the.com/flare gun
A pistol whose only bullet is a scream for help, visible for miles.
means A short-barreled handheld device that fires a bright burning flare into the sky to signal distress or location.
from "Flare" meaning a sudden blaze of light shows up in English in the 1600s-1700s, likely connected to an older sense of spreading or flaring outward (as in flared nostrils or a flared skirt), though its deeper roots are uncertain. "Gun" is far older, probably traced back to a medieval nickname for a siege weapon. The flare gun itself is a modern pairing of the two — a 19th/20th-century maritime and military invention, built to launch a signal cartridge rather than a projectile meant to harm.
- burn temp
- over 1000°C, bright enough to see in daylight
- legal twist
- classified as a firearm in some countries, a toy in others
- maritime rule
- international law requires flares on most seagoing vessels
- unintended use
- sometimes fired as improvised weapons, against maker's warnings