Meanings
plural Gatling guns
- A type of repeating firearm with several barrels on a rotating frame, in use from the 1860s to the 1910s, providing fully automatic fire similar to that of modern machine guns and autocannons.
They say that the Gatling who invented Gatling guns imagined that they would reduce the scale of human warfare, poor old chap.
- broadlyslangAny of various later weapons with a similar concept of operation (spinning a rotating set of barrels).
Near-synonyms: minigun, autocannon
1 more example
I stood in the door of an AC-130 and ran a Gatling gun. So it goes. What more is there to say about it?
Synonyms: minigun, autocannon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of various later weapons with a similar concept of operation (spinning a rotating set of barrels).
Origin
Named after American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian кърте́чница Га́тлинг
- кърте́чница Га́тлинг (kărtéčnica Gátling)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Catalan metralladora Gatling
- metralladora Gatlinga type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Chinese 加特林机枪, 加特林機槍 /加特林机枪
- 加特林机枪 (jiātèlín jīqiāng)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
- 加特林機槍 /加特林机枪 (Jiātèlínjī qiāng)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Czech Gatlingův kulomet
- Gatlingův kulometa type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Finnish gatling
- gatlinga type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
French gatling
- gatlinga type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
German Gatling-Kanone
- Gatling-Kanonea type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Japanese ガトリング砲
- ガトリング砲 (gatoringu gan)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Norwegian gatlingvåpen
- gatlingvåpena type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Persian مسلسل گاتلینگ
- مسلسل گاتلینگ (mosalsal-e gâtling)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Polish kartaczownica Gatlinga
- kartaczownica Gatlingaa type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Portuguese metralhadora Gatling, Gatling
- metralhadora Gatlinga type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
- Gatlinga type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Russian пулемёт Га́тлинга
- пулемёт Га́тлинга (pulemjót Gátlinga)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Spanish cañón Gatling (gatlin), ametralladora / metralladora Gatling (gatlin)
- cañón Gatling (gatlin)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
- ametralladora / metralladora Gatling (gatlin)a type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Swedish gatlingkanon
- gatlingkanona type of repeating firearm similar to a machine gun
Cite this entry
Gatling gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gatling%20gun
“Gatling gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gatling%20gun. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gatling gun,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gatling%20gun.
Source: Gatling gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.