, the truth-teller, the unadorned Kansan from the prairie.

   1996 February 12, Katharine Q. Seelye, “Politics: Bob Dole—In No-Frills Message, Modesty Vies With Pride in Service”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Sep 2012

   1 more example

   And those lucky enough to be around him always knew who he was too — a gentleman of extraordinary character, a straight shooter and a pioneering journalist destined to be remembered.

   2006 December 25, Dan Rather, “A Fond Farewell: Ed Bradley”, in Time

   Synonyms: straight talker, square shooter

2. idiomaticA person who is blunt, sometimes to the point of being harsh or offensive.

   Keating . . . was an impatient taskmaster, but he was also a straight shooter who never held back a punch. . . . "Mitchell, you look like crap."

   2008, David Michaels, Tom Clancy, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, →ISBN, page 177

   2 more examples

   A 1934 journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Fleming, who has a reputation as an abrasive straight shooter, was a newspaper and magazine correspondent before joining ABC in 1957.

   1966 February 18, “The Administration: Unburdening Bill”, in Time

   [B]aseball's equivalent of John Wayne, one Dallas Green, will likely come in, take some players by the scruffs of their necks, tell them to shut up and play in a fundamentally sound way. . . . The human boom box, the relentless straight shooter, will keep all comers more than well aware of where he stands.

   1991 September 11, Claire Smith, “On Baseball: Green Could Mean Luck for the Mets”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Sep 2012

3. informalrecreational drugsA type of pipe used for smoking cocaine.

   This homemade crack tool was known as a straight shooter, which sped up the effects of smoking rock cocaine allowing it to reach the lungs faster.

   2007, Martin L. Stockton, Hustler's Greed, →ISBN, page 3