Gatling gun

noun

Gat·​ling gun ˈgat-liŋ- 

: a machine gun with a revolving cluster of barrels fired once each per revolution

Examples of Gatling gun in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In addition to air-to-surface weapons, the A-10 has a Gatling gun that can fire 3,900 rounds a minute, which can destroy tanks. — Tom Liddy, ABC News, 3 Apr. 2026

The vehicle in Get Smart had a retractable Gatling gun under its hood and a few other essential spy accessories, but was otherwise a civilian-issue Tiger MK I roadster. — Robert Ross, Robb Report, 22 Aug. 2025

Raymond, a hard warman to the end, kept the Times building safe by mounting two Gatling guns in a second-floor window. — Matthew Karp, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025

Since the Saya de Malha Bank has been known to entice pirates and other sea marauders, Landi also planned to mount a Gatling gun on the Aisland. — Ian Urbina, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2025

The automated Phalanx system features Gatling guns that can fire up to 4,500 20-millimeter rounds a minute, engaging projectiles or other targets at extremely close range. — Brad Lendon, CNN, 2 Feb. 2024

The same gun models were used by private security forces, federal and state troops, and police departments to put down labor strikes; in 1892, the Pennsylvania National Guard used Gatling guns to end a strike at the Carnegie Steel Company. — Audrey Kurth Cronin, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2023

The oak trees around us are spewing acorns like bullets from a Gatling gun. — John Kelly, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023

The weapon combines a 20-millimeter Gatling gun that fires at a rate of either 3,000 or 4,500 shots per minute, with radar to search for and track targets. — Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American, 19 July 2010

Word History

Etymology

Richard J. Gatling †1903 American inventor

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Gatling gun

• anyone
• everyone
• megaton
• overdone
• overrun
• begun
• grandson
• gudrun
• handgun
• homespun
• outdone
• outrun