Definition of "gunsel" [gunsel]

• Slang A hoodlum or other criminal, especially one who carries a gun. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But he left the word gunsel because Hammett had used it so casually that Shaw took it for granted that the word pertained to a hired gunman."
• "Perhaps the editor had never come upon the word gunsel before; perhaps it even flashed across his mind that no such word existed (it is not in desk dictionaries); in any event, it was perfectly natural for the editor, having caught and deleted the supposedly offensive phrase, to let gunsel slip past."
• "Nearly every detective story writer in the business has taken over the word gunsel and used it to mean a gunman."