Meanings
plural organ guns
- historicalengineeringA large, portable firearm normally supported by wheels, in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession; it was chiefly used from the 14th to the 17th century.
1 more example
The attempts to re-invest the artillery with its one-time superiority were directed in two channels: one aimed at perfecting shrapnel, which had been rather neglected up to this time (England, Prussia, Austria), while the other resurrected the mediaeval idea of the "barrel-organ gun," with a view of assembling a number of rifle barrels and of combining thereby the accuracy of the small arm with the moral effect of canister.
1911, William Balck, “VI. Machine Guns”, in Tactics, Volume 1: Introduction and Formal Tactics of Infantry, page 259Synonyms: infernal machine, mitrailleur, rabauld, ribauldequin, ribaudkin, ribault
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA large, portable firearm normally supported by wheels, in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession; it was chiefly used from the 14th to the 17th century.
Origin
From organ + gun. The multiple barrels of the device were thought to resemble the pipes of a pipe organ.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 風琴炮 /风琴炮
- 風琴炮 /风琴炮 (fēngqínpào)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Danish orgelbøsse, ribauldequin
- orgelbøsseportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- ribauldequinportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Dutch ribaudequin
- ribaudequinportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Finnish tuiskupyssy, urkupyssy
- tuiskupyssyportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- urkupyssyportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
French ribaudequin
- ribaudequinportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
German Orgelgeschütz, Ribauldequin
- Orgelgeschützportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- Ribauldequinportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Hebrew ריבודקן
- ריבודקןportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Italian organo, ribadocchino
- organoportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- ribadocchinoportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Japanese オルガン砲
- オルガン砲 (orugan hō)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Korean 리볼데퀸
- 리볼데퀸 (riboldekwin)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Norwegian Bokmål orgelbøsse
- orgelbøsseportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Persian ریباولدکویین
- ریباولدکویینportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Polish organki
- organkiportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Russian рибадекин
- рибадекин (ribadekin)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Spanish ribadoquín, cañón de órgano
- ribadoquínportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- cañón de órganoportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Swedish orgelbössa, salvbössa
- orgelbössaportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- salvbössaportable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Ukrainian органна гарма́та, рибадекін
- органна гарма́та (orhanna harmáta)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
- рибадекін (rybadekin)portable firearm in which bullets may be fired from a row of several tubes in succession
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with organ gun
All rhymes →Cite this entry
organ gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/organ%20gun
“organ gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/organ%20gun. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “organ gun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/organ%20gun.
Source: organ gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.