Crossword Genius

Plied with a lot, to drink, gives back the gun (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pistol

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the gun' is the definition.
(pistol is a kind of gun)

'plied with a lot to drink gives back' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'lot' is 'tol' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pis' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pistol that I've seen before include "Hand weapon" , "Small gun" , "Small firearm" , "A small hand-gun" , "Rectangular" .)

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