loose cannon

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loose cannon

n. Slang

One that is uncontrolled and therefore poses danger: "[His] bloopers in the White House seem to make him ... a political loose cannon" (Tom Morgenthau).

[From the threat posed by loose cannon rolling about a warship under sail.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

loose cannon

a person or thing that appears to be beyond control and is potentially a source of unintentional damage

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

loose′ can′non

a person whose reckless behavior endangers the efforts or welfare of others.

[1975–80]

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Noun

loose cannon - a person who is expected to perform a particular task but who is out of control and dangerous

individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"

Translations

franc-tireur

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References in periodicals archive ?

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LOOSE CANNONS: 101 MYTHS, MISHAPS AND MISADVENTURES OF MILITARY HISTORY exposes many long-held myths about military leaders and operations, from the idea that Hitler was a vegetarian obsessed by the occult to the invention of the 'Mau-Mau' organization and the fact that the Japanese were trying to complete their own nuclear warhead when the Americans beat them.