Weapons

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a projectile with a straight thin shaft and an arrowhead on one end and stabilizing vanes on the other; intended to be shot from a bow

 

dirty bomb

an atom bomb that leaves considerable radioactive contamination

 

twenty-two

a .22 caliber firearm (pistol or rifle)

 

bioarm

any weapon usable in biological warfare

 

rifle ball

a bullet designed to be fired from a rifle; no longer made spherical in shape

 

sidewinder

air-to-air missile with infrared homing device

 

organophosphate nerve agent

any of a series of nerve agents containing organophosphate compounds first synthesized by German chemists in 1936; in World War II the Germans tested them in concentration camps but not on the battlefield; Iraq is alleged to have used them against Iran and against the Kurds

 

partizan

a pike with a long tapering double-edged blade with lateral projections; 16th and 17th centuries

 

Exocet

a guided missile developed by the French government for use against ships

 

V-1

a small jet-propelled winged missile that carries a bomb

 

piece

a portable gun

 

spitball

a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere

 

automatic firearm

a firearm that reloads itself and keeps firing until the trigger is released

 

smoothbore

a firearm that has no rifling

 

Garand rifle

a semiautomatic rifle

 

scimitar

a curved oriental saber; the edge is on the convex side of the blade

 

semiautomatic firearm

an autoloader that fires only one shot at each pull of the trigger

 

W.M.D.

a weapon that kills or injures civilian as well as military personnel (nuclear and chemical and biological weapons)

 

handbow

a bow drawn by hand as distinguished from a crossbow

 

chemical weapon

chemical substances that can be delivered using munitions and dispersal devices to cause death or severe harm to people and animals and plants