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machine-gun

adjective

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ma·chine-gun | \ mə-ˈshēn-ˌgən

Definition of machine-gun

(Entry 1 of 3)

: characterized by rapidity and sharpness : rapid-fire a comic's machine-gun delivery

machine-gun

verb

machine-gunned; machine-gunning; machine-guns

Definition of machine-gun (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

: 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 A few years later someone machine-gunned to death the prosecutor who wanted to try the group for killing the soldiers.— Paul Berman

machine gun

noun

plural machine guns

Definition of machine gun (Entry 3 of 3)

: a gun for sustained rapid fire that uses bullets broadly : an automatic weapon

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Examples of machine-gun in a Sentence

Noun They heard the sound of machine-gun fire.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Instagram — of Trump’s face superimposed on George Washington’s body, with a machine gun in one arm and a bald eagle perched on the other, with a photo of Kruse himself added just outside the frame. — Elaina Plott, New York Times, "Win or Lose, It’s Donald Trump’s Republican Party," 27 Oct. 2020 An Anchorage man was required to learn about the Holocaust and read about overcoming extremist beliefs as part of his sentence in federal court for illegally owning a machine gun and silencers. — Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, "Anchorage man ordered to learn about Holocaust as part of sentence for federal weapons violations," 22 Oct. 2020 Inside the package was a full auto selector switch, which is designed and intended to convert a semi-automatic pistol into a machine gun, prosecutors said. — Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, "Anchorage man ordered to learn about Holocaust as part of sentence for federal weapons violations," 22 Oct. 2020 New Hampshire is, after all, the Live Free or Die state, imposing neither an income nor a sales tax, and boasting, among other things, the highest per capita rate of machine gun ownership. — Patrick Blanchfield, The New Republic, "The Town That Went Feral," 13 Oct. 2020 At issue is the National Firearms Act, a holdover from the Prohibition era and gangland machine gun shootings, and the modern AR pistol. — Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, "‘Secret’ ATF move could turn 3M to 4M gun owners into felons," 9 Oct. 2020 This summer, the government took the drastic step of disbanding an entire military company in the special forces after explosives, a machine gun and SS paraphernalia were found on the property of a sergeant major in the eastern state of Saxony. — Katrin Bennhold, New York Times, "Germany’s Far Right Reunified, Too, Making It Much Stronger," 3 Oct. 2020 Tora!, in which Miller takes up a machine gun to engage Japanese dive and torpedo bombers. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "For the First Time, the Navy Names Its New Carrier After a Black Sailor," 30 Sep. 2020 Lee once famously used a poster of Ronald Reagan riding a dinosaur while firing a machine gun to ridicule the Green New Deal and declared the simple solution to climate change as having more babies. — Lee Davidson, The Salt Lake Tribune, "Utah Sen. Mike Lee says California wildfires caused by mismanagement, not climate change," 16 Sep. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'machine-gun.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.