Taser

How to spell taser

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce taser

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does taser mean?

1. nounA weapon that fires barbed darts to deliver an incapacitating electric shock.
2. verbTo shoot someone with such a weapon, delivering an electric shock.

Taser in a sentence

• noun

  The officer drew a taser instead of a firearm.

• verb

  The guards were authorised to taser anyone who became violent.

• noun

  New recruits are trained to carry a taser on their belt.

• verb

  Police may taser a suspect who refuses to drop a knife.

Where does taser come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word began life as a trademark and an acronym rather than as an inherited root. The device was invented in the United States in the early 1970s by Jack Cover, who named it TASER after a boyhood favourite: the adventure novel 'Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle'. The letters were taken to stand for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, with an extra 'a' slipped in to make the name pronounceable. Because the source is a fictional hero rather than a Latin or Greek root, the spelling has no logical parts to lean on; you simply memorise t-a-s-e-r. Over time the brand name became a common noun and verb in everyday English, much as 'hoover' and 'biro' did, even though the manufacturer still defends it as a trademark.

How the word is built

• Originally an acronym (T.A.S.E.R.) now treated as a single root word; functions as taser (noun) or taser (verb)