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Synonyms

Gatling gun

American  
[gat-ling] / ˈgæt lɪŋ /

noun

  1. an early type of machine gun consisting of a revolving cluster of barrels around a central axis, each barrel being automatically loaded and fired every revolution of the cluster.

Gatling gun British  
/ ˈɡætlɪŋ /

noun

  1. a hand-cranked automatic machine gun equipped with a rotating cluster of barrels that are fired in succession using brass cartridges

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Gatling gun

1860–65, named after R. J. Gatling (1818–1903), U.S. inventor

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Probably the construction of the rotating film in a camera came from the Gatling gun.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2025

The Gatling gun from the United States could fire three thousand bullets per minute.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Video from the engagement appears to show one drone engaged by an air defense system known as a C-RAM, which fires a six-barreled Gatling gun up to 75 rounds per second.

From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2022

But its armaments are put to shame by those of a rare dinoflagellate called Nematodinium, which has something like a Gatling gun inside it, able to fire 11 or more nematocysts.

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2017

He lies under a Gatling gun in the bottom of the tower.

From "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea by Robertson, Morgan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.