pew n.

(used to represent the sound of a weapon, esp. a beam weapon)

Usually in reduplicated form pew pew pew.

Weaponry

  • 1971 P. Ustinov Krumnagel 200

    ‘I’ll get even with them for what they done to you,’ Pew-pew-pew went the finger-gun, shooting it out with the bad men.

  • 1978 D. Davenport Power Eaters 122 page image

    He trained the telescopic sight…. Pew! Pew! Pew! The head, the heart, a lung. Isoceles hit. Superior. He was already dismantling the silencer.

  • 1995 D. Carey Station Rage (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) 231 page image Diane Carey bibliography

    Kira leaned into the controls, brought Defiant up on an edge, rolled around Rugg’l’s stern, and opened fire again. Pew-pew-pew.

  • 2009 S. Behrent Tethan Battle Adventure (Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Decide Your Destiny) 44 page image Sue Behrent bibliography

    ‘Sir?’ you hear one of the clones say, before—PEW-PEW-PEW! ‘They’ve opened fire on Janu!’ screams Peder.

  • 2012 C. Doctorow Pirate Cinema (2013) page image Cory Doctorow bibliography

    Laser hats were scorchingly bad-arse because they put lasers on your head and you went pew-pew-pew when you walked down the street.

  • 2014 Starburst Magazine (#399) Apr. 108/1 page image

    It has proper plastic UFO pieces that stack on top of each other, perfect for making little ‘zoom’ and ‘pew pew’ noises when you blow up another player’s homeworld.

  • 2022 Condé Nast Traveler 15 June (online ed.) page image

    A bowling alley, and…the laser-tag joint Ultrazone…defined my teen years, as my friends and I gutter-balled and pew-pew-pew-ed our weekends away.

Research requirements

antedating 1971

Last modified 2022-11-11 21:38:56
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.