Drone_pilot
19-06-06, 10:36
flash in the pan
gunpowder that burned fiercely but ineffectually in the touch hole of a gun, without igniting the main charge. The result was a flash and some smoke, but the gun didn’t fire, and the ball didn’t actually go anywhere.
Lock stock and Barrel
The lock was the firing mechanism of early types of firearms, such as the firelock, flintlock, and matchlock. It’s likely the name was given to the mechanism because it looked a bit like the primitive door locks of the period. The stock is the wooden handle of such a firearm. The complete weapon consisted just of the three parts of lock, stock and barrel, so the expression means “everything, the whole thing”.
hang fire
when firearms were loaded using a gunpowder charge poured from a flask, which was then ignited by a spark from a flint striking against an iron plate. Gunpowder was notoriously unreliable, partly because it varied a great deal in quality, but also because the slightest damp stopped it igniting properly. When this happened, the powder in the firearm smouldered instead of exploding and was said to hang fire.
Going off half cock(ed)
state of the hammer in a Firearm. A gun may be "cocked" in readiness for firing. Flintlocks usually have two "cocked" positions, the first of which (half-cock) enables priming, but keeps the trigger locked. This is the origin of the term "going off at half cock" or "going off half-cocked", which describes premature firing.
gunpowder that burned fiercely but ineffectually in the touch hole of a gun, without igniting the main charge. The result was a flash and some smoke, but the gun didn’t fire, and the ball didn’t actually go anywhere.
Lock stock and Barrel
The lock was the firing mechanism of early types of firearms, such as the firelock, flintlock, and matchlock. It’s likely the name was given to the mechanism because it looked a bit like the primitive door locks of the period. The stock is the wooden handle of such a firearm. The complete weapon consisted just of the three parts of lock, stock and barrel, so the expression means “everything, the whole thing”.
hang fire
when firearms were loaded using a gunpowder charge poured from a flask, which was then ignited by a spark from a flint striking against an iron plate. Gunpowder was notoriously unreliable, partly because it varied a great deal in quality, but also because the slightest damp stopped it igniting properly. When this happened, the powder in the firearm smouldered instead of exploding and was said to hang fire.
Going off half cock(ed)
state of the hammer in a Firearm. A gun may be "cocked" in readiness for firing. Flintlocks usually have two "cocked" positions, the first of which (half-cock) enables priming, but keeps the trigger locked. This is the origin of the term "going off at half cock" or "going off half-cocked", which describes premature firing.