# shotgun

/ˈʃɑtˌɡən/ (US) · /ʃˈɒtɡʌn/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/shotgun
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. a type of gun

noun · CEFR B2

a long gun that fires many small metal balls at once instead of a single bullet.

For teachers: a smoothbore firearm designed to fire a number of small pellets, or shot, typically used for hunting or security.

- The farmer kept a shotgun in the shed to protect his chickens from foxes.
- Unlike a rifle which fires a single projectile, a shotgun disperses a cloud of lead or steel pellets, making it effective for hitting moving targets at close range.

### 2. front passenger seat

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal

the seat next to the driver in a car.

For teachers: the front passenger seat of a vehicle. Derived from the historical position of an armed guard on a stagecoach.

- I called shotgun, so I get to sit in the front and pick the music.
- The children raced to the driveway, each shouting 'shotgun' in an attempt to secure the most comfortable seat for the long journey ahead.

### 3. American house style

noun · CEFR C2 · American English · Technical

a narrow, one-story house where the rooms are in a straight line with no hallways.

For teachers: a narrow, rectangular residential dwelling, usually no more than 12 feet wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end.

- Many historic neighborhoods in New Orleans are famous for their colorful shotgun houses.
- The architectural survey highlighted the preservation of nineteenth-century shotgun dwellings, noting their efficient use of narrow urban lots and natural ventilation.

### 4. to claim something

verb · CEFR B2 · Informal · Slang

to say out loud that you want something before anyone else can take it.

For teachers: to verbally assert a primary claim to a resource or position, such as a seat or a bedroom.

- I shotgun the biggest bedroom in the new apartment.
- Before the group had even reached the hotel lobby, Mark had already shotgunned the top bunk, much to the annoyance of his younger brother.

### 5. to drink quickly

verb · CEFR C1 · American English · Slang

to drink the contents of a can very fast by making a hole in the bottom.

For teachers: to consume a canned beverage rapidly by puncturing a hole in the side near the base and opening the top tab to increase flow.

- The college students were shotgunning sodas at the end of the race.
- The practice of shotgunning beverages is a common, albeit messy, sight at American tailgate parties and fraternity events.

### 6. to try many things at once

verb · CEFR C1 · Technical · Informal

to send out many requests or try many solutions at once, hoping one will work.

For teachers: to employ an indiscriminate or wide-ranging approach to a problem, such as sending numerous identical requests or testing multiple variables simultaneously.

- Instead of fixing the specific bug, he tried shotgunning the code with random changes.
- The developer decided to shotgun the API requests to several servers at once to see which one would respond the respond the fastest.

## Examples

- I'm sitting in the front because I called shotgun.
- As the group walked toward the car, Sarah shouted shotgun to ensure she wouldn't have to sit in the cramped back seat.
- The unspoken rules of the road dictate that the first person to audibly claim shotgun earns the right to control the radio and navigate for the duration of the journey.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.