A few days ago

Jay

What does the phrase, “smoking gun” mean?

Top 6 Answers

A few days ago

insidethebox

Favorite Answer

“Something that serves as indisputable evidence or proof, especially of a crime. ”

The “smoking gun” name refers to the smoking gun metaphor, which is commonly used to describe a damning piece of evidence.

Some think the phrase began during the Watergate investigation -“meaning incontrovertible evidence of guilt, is of relatively recent origin, dating to the Watergate era. From the New York Times of 14 July 1974:”

But it is believed that “Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Gloria Scott, a mystery that appears in the 1894 The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, used the phrase smoking pistol”:

“The chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand.”

“Conan Doyle’s usage, however, was quite literal and not figurative. Also, it referred to a murder case while the current usage is usually found in a political context. “

4 years ago

Anonymous

Smoking Gun Meaning

A few days ago

Joshm

The smoking gun is the evidence that directly links you to a situation, whether it be a crime or cheating. If I walked into a room heard a gun shot saw a dead body and then saw you with a smoking gun then your busted (and I am probably the next victim). similar to “dead to rights”

A few days ago

Anonymous

When detectives are trying to solve a murder, a literal smoking gun is the ultimate clue to the crime. It has the fingerprints of the shooter and barrel rifling matching the bullet striations. More generally, it is the “master piece to the puzzle”, so to speak.