Meanings
nounmachine gun (plural machine guns)
plural machine guns
- A type of fully automatic firearm that fires bullets in rapid succession by a single action of the trigger and is capable of sustained fire.
I'm gonna get you, baby / Like a machine gun, I'm gonna… Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak
1974, “I'm Gonna Get You”, performed by Eleanore Mills2 more examples
Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845Brigadier John K. Lawson's bunker on the west side of Wong Nai Chung Gap that the West Brigade used as headquarters. Brigadier Lawson and three of his men were hit by machine-gun fire escaping from the bunker on Dec. 19, 1941.
2016 December 23, Lam Yik Fei, “World - Image”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2023
Translations
Arabic رَشَاش, مِتْرالِيُوز
- رَشَاش (rašāš)type of firearm
- مِتْرالِيُوز (mitrāliyōz)type of firearm
Bengali যন্ত্রচালিত গান, মেশিন গান
- যন্ত্রচালিত গান (jontrocalito gan)type of firearm
- মেশিন গান (meśin gan)type of firearm
Bulgarian карте́чница
- карте́чница (kartéčnica)type of firearm
Catalan metralladora
- metralladoratype of firearm
Chinese Cantonese 機關槍 /机关枪
- 機關槍 /机关枪 (gei¹ gwaan¹ coeng¹)type of firearm
Chinese Mandarin 機槍 /机枪, 機關槍 /机关枪
- 機槍 /机枪 (jīqiāng)type of firearm
- 機關槍 /机关枪 (jīguānqiāng)type of firearm
Czech kulomet
- kulomettype of firearm
Danish maskingevær
- maskingeværtype of firearm
Dutch mitrailleur
- mitrailleurtype of firearm
Esperanto mitralo, maŝinpafilo
- mitralotype of firearm
- maŝinpafilotype of firearm
Estonian kuulipilduja
- kuulipildujatype of firearm
Finnish konekivääri, kuularuisku
- konekivääritype of firearm
- kuularuiskutype of firearm
French mitrailleuse
- mitrailleusetype of firearm
German Maschinengewehr, MG
- Maschinengewehrtype of firearm
- MGtype of firearm
Greek πολυβόλο
- πολυβόλο (polyvólo)type of firearm
Hebrew מַקְלֵעַ
- מַקְלֵעַ (maklea')type of firearm
Hindi मशीन गन
- मशीन गन (maśīn gan)type of firearm
Hungarian gépfegyver, géppuska
- gépfegyvertype of firearm
- géppuskatype of firearm
Icelandic vélbyssa
- vélbyssatype of firearm
Indonesian senapan mesin
- senapan mesintype of firearm
Irish meaisínghunna
- meaisínghunnatype of firearm
Italian mitragliatrice
- mitragliatricetype of firearm
Japanese 機関銃, マシンガン
- 機関銃 (kikanjū)type of firearm
- マシンガン (mashingan)type of firearm
- 機銃 (kijū)type of firearm
Korean 기관총, 기총
- 기관총 (gigwanchong)type of firearm
- 기총 (gichong)type of firearm
Latin polybolus, manuballista automata
- polybolustype of firearm
- manuballista automatatype of firearm
Latvian ložmetējs
- ložmetējstype of firearm
Lithuanian kulkosvaidis
- kulkosvaidistype of firearm
Malay mesingan
- mesingantype of firearm
Māori pū mīhini
- pū mīhinitype of firearm
Norwegian Bokmål maskingevær
- maskingeværtype of firearm
Persian مسلسل, تیربار
- مسلسل (mosalsal)type of firearm
- تیربار (tirbâr)type of firearm
- ماشیندار (mâšindâr)type of firearm
Polish karabin maszynowy, kaem
- karabin maszynowytype of firearm
- kaemtype of firearm
- kulomiottype of firearm
Portuguese metralhadora
- metralhadoratype of firearm
Romanian mitralieră
- mitralierătype of firearm
Russian автома́т, пулемёт
- автома́т (avtomát)type of firearm
- пулемёт (pulemjót)type of firearm
Slovak guľomet
- guľomettype of firearm
Spanish ametralladora, metralladora
- ametralladoratype of firearm
- metralladoratype of firearm
Swahili bombomu
- bombomutype of firearm
Swedish kulspruta, maskingevär
- kulsprutatype of firearm
- maskingevärtype of firearm
Tagalog ulipaltog, ametralyadora
- ulipaltogtype of firearm
- ametralyadoratype of firearm
- masinggantype of firearm
Tamil இயந்திரத் துப்பாக்கி
- இயந்திரத் துப்பாக்கி (iyantirat tuppākki)type of firearm
Thai ปืนกล
- ปืนกล (bpʉʉn-gon)type of firearm
Turkish makineli tüfek, mitralyöz
- makineli tüfektype of firearm
- mitralyöztype of firearm
Ukrainian автома́т, кулеме́т
- автома́т (avtomát)type of firearm
- кулеме́т (kulemét)type of firearm
Urdu مشین گن
- مشین گن (maśīn gan)type of firearm
Vietnamese súng máy, súng liên thanh
- súng máytype of firearm
- súng liên thanhtype of firearm
Welsh peirianddryll, dryll peiriannol
- peirianddrylltype of firearm
- dryll peiriannoltype of firearm
- gwn peirianttype of firearm
Yiddish אויטאָמאַט, אַװטאָמאַט
- אויטאָמאַט (oytomat)type of firearm
- אַװטאָמאַט (avtomat)type of firearm
- קוילן־וואַרפֿער (koyln-varfer)type of firearm
- מאַשינביקס (mashinbiks)type of firearm
Cite this entry
APA
machine gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/machine%20gun
MLA
“machine gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/machine%20gun. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “machine gun,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/machine%20gun.
Source: machine gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.