Crossword Genius

Fire off the gun in the boat (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

frigate

'boat' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'fire off the gun in' is the wordplay.
'off' is an anagram indicator.
'the gun' becomes 'gat' (US informal term for a gun).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'fire' is an anagram of 'frie'.
'frie' enclosing 'gat' is 'FRIGATE'.

'the' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for frigate that I've seen before include "Warship; -- bird" , "Type of warship" , "Ship" , "Warship - seabird" , "US warship" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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