mitrailleusen.
/ˌmɪtrʌɪˈəːz/, U.S. /ˌmitrəˈjəz/ Military. Now historical.
Originally: a machine-gun with a number of barrels, able to discharge projectiles rapidly and simultaneously in large quantities, or singly in quick succession. Later gen.: any machine-gun.The original mitrailleuse was first brought into service in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > machine-gun > types of
mitrailleuse1867
mitrailleur1869
Gatling gun1870
light machine gun1883
Gardner1884
Maxim1884
volley gun1884
Nordenfelt1885
Maxim1888
camel-gun1891
Maxim–Nordenfeldt gun1898
pom-pom1899
bomb Maxim1900
Lewis (machine) gun1913
Spandau guna1918
Vickers1917
LMG1922
Spandau1929
Bren1937
1867 Sci. Amer. 2 Nov. 274/2 The artillery committee [of the French Ordnance Department]..has just made some experiments with a new firearm, which has been called the mitrailleuse, invented by MM. Montigny and Cristoph of Brussels... The mitrailleuse appears very inferior to the cannon on the Gatling system.
1872 J. Ruskin Eagle's Nest §34 Our mechanical contrivance will only make the age of the mitrailleuse more abhorred than that of the guillotine.
1918 Stars & Stripes 29 Mar. 8/4 The Boche swam up out of the haze and circled toward them, sputtering mitrailleuse fire.
1958 J. Lodwick Bid Soldiers Shoot i. 19 The Hotchkiss mitrailleuse..had been placed in service in the year of my birth.
1996 Jrnl. Mil. Hist. 60 479 Schlichtling had also advised that the dense, close-order formations that proved such easy targets for the French chassepots and mitrailleuses had become obsolete.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1867