gun down

gun down (third-person singular simple present guns down, present participle gunning down, simple past and past participle gunned down)

1. (transitive) To kill by means of a firearm, especially deliberately and in a brutal manner.
   • 1968 September 6, “Spain: The Basque Rebellion”, in Time:

     When Manzanas arrived home from work, the assailant gunned him down from ambush with a volley of pistol shots and escaped across the nearby border to France.

2. (transitive, figurative) To shoot down; to put an end to.

   The CEO gunned down that idea before we could present it to the board.

3. (transitive, US, prison slang, of a male prisoner) To masturbate while making sustained eye contact with someone — typically a female prison officer — as a form of intimidation.

   Synonym: gun

   • 2004, Jens Soering, Yoga of Heart:

     In the cell diagonally across from mine, a prisoner regularly “gunned down” the nurse on her morning rounds. He deliberately masturbated so that she'd see him through the cell door window as he ejaculated.