tommy-gun

A police officer holds a tommy-gun during a training exercise.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A type of light machine gun: "tommy-gun" is a colloquial term for the Thompson submachine gun, a portable automatic firearm that fires pistol ammunition, often associated with 1920s gangsters and military use.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The gangster carried a tommy-gun in a violin case. (A Thompson submachine gun concealed in a musical instrument case.)
  • During World War II, soldiers used the tommy-gun for close-quarters combat. (A light machine gun employed in tight spaces.)

Advanced Usage

• "to tommy-gun" (verb, informal): to shoot at someone or something with a tommy-gun, often used figuratively to mean to attack rapidly or repeatedly.
  • The critics tommy-gunned the film with negative reviews. (They attacked it with a barrage of criticism.)

Variants and Related Words

• Tommy (n): a nickname for a British soldier, derived from "Thomas Atkins," a generic name used on military forms; not directly related to the weapon.
• Submachine gun (n): the broader category of automatic firearms that includes the tommy-gun, such as the MP5 or Uzi.

Synonyms

• Thompson submachine gun: the formal name for the weapon.
• Chicago typewriter: a slang term for the tommy-gun, popular in the 1920s due to its use by gangsters in Chicago.
• Chopper: another slang term for a submachine gun, often used in crime fiction.

Related Idioms

• "to give someone the tommy-gun treatment": to attack someone with overwhelming force or criticism.
  • The politician was given the tommy-gun treatment by the press. (He was subjected to a relentless barrage of negative coverage.)