evening gun

evening gun (plural evening guns)

1. (military) The firing of a gun after the last note of the retreat, signalling the lowering of the flag at sunset; the gun thus fired.

   Synonym: retreat gun

   Coordinate term: morning gun

   • 1897, William James, “Is Life Worth Living”, in The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy:

     That life is not worth living the whole army of suicides declare,—an army whose roll-call, like the famous evening gun of the British army, follows the sun round the world and never terminates.