an obsolete water-cooled machine gun having a single barrel and utilizing the recoil force of each shot to maintain automatic fire
Word origin
C19: named after Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840–1916), its US-born British inventor
Maxim gun in American English
noun
an early single-barreled, water-cooled machine gun cocked by the force of its own recoil
Word origin
[1880–85; after H. S. maxim]This word is first recorded in the period 1880–85. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Chief of Staff, impressionism, irredentist, jackpot, pari-mutuel