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Glite Dictionary
Maxim gun

Maxim gun

1 9.9
A late 1800s machine that fires bullets automatically for soldiers
  • noun
  • /ˈmæksɪm ɡʌn/
  • Archaic
translation icon : ametralladora Maxim
  • In the historical reenactment, a replica Maxim gun was used to showcase its role in the conflict.

Examples

  • The museum featured an exhibit on World War I, highlighting the impact of the Maxim gun on modern warfare.

  • During the battle, the sound of a Maxim gun echoed across the field as soldiers took cover.

  • They were nearly home when a Maxim gun opened fire.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Perhaps Your Highness Abdul would care to fire the Maxim gun?

    The Wind and the Lion (1975)

  • At around the 1-minute mark, a team of riders begins to set up what looks like a Maxim gun.

    Blog text (24)

Surface Forms

Maxim gun singular
Maxim guns plural

Morphology

Maxim + gun

This is an eponymous compound (the inventor's name + the noun 'gun'), so a learner who knows 'Maxim' as a name and 'gun' will readily infer it refers to a particular type or model of gun associated with Maxim. However, the detailed historical and technical sense (an early fully automatic, water-cooled machine gun) cannot be derived from the parts alone, so full meaning requires prior exposure or background knowledge.

Etymology

Maxim gun is named after its inventor Hiram Maxim and describes his water-cooled automatic gun that could fire many bullets without stopping. So today the name means that early 'machine gun' which changed warfare at the end of the 19th century and is now no longer used.