zip gun

plural zip guns

1. engineeringA crude homemade weapon that fires a projectile.

   . “Oh, so we got annuduh tough guy here,” he said, pulling out a gun from his leather jacket. It looked like a real gun, but who knew, maybe it was zip gun.

   2012, Arnold Silveri, Turning the Corner on Life, page 59

   3 more examples

   As pertaining to my idea of zip guns, we didn't use the old type of zip gun any more because they were too dangerous. That was just a pipe and a piece of wood and nail and rubber band.

   1968, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders

   The simplest zip gun seen by the author was a metal tube in which a .22 Magnum cartridge was inserted. It was fired by striking the protruding base of the cartridge with a hammer.

   1998, Vincent J.M. DiMaio, Gunshot Wounds, page 282

   During the interview, Flaco whips out a zip gun he's hidden beneath his testicles during the pat-down search prior to transfer to GID, and presents it to Detective Rydell.

   2005, Jodi Picoult, Vanishing Acts

   Synonyms: slam gun

plural zip guns

1. space flightAn EVA astronaut space maneuvering propulsion unit, a handheld gas jet device, connected to a reservoir.