Question

So he dozed off pretty soon. By and by I got the old split-bottom chair and clumb up as easy as I could, not to make any noise, and got down the gun. I slipped the ramrod down it to make sure it was loaded, then I laid it across the turnip barrel, pointing towards pap, and set down behind it to wait for him to stir. And how slow and still the time did drag along. Study the context of the word ramrod. What is the meaning of it in this excerpt?

Answer 1

A ramrod is a rod used to push down the charge of a muzzleloading firearm.

Answer 2

In this passage, we learn that a ramrod was used to load a gun, or to make sure that it was loaded. We can conclude this based on the context of the word in this example. This conclusion would be right. A ramrod is a metal or wooden device that is used to push the projectile against the propellant when dealing with muzzleoading firearms. Therefore, it was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons.