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.
Ruby Celly Uribe, 37, of Sacramento, was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of unlawfully possessing a machine gun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, according to a news release from the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
The Vahid Online Telegram channel shared two photographs of a black pickup truck with a machine gun mounted in the back in Tehran's Sadeghiyeh Square on the night of 8 January.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 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
Squatting quietly in the cool pagoda, they would help Dobbins disassemble and clean his machine gun, carefully brushing the parts with oil.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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.
