Reloaders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person or device that refills ammunition cartridges for firearms
2. An individual engaged in the process of reassembling spent casings with fresh components for shooting purposes
3. A term describing those who prepare ammunition by adding powder, primers, and bullets back into empty shells

Etymology: "Reloaders" is simply the plural of "reloader," a word built from "reload" and the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who or that which does the action. The verb "reload" comes from the prefix "re-," meaning "again," joined to "load." That prefix and the English verb "load" both trace back through Middle English and Old French to Latin roots, while the suffix "-er" descends from Old English "-ere," which itself came from a Latin ending, "-arius," that marked a person connected with something. The noun is the more specific of the two. Its sense of a person or device that refills spent ammunition cartridges for firearms follows from the verb's ordinary meaning of putting a load back into something, applied to the empty cases and magazines of guns. Because the word is formed transparently from familiar parts, its meaning can be read directly from its construction.

Synonyms: rechargers, refillers