you motorboatin son of a gun

• ABBREVIATIONS
• BIOGRAPHIES
• CALCULATORS
• CONVERSIONS
• DEFINITIONS

Wedding Crashers 2005

Jeremy Grey: You motor-boating son of a b*tch, you old sailor you!

Share your thoughts on this Wedding Crashers's quote with the community:

Report Comment

We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.

You need to be logged in to favorite .

Create a new account.

Your name: * Required

Your email address: * Required

Pick a user name: * Required

Username: * Required

Password: * Required

Forgot your password?    Retrieve it

Quote of the Day Today's Quote  |  Archive

Would you like us to send you a free inspiring quote delivered to your inbox daily.

Please enter your email address:

Use the citation below to add this movie quote to your bibliography:

Style: MLA Chicago APA

"Wedding Crashers Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. < https://www.quotes.net/mquote/131906 >.

Know another quote from Wedding Crashers?

Don't let people miss on a great quote from the "wedding crashers" movie - add it here, the web's largest resource for, famous quotes & sayings, a member of the stands4 network, our favorite collection of, famous movies.

Browse Quotes.net

Are you a quotes master, who said: "your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking.".

The meaning and origin of the expression: Son of a gun

Son of a gun

What's the meaning of the phrase 'son of a gun'.

A 'son of a gun' is a rogue or scamp - "you are naughty, you old son of a gun". The phrase is also used, although this is uncommon outside the USA, as a euphemism for ' son of a bitch '.

Some say that the origin is 'son of a military man' but, whether this is the correct origin or not, the phrase is no longer used to convey that meaning.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Son of a gun'?

There is dispute amongst etymologists about the origin of this phrase. As always, disputes only occur where there is no definitive evidence so I'll put the sources here and let you decide for yourself. The two points of view are primarily these:

1. The phrase originated as 'son of a military man' (that is, a gun) .

The sources for the point of view that 'son of a gun' is 'son of a military man' are:

- Jon Badcock's, Slang: A Dictionary of the Turf , 1823:

[ son of a gun means ] 'a soldier's bastard'.

- The Sailor's Word-Book: an alphabetical digest of nautical terms , William Henry Smyth, 1867:

[ a son of a gun is ] "An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands at sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage”.

The first known printed example of 'son of a gun' in print is The British Apollo No. 43 , 1708:

"You'r a Son of a Gun".

That source doesn't mention the military and all the explanations that link 'son of a gun' to the military come 150 years or more later. However, Smyth was himself a Royal Navy admiral and in a better position than most to know what went on aboard naval ships. Whether or not the military/naval version is the origin it is clear that, in 1823 at least, the term was used with that meaning.

Counter to that you might think it unusual that military men didn't appear to have daughters, or you may just put that down to the prevailing sexism of the time. There are several phrases including the word son:

Every mother's son Go on my son Like father, like son My son the doctor Number one son On me 'ead, son

whereas it's difficult to think of anything other than 'don't put your daughter on the stage' for daughters.

2. The term is euphemistic and derived as a conveniently rhyming alternative to 'son of a bitch/whore'.

' Son of a bitch ' has been part of the language for centuries, certainly long enough for people to some up with a euphemistic variant for it. Shakespeare used something like it in King Lear , 1605:

"One that art nothing but the composition of a Knave, Begger, Coward, Pandar, and the Sonne and Heire of a Mungrill Bitch."

The military version has some circumstantial evidence to support it, the rhyming euphemism origin appears to be no more than conjecture.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

Learn About Phrases and Sayings

Son Of a Gun

A ‘ son of a gun ‘ can simply refer to a person. Sometimes this phrase might describe a person who is behaving poorly.

Example: I travelled to Texas to visit my grandpa; it’s been years since I last spoke to him. The moment he saw me, he stretched out his arms and said: “You son of a gun , get over here and give your grandpa a hug!”

1. You old dog (you)

The Origin Of ‘Son Of a Gun’

The origin of this phrase is not clear. However, there are theories that talk about where it may have come from. For example, this expression may originate from British Navy ships, where pregnant women onboard the ship gave birth near the broadside guns. Since these babies were born near the guns of the ship, they were ‘sons of guns,’ or something like that. In his book from 1867,  The Sailor’s Word-Book , William Henry Smyth wrote concerning this phrase:

“An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands at sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.”

There’s also a story written by Legrand G. Capers in the American Medical Weekly, 1864. The story tells of a man who was shot through the scrotum and afterwards, the bullet traveled and lodged itself in a woman, who later became pregnant. However, in a later issue, an editor’s note implied this story was not to be taken seriously. So does the phrase ‘son of a gun’ come from this story? No, it does not because it’s found in print more than a century earlier! According to The Phrase Finder, this expression is seen as early as the year 1708, in  The British Apollo No. 43 :

“You’re a Son of a Gun.”

Example Sentences

• Eric, you son of a gun ! It sure was nice of you to invite me and my family out to eat, especially to such a fancy place.

Similar Example:

• William, you old dog you , I haven’t seen you in nearly five years. How have you been?

Tip: If you are finished reading about this expression, we have a list of more  common phrases that you can check out. It contains hundreds of popular sayings! You can learn their meaning and maybe even their origin too! To get to the list of phrases on here, select a letter from the top menu. It’s that easy!

Motor Boat Son Of A Bitch GIF

• Son Of A Bitch

Related GIFs

• #Shaking-Head
• #motorboating
• #Slobosztky
• #Motor-Boat
• #I-Wont-Let-You

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

son of a gun

noun phrase

Definition of son of a gun, examples of son of a gun in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'son of a gun.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1708, in the meaning defined above

Dictionary Entries Near son of a gun

son of a bitch

Cite this Entry

“Son of a gun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/son%20of%20a%20gun. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on son of a gun

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for son of a gun

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Your vs. you're: how to use them correctly, every letter is silent, sometimes: a-z list of examples, more commonly mispronounced words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, popular in wordplay, the words of the week - apr. 19, 10 words from taylor swift songs (merriam's version), a great big list of bread words, 10 scrabble words without any vowels, 12 more bird names that sound like insults (and sometimes are), games & quizzes.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Son of a Gun

JR busts out of prison with Brendan Lynch, Australia's most notorious criminal, and joins Lynch's gang for a gold heist that soon pits the two men against one another. JR busts out of prison with Brendan Lynch, Australia's most notorious criminal, and joins Lynch's gang for a gold heist that soon pits the two men against one another. JR busts out of prison with Brendan Lynch, Australia's most notorious criminal, and joins Lynch's gang for a gold heist that soon pits the two men against one another.

• Julius Avery
• John Collee
• Ewan McGregor
• Brenton Thwaites
• Alicia Vikander
• 71 User reviews
• 104 Critic reviews
• 49 Metascore
• 2 nominations

• Brendan Lynch

• Prison Officer

• JR's Cellmate
• Dave's Crony
• (as Jared Dehar)
• Solitary Officer

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Based on real life bank robber Brenden Abbott, AKA "The Post Card Bandit" & his apprentice Brendan Berichon.
• Goofs When the drug dealer/ arms dealer hands JR weapons there is no possible way he can hold onto the M60 Machine Gun like that, with it weighing around 23 lbs.

Tasha : You were right, never trust a woman. Check mate.

• Connections Featured in Film '72: Episode #44.3 (2015)
• Soundtracks Enter One Performed by Sol Seppy Written by Sophie Michalitsianos License courtesy of Sophie Michalitsianos

User reviews 71

• Feb 18, 2015
• How long is Son of a Gun? Powered by Alexa
• December 11, 2014 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• Serbo-Croatian
• Çete Oyunları
• Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Screen Australia
• Lotterywest
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 48 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

• Entertainment

Explore son of a gun GIFs

Giphy clips, explore gifs.

President Biden's son Hunter loses bid to dismiss gun charges

W ASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Delaware on Friday declined to dismiss gun charges against Hunter Biden, one of the two criminal cases against Joe Biden's son as the Democratic U.S. president ramps up his campaign for re-election.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Wilmington ruled against Hunter Biden's request to dismiss two counts of lying about his use of illegal narcotics when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun in 2018 and a third count of illegally possessing that weapon.

The ruling clears the way for a trial on the gun charges, tentatively scheduled to start on June 3 in Wilmington. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty.

Special Counsel David Weiss brought the gun charges in September, when Hunter Biden became the first child of a sitting president to be indicted. He had faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted on the gun charges.

Republican candidate Donald Trump, seeking to regain the presidency in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, faces four criminal indictments of his own.

Hunter Biden's attorneys had argued the gun charges should be dismissed for a variety of reasons including that the law under which Hunter Biden was charged was likely unconstitutional after the U.S. Supreme Court expanded gun rights in a 2022 ruling that set a tough new test to determine the legality of firearms restrictions.

Biden's legal team also had argued that Weiss was not appropriately appointed, that Hunter Biden was being selectively prosecuted and that he had a binding agreement that shielded him from prosecution.

Hunter Biden also has pleaded not guilty to federal tax crimes in a separate case brought by Weiss in California, facing up to 17 years in prison if convicted. That trial is scheduled to start on June 20.

The special counsel accused Hunter Biden of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 while spending millions of dollars on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other high-ticket items. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles on April 1 rejected Hunter Biden's motions to dismiss the tax indictment.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Will Dunham)