Maxim gun

American

noun

an early single-barreled, water-cooled machine gun cocked by the force of its own recoil.

Maxim gun British

/ ˈmæksɪm /

noun

an obsolete water-cooled machine gun having a single barrel and utilizing the recoil force of each shot to maintain automatic fire

"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 Maxim gun

First recorded in 1880–85; after H. S. Maxim

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

Maxim gun

The Maxim gun had been invented by an American living in London and deployed by General Kitchener to devastating effect in colonial wars such as Sudan.

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2014

The Maxim gun, invented in 1884, was the world’s first automatic machine gun.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

Whatever happens, we have got The Maxim gun and they have not.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hiram P. Maxim, 59, inventor of the Maxim gun silencer, has devised a silencer for aviation motors, which Fairchild Aviation Corp. is testing out.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of the aeroplanes, one carried a Maxim gun, another a Lewis gun, loaned to the Admiralty by Colonel Lucas, C.B., of Hobland Hall, Yarmouth.

From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

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