submachine gun

[ suhb-muh-sheen-guhn ]

/ ˌsʌb məˈʃin ˌgʌn /

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See synonyms for submachine gun on Thesaurus.com

noun

a lightweight automatic or semiautomatic gun, fired from the shoulder or hip. Abbreviation: SMG

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of submachine gun

First recorded in 1915–20; sub- + machine gun

Words nearby submachine gun

subliterature, sublittoral, sublunary, subluxate, subluxation, submachine gun, submandibular gland, submarginal, submarine, submarine chaser, submariner

How to use submachine gun in a sentence

As the five officers told it, Franklin overpowered three of them and gained control of a police submachine gun, wounding the two cops.
Minneapolis Cops Involved in Fatal Shooting Get Separate Attorneys, Signaling Movement in 2013 Case|Karl Vick|October 7, 2021|Time
Peterson said Franklin now “had control of” both Durand and the submachine gun.
Minneapolis Police Were Cleared in the 2013 Killing of Terrance Franklin. A Video Complicates the Story—and Now the Case May Be Reopened|Josiah Bates|June 25, 2021|Time
By the time Ronald Reagan officially launched the War on Drugs in 1984, gang members carried Uzis, MAC-10 submachine guns, and semiautomatic rifles to enforce contracts in the underground economy.
Los Angeles Had a Chance to Build a Better City After the Rodney King Violence in 1992. Here's Why It Failed|Elizabeth Hinton|May 18, 2021|Time
The cache included a submachine gun, pistols, revolvers, and enough Semtex to make 180 bombs.
Belfast in Chaos After Days of Protestant Rioting, Police Injuries|Nico Hines|July 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST

All you had to do was board with your submachine gun in a trombone case, as Martin McNally did at St. Louis airport in 1972.
When Hijackers Ruled the American Skies|Emma Garman|June 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST
From out of nowhere appeared one Secret Service man with a submachine gun.
Warren Commission (7 of 26): Hearings Vol. VII (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
Bullets from a submachine gun clipped out, peppering the entrance and the door, and ricocheting down the hall.
Police Your Planet|Lester del Rey
Gordon spun, and the gun leaped in his hands, while the submachine gun jerked forward and clicked on an empty chamber.
Police Your Planet|Lester del Rey
He leaped aside and turned his submachine gun on the Germans.
A Yankee Flier in Italy|Rutherford G. Montgomery
"I'm going down after some grenades and a submachine gun," he hissed.
A Yankee Flier in Italy|Rutherford G. Montgomery

British Dictionary definitions for submachine gun

sub-machine-gun

noun

a portable automatic or semiautomatic light gun with a short barrel, firing pistol ammunition: designed to be fired from the hip or shoulder

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