Chekhov's gun

Meaning

Proper Noun

• A dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.
• An element that is introduced early in the story whose significance to the plot does not become clear until later.

Origin

• The principle was articulated by Russian playwright Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (in Russian: Antón Pávlovič Čéxov) and reported in various forms.