machine gunn.
/məˈʃiːn ɡʌn/, U.S. /məˈʃin ˌɡən/ A gun (originally mounted but now also hand-held) which is mechanically loaded and fired, and is capable of continuous fire.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > machine-gun
machine gun1867
woodpecker1898
put-put1905
M.G.1915
typewriter1915
chopper1929
rattlebox1929
Chicago typewriter1940
1867 Gatling's Battery Gun 1 It may be justly termed a machine gun, for it is automatic in its operation.
1869 Naval & Mil. Gaz. 12 June 379/3 We understand that a mitrailleur, or machine-gun, of Belgian manufacture, will shortly arrive in this country.
1882 Army & Navy Mag. Dec. 195 Machine-guns, which have an effective range not differing materially from that of small arms, would..have to advance with infantry.
1919 ‘B. Cable’ Old Contemptibles ix. 146 The steady postman's-knock rat-tat-tat of machine-guns.
a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) v. 37 The gunners were busy fitting back the dark blue steel-jacketed machine-guns.
1987 E. Leonard Bandits iii. 40 He would see..government soldiers firing machine guns from the train.
Compounds
C1. General attributive (frequently in figurative use).
ΚΠ
1882 Liverpool Mercury 17 Mar. 6/7 She can be searched by machine gun fire through all her upper works.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 4 Oct. 2/3 Motor-bicycles, those machine-gun terrors of the road.
1913 Army Order 323 1 Oct. 4 The non-commissioned officers and men of the machine-gun section..will be distributed for discipline and administration in peace amongst the four companies.
1914 S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn ix. 118 Never stopping in her machine-gun volley of words.
1928 H. Laski in Holmes–Laski Lett. (1953) II. 1077 They cross-examined me with machine-gun rapidity.
1932 ‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road xii. 252 I had no wish to have a hail of machine-gun bullets flying at us through the scud.
1955 S. Spender Coll. Poems 1928–53 99 Machine-gun anger quickly scythed the grasses.
1972 ‘E. Lathen’ Murder without Icing (1973) iii. 30 Convulsions on one level or another could be expected with..machine-gun rapidity.
1985 Radio Times 6 July 20/2 Richard Brooks's thriller has a lot to offer, including two personable stars.., machine-gun editing, excellently-used German locations and a colossal concluding chase.
C2.
a.
machine-gun battery n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > piece of artillery > [noun] > battery
battery1555
counter-battery1603
swallow's nest1604
field battery1742
radeau1753
guns en barbette1772
half-moon battery1794
sap battery1810
sunken battery1817
screw battery1848
wool-battery1852
masked battery1861
mountain battery1868
machine-gun battery1882
1882 Hampshire Tel. & Sussex Chron. 16 Sept. 5/4 This would leave an escort of small arm men..to guard the machine gun battery from surprise.
1915 R. W. Campbell Private Spud Tamson xix. 288 Z-r-r-p—Z-r-r-p—Z-r-r-p spat the machine-gun batteries behind the little knolls.
2009 S. R. Ward Immortal v. 142 All of Iran's infantry units possessed machine gun batteries and growing numbers of automatic rifles.
machine-gun fire n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > [noun]
gunning1570
fire1590
firing1684
squibbing1697
gunfire1801
gunnery1816
pop-off1843
pluffing1852
machine-gun fire1882
gun-play1897
loosing off1906
1882Machine gun fire [see Compounds 1].
1919 ‘B. Cable’ Old Contemptibles xvi. 255 The rifle and machine-gun fire rose again.
2010 S. Junger War i. iv. 63 Dawn brought fusillades of grenades and wave after wave of machine-gun fire.
machine-gun post n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > military position > [noun] > gun-site
cannonery1598
emplacement1811
firing-place1879
fire position1889
machine-gun post1915
gun-site1943
1915 Scotsman 2 Apr. 7/5 The attack on the machine gun post near Cuinchy.
1973 Times 14 Nov. 8/1 The Israelis..have reinforced their machinegun posts beside the road.
1991 T. Mo Redundancy of Courage (1992) i. 5 None of the gun emplacements or machine-gun posts was manned.
machine-gun rifle n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > rifle > types of
three-o(h)-three1683
air rifle1801
yager1817
big bore1838
seventy-five1840
telescopic rifle1850
Minié rifle1851
needle rifle1856
pea rifle1856
Lancaster1857
six-shooting1858
Whitworth1858
Henry1861
polygroove1863
telescopic-sighted rifle1863
spencer1866
magazine rifle1867
Snider rifle1868
chassepot1869
Martini–Henry rifle1869
Winchester1871
Mauser rifle1872
Martini1876
saloon rifle1881
express1884
express rifle1884
Mannlicher1884
Mauser1887
Lee-Enfield1888
Flobert1890
pump gun1890
take-down1895
two-two1895
Ross rifle1901
hammer-rifle1907
sporter1907
French 751914
twenty-two1925
machine-gun rifle1941
assault rifle1950
assault weapon1968
kalashnikov1970
assault rifle1975
1941 Ann. Reg. 1940 154 [France] sent..5,000 machine-gun rifles.
b.
machine-gun nest n. a concealed post or protected emplacement in which one or more machine guns are set up.
ΚΠ
1916 Washington Post 18 July 1/1 (heading) Clear machine gun nests.
1917 N.Y. Times 30 Aug. 1/5 Every house in the village, even those in ruins, had been turned into a machine gun nest.
1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 3/3 They put their machine-gun nests on roofs and in the rooms and gardens of private houses.
2003 Independent 20 Aug. 2/4 The machine-gun nest on the roof of the UN building might have suggested that even the international body was militarising itself.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1867