Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Afraid of loud noise, such as that of gunfire.
- adjective Extremely distrustful or wary.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Afraid of a gun; frightened by the report of a gun: said of a field-dog.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Afraid ofguns , or thenoise they make.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Wall Street has become so gun-shy when it comes to the region that even a whisper of protests causes panic, a reality that has propelled Burnett to begin researching U.S. energy independence.
Natalia Brzezinski: Erin Burnett: 'Real Change Can Happen in the Middle East' Natalia Brzezinski 2011
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Sporkin added that the SEC and the Justice Department may now be "gun-shy."
Financial Crisis Prosecutions On Wall Street Slow To Develop Despite Cries For Justice Shahien Nasiripour 2011
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Condor, a Brazilian company, displayed tear-gas grenades alongside rubber-coated bullets, but was gun-shy about speaking to the media.
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It's not that Brenda Warner is suddenly uncomfortable with publicity, but her time in the St. Louis spotlight left her a bit gun-shy about opening herself to the world again.
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Condor, a Brazilian company, displayed tear-gas grenades alongside rubber-coated bullets, but was gun-shy about speaking to the media.
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Condor, a Brazilian company, displayed tear-gas grenades alongside rubber-coated bullets, but was gun-shy about speaking to the media.
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Retail has been one of the slowest commercial property sectors to recover from the downturn, lagging behind offices, hotels and health care as high unemployment keeps consumers gun-shy.
Retailers' Discounts Lure Shoppers Karen Talley 2011
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It seems ridiculous to accuse True Blood of being gun-shy about killing people, but in terms of the principal cast, there have been surprisingly few deaths and an alarming number of additions.
Ask Matt: Emmy Reactions, Plus True Blood, Glee, and More! 2011
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Japanese companies are so notoriously gun-shy about shedding businesses especially to non-Japanese buyers that General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt joked at a speech in Tokyo two years ago that he hoped to acquire a Japanese company "some day in our lifetime."
Hitachi Disk-Drive Deal Marks Streamlining Daisuke Wakabayashi 2011
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The exodus and uncertainty as Election Day approaches, with polls showing Democrats could lose dozens of seats in Congress, has left the remaining policy makers gun-shy.
White House's Next Task: Rebuilding Policy Team Jonathan Weisman 2010
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