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 Web
NBC News, 30 Nov. 2024
One of the first images that spread widely from that day was of a police vehicle coming under machine-gun fire, an attack that injured a policeman and policewoman.
—Yaakov Lappin, Sun Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2024
San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Feb. 2023
Mary Ann Ashcraft, Baltimore Sun, 9 Nov. 2024
At the time of the indictment, Dukes was locked up in Dupage County, Ill., for another episode involving a machine gun in a car, according to prosecutors.
—John Annese, New York Daily News, 7 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for machine-gun 
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Adjective
The agency said the soldiers fired heavy machine-gun bursts from their positions near Maroun al-Ra towards a building in Bint Jbeil.
—NBC News, 30 Nov. 2024
One of the first images that spread widely from that day was of a police vehicle coming under machine-gun fire, an attack that injured a policeman and policewoman.
—Yaakov Lappin, Sun Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2024
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
Jordan began serving in a machine gun battalion, but ended in an ordnance detachment.
—Mary Ann Ashcraft, Baltimore Sun, 9 Nov. 2024
At the time of the indictment, Dukes was locked up in Dupage County, Ill., for another episode involving a machine gun in a car, according to prosecutors.
—John Annese, New York Daily News, 7 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for machine-gun
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 21 Dec. 2024.
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