stun gun n.

a weapon that renders a victim unconscious or incapacitated without causing serious injury; cf. earlier stunner n.

Weaponry

  • 1946 M. Champion Unforeseen in Astounding Science Fiction Nov. 42/1 page image Mark Champion bibliography

    Lodner tossed the stun gun on a flange between the stills and the fluxing panels.

  • 1949 W. L. Bade Lost Ulysses in Astounding Science Fiction May 109/2 page image William L. Bade bibliography

    Sonneman had shot him with a stun-gun. No wonder he felt so miserable!

  • 1953 A. Norton Star Rangers v. 69 Andre Norton bibliography

    Wonder what they would have thought of a stun gun.

  • 1964 β€˜M. Leinster’ Lord of the Uffts in Worlds of Tomorrow Feb. 62/1 page image Murray Leinster bibliography

    The stun-gun made a burping noise. Electric charges sped out of it, scattering. The gun would carry nearly a hundred yards at widest dispersion of its fire. Within the cone-shaped space it affected, any flesh unshielded by metal would receive a sharp and painful but totally uninjurious electric shock.

  • 1981 M. Resnick Soul Eater i. 8 Mike Resnick bibliography

    He glanced over some of the orders and began estimating what he'd need: a laser cannon, two vibrators, a molecular imploder (if he could get his hands on one somewhere on Northpoint). There'd be the standard hand weapons: the stungun, the screecher, and an old-fashioned laser pistol.

  • 1990 R. L. Forward Rocheworld 52 Robert L. Forward

    There was a slap of hands on stungun gutts.

  • 1991 M. Weiss King's Test ii.ix. 179

    Four humans, three men and a woman, walked toward her, small stunguns in their hands.

  • 2005 R. Thurston I.D.I.D. May 132 page image Robert Thurston bibliography

    A guard tried to nail a Loshak with a stun gun pellet.

Research requirements

antedating 1946
Earliest cite

M. Champion 'The Unforeseen'
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1949 cite from William Bade's "Lost Ulysses".
Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Mark Champion's "The Unforeseen".

Earliest cite in the OED: 1971.

Last modified 2021-12-14 14:26:35
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.