Did you ever hear the word "revolver" when you were growing up? What word would you suggest be used when referring to both "pistols" and "revolvers?"
Regards,
Webster`s Dictionary, 1887: “Pistol”
“a short firearm to be aimed and fired from one hand.
Pistols are now usually revolvers, or automatic, or semiautomatic, magazine pistols.”
Revolver herein is defined in 1887 Webster`s Dictionary as
“a firearm (commonly a pistol) with a cylinder of several chambers so arranged as to revolve on an axis, and be discharged in succession by the same lock.”
1790 Sheridan`s dictionary: “Musket, a soldier`s handgun.”
the word “rifle” does not appear in Sheridan`s 1790 dictionary. But the word “caliver “ does .
“Caliver, a barquebuse, an old musket”
ibid.
“Handgun, a gun wielded by the hand”
to wield; to use with full command, as a thing not too heavy”. -Sheridan
Sheridan 1790: “firearms, arms which owe their efficacy to fire... the instrument from which shot is discharged by fire.”
Webster 1887: “musket, a hand firearm formerly carried by soldiers.”
It`s all semantics to me.
It would appear to this ignorant perspon, me, that
A. a Musket is a handgun.
B. A revolver is a type of pistol.
C. Handgun is any kind of gun that vcan be wielded by the hand.