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weapon

WEP-uhn/ˈwɛp.ən/

Pluralweapons

6 meanings of weapon

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  1. 1
    nouncountable
    An instrument used for attack or defense in combat or hunting, such as a gun, missile, or sword; also, jokingly, any tool someone favors for a task.

    Police recovered the weapon used in the robbery from a nearby drain.

    Hunters chose their weapons according to the size of the prey.

    UsageCommon in carry a weapon and the murder weapon; jokingly, a favorite tool is your weapon of choice.

    Note

    The word names a thing by its use, not its make. The club was once a common weapon, and almost anything turned to attack or defense can earn the name.

  2. 2
    tacticnouncountable
    Any instrument or means used to harm or exert control over another person.

    Propaganda became the regime's most effective weapon against dissent.

    She turned his own words into a weapon during the argument.

    UsageUsually a weapon against someone or something; you use something as a weapon.

    Similartool, instrument, means

    Note

    Here the word leaves the battlefield of the combat sense but keeps its sense of contest: a weapon is whatever gives one side the advantage over another. Money serves oligarchs, and Rory Delap's long throw-ins served Stoke against opponents who knew them well. Emerson Hough's The Purchase Price (1910) charges a woman with "double weapons," her womanhood and her mind together.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Money can serve oligarchs as a figurative weapon. en.wiktionary.org
    • Rory Delap's long throw-ins benefited Stoke even against opponents familiar with them. en.wiktionary.org
    • Emerson Hough wrote The Purchase Price, published in 1910. gutenberg.org
    • The novel contains the exact expression “double weapons,” addressed to a woman by Captain Carlisle. gutenberg.org
    • The two figurative weapons are her womanhood and intellectual gifts. gutenberg.org
  3. 3
    skilled personnounslangAustraliacountable
    A remarkably skilled, capable, or impressive person or thing, worthy of admiration.

    Like the star player a coach builds the whole game plan around.

    The new signing proved to be a weapon in midfield all season.

    Give her any software problem and she's a weapon at solving it.

    UsageOften intensified: an absolute weapon, a total weapon; also a cheer: You weapon!

    Similarlegend, champion

    Note

    Australian slang turns the insult inside out: here a weapon is someone, or something, formidably good. It usually comes intensified, as an absolute weapon or a total weapon, and it works as a cheer, as when surfer Luke Egan called "You weapon!" to Caroline Marks. It covers machines too. Joshua Dowling of The Sydney Morning Herald used it in 2006 for a supercharged V8 that could dust a Porsche.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    foolnounslangderogatoryIrelandUKcountable
    A foolish, contemptible, or incompetent person.

    Only a weapon would forget his own passport at the airport.

    Their new manager is an absolute weapon, useless under any pressure.

    Similarmoron

    Note

    In Britain and Ireland the word is a blunt insult for someone both foolish and hard to put up with. It belongs to the same slang family as tool and arse, where a word for an object or body part is turned on a person. The trap is geography. In Australia the term of high praise uses the same word in the opposite direction, so one sentence can either wound or flatter.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Tool provides a parallel example of an object word used as an insult for a person. en.wiktionary.org
    • Arse provides a parallel example of a body-part word used as an insult for a person. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 5
    private partsnounslangcountable
    A slang term for the human genitals, especially the penis.

    He made a crude joke about the size of his weapon, and nobody at the table laughed.

    Weh you get da pussy deh from? Hey, gyal me love you Md love the way you use your weapon Gyal, your pussy tight like a vice grip
    2017, Mavado, “Ride All Night (My Kinda Girl)” (in Jamaican Creole)

    Similargenitals, genitalia, privates, junk

    Note

    This is rare slang that lives mostly in sexually explicit song lyrics, among them Mavado's "Ride All Night (My Kinda Girl)" (2017), sung in Jamaican Creole. The metaphor is not limited to men, since Mavado uses it of a woman's body.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Mavado released a song called "Ride All Night (My Kinda Girl)" in 2017. open.spotify.com
    • The song is sung in Jamaican Creole. en.wiktionary.org
    • In the song's sexual context, Mavado uses "weapon" for a woman's genitals; this is an interpretation supported by the surrounding lyrics. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 6
    verbarchaic
    To equip a person or thing with a weapon; to arm.

Practice

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Origin

This word comes from Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, going back to Proto-Germanic *wēpną ("weapon"), which is of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wēbnom. It is related to Dutch wapen, German Waffe, Swedish vapen and Icelandic vopn.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts