MACHINE GUN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does machine gun mean? 

• MACHINE GUN (noun)
  The noun MACHINE GUN has 1 sense:

1. a rapidly firing automatic gun (often mounted)

  Familiarity information: MACHINE GUN used as a noun is very rare.

• MACHINE GUN (verb)
  The verb MACHINE GUN has 1 sense:

1. shoot with a machine gun

  Familiarity information: MACHINE GUN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MACHINE GUN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rapidly firing automatic gun (often mounted)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("machine gun" is a kind of...):

automatic firearm; automatic gun; automatic weapon (a firearm that reloads itself and keeps firing until the trigger is released)

Meronyms (parts of "machine gun"):

gunstock; stock (the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "machine gun"):

automatic; automatic rifle; machine rifle (light machine gun)

Browning machine gun; Peacemaker (a belt-fed machine gun capable of firing more than 500 rounds per minute; used by United States troops in World War II and the Korean War)

Gatling gun (an early form of machine gun having several barrels that fire in sequence as they are rotated)

Maxim gun (an obsolete water-cooled machine gun having a single barrel)

Spandau (a German machine gun)

submachine gun (machine gun that is a portable automatic firearm)

Derivation:

machine gun (shoot with a machine gun)

• MACHINE GUN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shoot with a machine gun

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "machine gun" is one way to...):

gun (shoot with a gun)

"Machine gun" entails doing...:

hit; pip; shoot (hit with a missile from a weapon)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

machine gun (a rapidly firing automatic gun (often mounted))

 Context examples 

He was a captain before he went to the front and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine guns.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)