smoking gun
noun
indisputable proof or evidence of a crime.
Origin of smoking gun
First recorded in 1970–75
Words nearby smoking gun
smokerlyzer,
smokestack,
smokestack industry,
smokey,
smoking car,
smoking gun,
smoking jacket,
smoking lamp,
smoking room,
smoking stand,
smoking-concert
Example sentences from the Web for smoking gun
Plumbers, hush money, enemies list, smoking-gun tape, the whole nine yards.
Watergate Remembered Four Decades Later at Washington Post Party |Howard Kurtz |June 12, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for smoking gun
smoking gun
noun
a piece of irrefutable incriminating evidence
Idioms and Phrases with smoking gun
smoking gun
Something that serves as indisputable evidence or proof, especially of a crime. For example, There is no smoking gun in the Oval Office; the President had no role in tampering with the evidence. This expression alludes to the smoke coming from a recently discharged firearm, a normal occurrence until the invention of smokeless powder. [Mid-1900s]