Definition of "derringer" [der•rin•ger]

• A short-barreled pistol that has a large bore and is small enough to be carried in a pocket. (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.

• "On this side of the Atlantic, nearly any small pocket pistol is now called a derringer, from Henry Deringer's short-barreled muzzle-loader."
• "a pair of pistols; the word, which is still popular, being a corruption of the Persian "Tabáncheh" = a slap or blow, even as the French call a derringer coup de poing."
• "When a steamboat known to be carrying smallpox attempted to unload its passengers, Dumont aimed her derringer pistol at the captain and fired two shots into the deck just inches from his feet."