derringer

Definition of derringernext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of derringer This mysterious derringer pistol has sparked more intrigue than any of his other dangerous finds because people want to know the back story. Mike Sullivan, CBS News, 17 Mar. 2026 One hundred and fifty-nine years ago, a 26-year-old white supremacist and Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth pointed a .44 caliber derringer pistol at the back of Abraham Lincoln’s head and squeezed the trigger. Brian Matthew Jordan, National Review, 14 Apr. 2024 In 1976, after wrecking his Rolls-Royce in a drunk-driving accident, he was arrested, intoxicated, with a loaded derringer on the grounds of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate. Chris Morris, Variety, 28 Oct. 2022 Police found a silver derringer-style gun in his backpack at the time of his arrest. oregonlive, 21 June 2022 There's also a replica of the derringer pistol John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Lincoln. Ariana Garcia, Chron, 13 May 2022 Wagrowski also testified that police found two guns -- a .22-caliber Kel-tec and a small derringer -- at the Crumbley home, aside from the one allegedly used in the shooting. Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 8 Feb. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derringer
Noun
  • Following Alfonso Morales’ arrest, officers seized an assault rifle, a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver from the apartment, according to Montoya.
    Robert Salonga, Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Dingle was taken into custody and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver, carrying a pistol without a permit and carrying a dangerous weapon in a motor vehicle.
    Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • On March 11, a San Francisco police violence reduction team raided his Albany apartment and found a Glock pistol with a fully automatic sear switch, according to police.
    Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Zangara, who had purchased the pistol for $8 at a local pawnshop, mingled among a record crowd of 25,000 people who had come to catch a glimpse of the famed FDR.
    Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Two people have been charged, and a handgun was recovered, following a gunfire incident in the early morning of March 26 on the East Side of Aurora, according to the Aurora Police Department.
    Aurora Beacon-News, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have fatally shot a man who was allegedly armed with a handgun in East LA on Wednesday morning.
    Chelsea Hylton, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • In the latest Texas gold fight, though, six-shooters, stagecoaches and dusty trails have been replaced by legal briefs and courtrooms. FROM 2016: New law calls for bringing Texas gold home.
    Paul Flahive, Austin American Statesman, 5 Mar. 2026
  • The handgun, which was introduced in 1935 after Prohibition, is a six-shooter revolver that fires rounds at a high velocity.
    Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 28 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • And a sidearm lefty against [Smith] isn’t ideal either.
    Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2026
  • Each had a sidearm clasped in both hands.
    Scott Eden, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Bush was charged with murder, home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm.
    Naveen Dhaliwal, CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Bush is charged with murder, home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm, and is being held in lieu of a $2 million court set bond.
    Sean Krofssik, Hartford Courant, 29 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • That's when authorities said the homeowner allegedly pointed a gun at the worker, sending him running for his life.
    Erika Stanish, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The play, like the movie, is loosely based on a robbery that took place in 1972, on a boiling-hot August day, when an eccentric, deep-in-debt Vietnam veteran named John Wojtowicz entered a Chase bank in Brooklyn with a gun and two accomplices, hoping for a quick score.
    Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Derringer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derringer. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.

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