Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

saturday-night special

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.69 in modern English

Syllables
sat-ur-day-night spe-cial
IPA
32
Scrabble Score
20
Letters
5
Syllables
15
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An inexpensive, easily obtained handgun.

American usage

noun

An overnight weekend train.

American usage

noun

A seasonal (usually October to December) sale on Saturday evening.

American usage; Obsolete

noun

A girl who can be dated easily on Saturday evenings.

American usage; Obsolete; Slang

noun

An unexpected takeover bid that gives its opponents little time to respond.

Dated

Etymology

Attested from 1917, akin to Saturday-night pistol attested from 1915. Not entirely clear, but perhaps from phrases like “Saturday night pistol slaying” and “Saturday night pistol scrape” often found in early 20th century local crime reporting due to the fact that Saturday evening had been the peak time for homicides and similar crimes. Also likely to be enforced by the obsolete meaning of a cheap sale and usage of "Special" in the context of more powerful firearms like Colt Police Positive Special.

Usage

Inflected Forms

Saturday-night specials (plural) Saturday night special (alternative)

Phrases

dawn raid

Frequently Paired Words

dawn raid

Synonyms

junk gun suicide special Saturday-night pistol

Questions

What does saturday-night special mean?
An inexpensive, easily obtained handgun.
Where does saturday-night special come from?
Attested from 1917, akin to Saturday-night pistol attested from 1915. Not entirely clear, but perhaps from phrases like “Saturday night pistol slaying” and “Saturday night pistol scrape” often found in early 20th century local crime reporting due to the fact that Saturday evening had been the peak time for homicides and similar crimes. Also likely to be enforced by the obsolete meaning of a cheap sale and usage of "Special" in the context of more powerful firearms like Colt Police Positive Special.

How to pronounce saturday-night special

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “saturday-night special”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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  4. Repeat and practice — Say “saturday-night special” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.