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hired gun
noun
a person hired to kill someone, as a gunfighter or professional killer.
a person hired to bear arms and fight for another, as a bodyguard or mercenary.
a person, as a politician or lobbyist, skilled at attaining power for others.
a person hired to resolve difficult problems or disputes or to handle complex legal or business problems.
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of hired gun1
Idioms and Phrases
A person, especially a professional killer, employed to kill someone, as in They thought the murder had been done by a hired gun . The noun gun has been slang for a professional criminal since the mid-1800s.
A person with special knowledge or expertise who is employed to resolve a complex problem. For example, The legal team was looking for a hired gun to handle the antitrust angle of the case . [ Slang ; 1960s]
Example Sentences
All the while, musicians — some bandmates, others hired guns — filed in and out of four different studios, as he searched for perfection.
It's not clear how much of the pro-Depp clamor was seeded by his hired guns, but in the end, they were pushing on an open door.
You might save yourself from a life filled with small-talk with hired guns who were trained to speak to you in short sentences.
ProPublica traced Zolgensma’s journey from lab to market, from the supporters there at the beginning to the hired guns brought in at the end to construct a rationale for its unprecedented price.
Fearful that this news would become public and make him look bad, Lively claims, Baldoni’s team orchestrated a smear campaign against her with the help of a hired gun named Jed Wallace.
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