Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A machine gun having a cluster of barrels that are fired in sequence as the cluster is rotated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See gun.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • An American machine gun, consisting of a cluster of barrels which, being revolved by a crank, are automatically loaded and fired.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A type of gun, similar to a modern machine gun, with several barrels on a rotating frame.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an early form of machine gun having several barrels that fire in sequence as they are rotated

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Richard Jordan Gatling.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named after its inventor, Richard Jordan Gatling.

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Examples

  • He had twice brought down running antelope with his pistol—most of the Rangers couldn’t have hit a running antelope with a rifle, or even a Gatling gun.

    Dead Man’s Walk Larry McMurtry 1995

  • He had twice brought down running antelope with his pistol—most of the Rangers couldn’t have hit a running antelope with a rifle, or even a Gatling gun.

    The Lonesome Dove Series Larry McMurtry 1995

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