ma·chine-gun
mə-ˈshēn-ˌgən 
: characterized by rapidity and sharpness : rapid-fire
a comic's machine-gun delivery
machine-gunned; machine-gunning; machine-guns
: to shoot at, wound, or kill (someone or something) with a machine gun
… machine-gunned a marauding gang of terrorists outside the U.S. embassy …—
Terry Eagleton
Terry EagletonA few years later someone machine-gunned to death the prosecutor who wanted to try the group for killing the soldiers.—Paul Berman
Paul Berman
machine gunner
noun
or less commonly machine-gunner
plural machine gunners also machine-gunners
These battalions were composed of the hardened infantrymen—riflemen, machine gunners, grenadiers, and mortarmen—who carried the main burden of the war.
—Shelby L. Stanton
Shelby L. Stanton
plural machine guns
: a gun for sustained rapid fire that uses bullets
broadly
: an automatic weapon
Examples of machine-gun in a Sentence
Noun
They heard the sound of machine-gun fire.
Recent Examples on the WebRobert Ross, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
People were trapped in the open, incinerated, asphyxiated and strafed with machine-gun fire.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The film’s fashion reputation preceded it; fans with temporary machine-gun tattoos mobbed the red carpet.
—Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024
Getting hooked on Hearn’s machine-gun delivery led to the Lakers becoming his favorite team.
—Scott Howard-Cooper., Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024
The melody and Coriolanus’ calls to Lucy Gray come alive in the woods, prompting him to machine-gun the trees to stop the noise.
—EW.com, 17 Nov. 2023
All morning, fighting could be heard throughout the area, most of it machine-gun fire and shelling, as Israeli troops advancing deeper into Gaza clashed with Hamas fighters.
—Patrick Kingsley Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024
Its spine stretched from Winchester in New Haven, Connecticut, to Colt in Hartford to Smith & Wesson in Springfield, Massachusetts, and north to machine-gun maker Saco Lowell in Maine.
—James Bandler, ProPublica, 21 Nov. 2023
Hundreds of thousands have fled to the south, leaving a silence broken only by the pop of machine-gun fire and the heavy thrum of Israeli tanks.
—Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2023
San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Feb. 2023
Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2024
The Merkava, the Namer and the Puma all have 7.62 caliber machine guns, Butterworth said.
—Cate Brown, Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2024
This car—which appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League—feels like a cheap rip-off with its garish armor and exposed machine guns.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Apr. 2024
Over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition were sent to Ukraine.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
The court’s consideration of whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was right to define guns equipped with bump stocks as machine guns was exactly that shocking.
—Noah Feldman, The Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2024
Those challenging the Trump rule on bump stocks point out that the ATF hasn't always equated bump stocks with machine guns.
—Nina Totenberg, NPR, 28 Feb. 2024
A week after graduating high school in 1942, Ms. McCormack got an engineering job at an Ohio defense plant manufacturing machine guns and shipping them overseas to Allied forces.
—Kayla Guo, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024
In a tightly wound, entendre-replete, machine gun verse, Lamar fired back by refuting the designation and setting himself apart from his peers and former collaborators.
—Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 25 Mar. 2024
Adjective
That means every loudspeaker gets enough juice to make explosions, machine-gun fire, and screaming psycho-killers come to life in the comfort of a condominium.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
People were trapped in the open, incinerated, asphyxiated and strafed with machine-gun fire.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The film’s fashion reputation preceded it; fans with temporary machine-gun tattoos mobbed the red carpet.
—Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024
Getting hooked on Hearn’s machine-gun delivery led to the Lakers becoming his favorite team.
—Scott Howard-Cooper., Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024
The melody and Coriolanus’ calls to Lucy Gray come alive in the woods, prompting him to machine-gun the trees to stop the noise.
—EW.com, 17 Nov. 2023
All morning, fighting could be heard throughout the area, most of it machine-gun fire and shelling, as Israeli troops advancing deeper into Gaza clashed with Hamas fighters.
—Patrick Kingsley Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024
Its spine stretched from Winchester in New Haven, Connecticut, to Colt in Hartford to Smith & Wesson in Springfield, Massachusetts, and north to machine-gun maker Saco Lowell in Maine.
—James Bandler, ProPublica, 21 Nov. 2023
Hundreds of thousands have fled to the south, leaving a silence broken only by the pop of machine-gun fire and the heavy thrum of Israeli tanks.
—Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2023
Verb
As someone who grew up in the Dodgers’ family and now can’t stand the sight of them, who wants to beat them as Buddy Rich might machine-gun his snare drum.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Feb. 2023
Noun
Note the machine gun attached to one of the bicycles at lower right.
—Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2024
The Merkava, the Namer and the Puma all have 7.62 caliber machine guns, Butterworth said.
—Cate Brown, Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2024
This car—which appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League—feels like a cheap rip-off with its garish armor and exposed machine guns.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Apr. 2024
Over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition were sent to Ukraine.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
The court’s consideration of whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was right to define guns equipped with bump stocks as machine guns was exactly that shocking.
—Noah Feldman, The Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2024
Those challenging the Trump rule on bump stocks point out that the ATF hasn't always equated bump stocks with machine guns.
—Nina Totenberg, NPR, 28 Feb. 2024
A week after graduating high school in 1942, Ms. McCormack got an engineering job at an Ohio defense plant manufacturing machine guns and shipping them overseas to Allied forces.
—Kayla Guo, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024
In a tightly wound, entendre-replete, machine gun verse, Lamar fired back by refuting the designation and setting himself apart from his peers and former collaborators.
—Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 25 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'machine-gun.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near machine-gun
Cite this Entry
“Machine-gun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/machine-gun. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.
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