Machine gun
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
machine gun
n 1: a rapidly firing automatic gun (often mounted)
v 1: shoot with a machine gun
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Gun \Gun\ (g[u^]n), n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin;
cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon)
fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance;
any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles,
consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which
the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such
as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by
various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and
fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are
called {small arms}. Larger guns are called {cannon},
{ordnance}, {fieldpieces}, {carronades}, {howitzers}, etc.
See these terms in the Vocabulary.
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As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
When fire is in the powder runne. --Chaucer.
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The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
cast a thing from a man long before there was any
gunpowder found out. --Selden.
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2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a
cannon.
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3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
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Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or
manner of loading as {rifled} or {smoothbore},
{breech-loading} or {muzzle-loading}, {cast} or
{built-up guns}; or according to their use, as {field},
{mountain}, {prairie}, {seacoast}, and {siege guns}.
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{Armstrong gun}, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named
after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.
{Big gun} or {Great gun}, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence
(Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big
guns to tackle the problem.
{Gun barrel}, the barrel or tube of a gun.
{Gun carriage}, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or
moved.
{Gun cotton} (Chem.), a general name for a series of
explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It
burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly
and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity.
Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are
insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the
highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See {Pyroxylin}, and
cf. {Xyloidin}. The gun cottons are used for blasting and
somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
making collodion. See {Celluloid}, and {Collodion}. Gun
cotton is frequenty but improperly called
{nitrocellulose}. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester
of nitric acid.
{Gun deck}. See under {Deck}.
{Gun fire}, the time at which the morning or the evening gun
is fired.
{Gun metal}, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of
copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is
also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron.
{Gun port} (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a
cannon's muzzle is run out for firing.
{Gun tackle} (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the
side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from
the gun port.
{Gun tackle purchase} (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
single blocks and a fall. --Totten.
{Krupp gun}, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
after its German inventor, Herr Krupp.
{Machine gun}, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a
reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the
gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier
models, such as the {Gatling gun}, the cartridges were
loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern
versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by
levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the
bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel.
Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such
weapons, with accurate aim. The {Gatling gun}, {Gardner
gun}, {Hotchkiss gun}, and {Nordenfelt gun}, named for
their inventors, and the French {mitrailleuse}, are
machine guns.
{To blow great guns} (Naut.), to blow a gale. See {Gun}, n.,
3.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Machine \Ma*chine"\ (m[.a]*sh[=e]n"), n. [F., fr. L. machina
machine, engine, device, trick, Gr. mhchanh`, from mh^chos
means, expedient. Cf. {Mechanic}.]
1. In general, any combination of bodies so connected that
their relative motions are constrained, and by means of
which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as
a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a
fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a
construction, more or less complex, consisting of a
combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical
elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc., with their
supports and connecting framework, calculated to
constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion
from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit,
modify, and apply them to the production of some desired
mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the
excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.
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Note: The term machine is most commonly applied to such
pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts,
for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining
materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture
of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other
than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated
an apparatus or device, not a machine; as, a bleaching
apparatus. Many large, powerful, or specially important
pieces of mechanism are called engines; as, a steam
engine, fire engine, graduating engine, etc. Although
there is no well-settled distinction between the terms
engine and machine among practical men, there is a
tendency to restrict the application of the former to
contrivances in which the operating part is not
distinct from the motor.
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2. Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which
the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle. --Dryden.
--Southey. --Thackeray.
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3. A person who acts mechanically or at the will of another.
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4. A combination of persons acting together for a common
purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social
machine.
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The whole machine of government ought not to bear
upon the people with a weight so heavy and
oppressive. --Landor.
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5. A political organization arranged and controlled by one or
more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends; the
Tammany machine. [Political Cant]
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6. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being
introduced to perform some exploit. --Addison.
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{Elementary machine}, a name sometimes given to one of the
simple mechanical powers. See under {Mechanical}.
{Infernal machine}. See under {Infernal}.
{Machine gun}.See under {Gun.}
{Machine screw}, a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into
metal, in distinction from one which is designed
especially to be screwed into wood.
{Machine shop}, a workshop where machines are made, or where
metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc.
{Machine tool}, a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal,
etc., by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a
lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc., designed for a more
or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from
a machine for producing a special article as in
manufacturing.
{Machine twist}, silken thread especially adapted for use in
a sewing machine.
{Machine work}, work done by a machine, in contradistinction
to that done by hand labor.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
machine gun \machine gun\ n.
A fully automatic rapid-firing rifle, which continues to fire
bullets repeatedly as long as the trigger is depressed;
lighter versions may be carried in the hands, and heavier
versions may be mounted on a tripod, vehicle, or other mount.
The lighweight versions are sometimes called a {submachine
gun}.
[PJC] machine-gun
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