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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.

RTX’s Raytheon business has fielded inquiries about supply of its Phalanx rapid-fire Gatling gun, according to Jennifer Gauthier, Raytheon vice president for naval systems and sustainment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

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

He ascended to the NFL beat at the Washington Times, and one colleague later wrote that Hurney’s “prose had the lyrical quality of a Gatling gun, but he could find news.”

From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2021

Our fortified camp on the right bank of the Umvolosi River was left with a garrison of about 900 Europeans, 250 natives, and one Gatling gun, under Colonel Bellairs.

From South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6) From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum of 9th Oct. 1899 by Creswicke, Louis

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.