Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to gun
Participle: gunned
Gerund: gunning
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | gun |
| you | gun |
| he;she;it | guns |
| we | gun |
| you | gun |
| they | gun |
Perfect
| I | have gunned |
| you | have gunned |
| he;she;it | has gunned |
| we | have gunned |
| you | have gunned |
| they | have gunned |
Past
| I | gunned |
| you | gunned |
| he;she;it | gunned |
| we | gunned |
| you | gunned |
| they | gunned |
Pluperfect
| I | had gunned |
| you | had gunned |
| he;she;it | had gunned |
| we | had gunned |
| you | had gunned |
| they | had gunned |
Future
| I | will gun |
| you | will gun |
| he;she;it | will gun |
| we | will gun |
| you | will gun |
| they | will gun |
Future Perfect
| I | will have gunned |
| you | will have gunned |
| he;she;it | will have gunned |
| we | will have gunned |
| you | will have gunned |
| they | will have gunned |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | gun |
| you | gun |
| he;she;it | gun |
| we | gun |
| you | gun |
| they | gun |
Perfect
| I | have gunned |
| you | have gunned |
| he;she;it | have gunned |
| we | have gunned |
| you | have gunned |
| they | have gunned |
Imperfect
| I | gunned |
| you | gunned |
| he;she;it | gunned |
| we | gunned |
| you | gunned |
| they | gunned |
Pluperfect
| I | had gunned |
| you | had gunned |
| he;she;it | had gunned |
| we | had gunned |
| you | had gunned |
| they | had gunned |
Conditional
Present
| I | would gun |
| you | would gun |
| he;she;it | would gun |
| we | would gun |
| you | would gun |
| they | would gun |
Perfect
| I | would have gunned |
| you | would have gunned |
| he;she;it | would have gunned |
| we | would have gunned |
| you | would have gunned |
| they | would have gunned |
Imperative
| you | gun |
| we | Let's gun |
| you | gun |
Verbs conjugated like 'gun'
abet,
abhor,
abut,
acquit,
admit,
affrap,
allot,
alum,
amel,
amit,
anagram,
anvil,
apparel,
aret,
arret,
assot,
astun,
attrap,
augur,
avel, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'gun'
bun,
cun,
dun,
fun,
gen,
gin,
gub,
gum,
gunk,
gurn,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. 1339, gunne "an engine of war that throws rocks, arrows or other missiles," probably a shortening of woman's name Gunilda, found in M.E. gonnilde "cannon" and in an Anglo-L. reference to a specific gun from a 1330 munitions inventory of Windsor Castle ("...una magna balista de cornu quae Domina Gunilda ..."), from O.N. Gunnhildr, woman's name (from gunnr + hildr, both meaning "war, battle"); the identification of women with powerful weapons is common historically (cf. Big Bertha, Brown Bess, etc.); meaning shifted with technology, from cannons to firearms as they developed 15c. Great guns (cannon, etc.) distinguished from small guns (such as muskets) from c.1408. First applied to pistols and revolvers 1744. Meaning "thief, rascal" is from 1858. The verb meaning "to shoot with a gun" is from 1622; the sense of "to accelerate an engine" is from 1930. Gun-shy is 1884, originally of sporting dogs. Son of a gun is originally nautical. Gun-metal (commonly an alloy of copper and zinc) used attributively of a dull blue-gray color since 1905. Gunboat is from 1793; gunboat diplomacy is from 1927, originally with reference to China.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-tis
5. Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰéntis
6. Proto-Germanic *gunþiz
7. Old Norse gunnr
8. Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-der.
9. Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂tís
10. Proto-Germanic *hildiz
11. Old Norse hildr
12. Old Norse Gunnhildrder.
13. Middle English gunne
14. English gun
15. From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war (compare Nordic Gunn, a female name meaning “battle”). The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".
Sample Sentences
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What's the use of foolishness like calling a gentleman bad names when he can gun you in the dark and you're no good even at striking matches? [1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:]
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He gunned the engine.
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We're all gunning for you.
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Australian John Landy, one of Bannister’s rivals also gunning to break the four-minute barrier, took more than a second off the Briton’s time in Turku, Finland, a few weeks later. [2023, George Ramsay, Amy Woodyatt, “‘Like a chairlift up Everest’: Once running’s supreme challenge, has the value of a four-minute mile diminished?”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), CNN:]
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He's been gunning for you ever since you embarrassed him at the party.
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[…] all inmates participated in such conduct, and […] "the inmates gunned only female staff, not the all-male security staff," he said. [2010, BNA's Employment Discrimination Report:]