First recorded in 1865–70
First recorded in 1880–85
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Olsen: But I have to ask, what is your interpretation of the floating machine gun?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
He was Sylvester Stallone in the 1986 action movie “Cobra,” toting a machine gun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
The Taiwanese boats also have water cannon and a 20-millimetre static machine gun, but are careful to avoid a confrontation that "could lead to unimaginable consequences", Huang said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025
On a shelf is a photograph of Wanda as a fighter, brandishing a machine gun during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, when the Polish underground fought the German Army amidst the ruins of the city.
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
Freckles says, “Ha ha,” like a machine gun, and then, “Well, at least you sing.”
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
Led by Busby’s machine-gun mandolin riffs and hair-raising tenor, the band had a hard-edged bluegrass-style sound that was a far cry from the homogenized, syrupy country-and-western slop heard around town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
It’s hard to get exact numbers on the revenue that has produced, but with numbers like that, Atlas has likely made millions off this machine-gun approach.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025
Five states have no state-level machine-gun regulations at all.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2024
Getting hooked on Hearn’s machine-gun delivery led to the Lakers becoming his favorite team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2024
The oars extended with a sound like machine-gun fire, and the Argo II turned from the dock, heading for the island in the distance.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
It is the same when Ronnie O’Sullivan machine-guns around a snooker table, or Roger Federer whips his wrist to slap a scudding cross-court winner.
From The Guardian ● May 2, 2017
His battalion's attack on the German trench had started well according to Stephen Erskin, curator of the Green Howard's Museum in Richmond, with more than 140 prisoners and two machine-guns captured.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2016
Kobani's defenders, outgunned by the militants, are hoping the arrival of peshmerga forces from Iraqi Kurdistan with badly-needed weapons including cannon and truck-mounted machine-guns will help them turn the tide.
From Reuters ● Oct. 31, 2014
If you have no heavy weaponry and face an enemy who has machine-guns, there are only three things you can do.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2014
Burnet had already seen that the kelaks which had headed for the shore had been driven back, in spite of the support of the machine-guns.
From Carry On! A Story of the Fight for Bagdad by Strang, Herbert
He scored twice at Newcastle, both close-range headers, the second of which involved hurling himself through the chest of a Newcastle defender like an action-movie stuntman being machine-gunned through a plate glass window.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2020
The orchestra does not stint on traditional fare: amid the splattering melons and machine-gunned music paper, it offered potent performances of Mahler’s Fifth and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 6, 2018
Serena, in her final match, machine-gunned her onetime rival Sharapova off the court so brusquely and efficiently, it looked as if she had an urgent appointment somewhere that she couldn’t miss.
From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2012
A decade ago, two of the most distinctive voices in TV belonged to writer-producers whose characters machine-gunned crisp dialogue at a blinding words-per-minute rate.
From Time ● Jun. 11, 2012
The Germans had not sniped or machine-gunned the stretcher-bearers, but had sent their own men out on the same mission too.
From From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 by Gibbs, Philip
Talk about using it as ammo, I’m machine-gunning love.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2021
They put three past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Joe Allen’s late equaliser against Arsenal on Wednesday had Klopp machine-gunning his fists in celebration.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 15, 2016
When he pauses mid-strut to perform his signature move of machine-gunning the crowd with his 1962 guitar, he brings the house down.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2013
Biter, first of these American-made auxiliaries to be identified in the Atlantic action, began the battles by depth-charging and machine-gunning two submarines.
From Time Magazine Archive
Instead of machine-gunning them, he brought his heel down hard on the ping-pong ball that came rolling toward him off the paddle of one of the two officers playing.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
