Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
holster [hohl-ster] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- a sheathlike carrying case for a firearm, attached to a belt, shoulder sling, or saddle.
verb (used with object)
- to put or put back in a holster: to holster a gun.
Origin of holster 1655–65; Dutch; cognate with Gothic hulistr, Old Norse hulstr sheath; akin to Old English helan to hide Examples from the Web for holster Contemporary Examples of holster
I took off the sheath, the holster, so to speak, of the taser and I loaded the taser.
L.A. Riots Anniversary: Stacey Koon’s Disturbing Testimony
Christine Pelisek
April 28, 2012
If Bush was too quick to pull the trigger, Obama is reluctant ever to pull the gun out of its holster.
Lee Siegel
August 28, 2011
Every government in Delhi keeps a thermometer in its holster and calibrates its decibel levels according to ground temperature.
M.J. Akbar
November 25, 2009
The man started to walk menacingly toward my partner, who then reached into his holster for his Smith & Wesson .38.
John Connolly
July 26, 2009
Historical Examples of holster
For the gun Andy had his Colt in the holster, and he knew it like his own mind.
Max Brand
Thinking of this, he produced it from the holster with a flick of his fingers.
Max Brand
Then his right arm loosened, and the hand flashed down to his holster.
Max Brand
How’ll they know that it was luck—that my gun stuck in the holster—and that you jumped me on the draw?
Max Brand
The Federal’s pistol slid into its holster and his sabre flashed out.
George Washington Cable
British Dictionary definitions for holster holster noun
- a sheathlike leather case for a pistol, attached to a belt or saddle
- mountaineering a similar case for an ice axe or piton hammer
Derived Formsholstered, adjectiveWord Origin for holster C17: via Dutch holster from Germanic; compare Old Norse hulstr sheath, Old English heolstor darkness, Gothic hulistr cover Word Origin and History for holster n.
“leather case for a pistol,” 1660s, probably from Old English heolster, earlier helustr “concealment, hiding place,” from Proto-Germanic *hulfti- (cf. Old High German hulft “cover, case, sheath,” Old Norse hulstr “case, sheath,” Middle Dutch holster, German Holfster “holster”), from PIE *kel- “to cover, to hide” (see cell). Intermediate forms are wanting, and the modern word could as well be from the Norse or Dutch cognates.
v.
by 1902, from holster (n.). Related: Holstered; holstering.