Tommy gun
2
8.2
- noun
- /ˈtɑmi ɡʌn/
- Archaic
:
subfusil Tommy
- During the movie set in the 1920s, the actors used a realistic Tommy gun for the chase scene.
- firing the Tommy gun
The nigger shot him in the belly with a Tommy gun, with what must have been the last shot in it, because I saw him throw it down.
- The nigger shot him in the belly with a Tommy gun, with what must have been the last shot in it, because I saw him throw it down.
Examples
-
Rode the scout car with a Tommy gun in my lap.
-
Still got that Tommy gun?
-
Give me that tommy gun, Sam.
-
I'll get the Tommy gun.
-
He thinks it's a Tommy gun.
-
He is holding two Tommy guns.
Fiction book (1990) -
I think a Tommy gun would've solved things quite nicely...
Blog text (19) -
Two of them've got Tommy guns, and they're all talking some foreign language.
-
He was firing his Tommy gun and was covering me, Johnnie, and Lester as we herded the hostages to the getaway car.
Fiction book (2001) -
As the gang prepared for their heist, one member pulled out a Tommy gun and checked the ammunition.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A weapon that fires bullets or shells at high speed
8
4.6
A small automatic weapon that uses pistol bullets
1
8.1
A .45-caliber automatic gun used by soldiers, police, and gangsters in the 20th century
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'gun' clearly signals that the expression refers to a type of firearm, so a B1 learner who knows both words will at least recognize it as some kind of gun. However, 'Tommy' does not transparently indicate the specific Thompson .45-caliber submachine gun (it is an eponym/colloquial name and could be misinterpreted as 'soldier's gun'), so the precise historical/technical meaning is not fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The noun Tommy gun comes from the maker John T. Thompson, and people shortened 'Thompson' to Tommy, so the fast-firing gun was called the Tommy gun. Because it was used by 1920s gangsters and soldiers, that name stuck and today 'Tommy gun' means 'that particular .45 submachine gun'.