Gat

Gat
   , GATLING GUN
   Richard Jordan Catling (1818-1903) was born in Hertford County, North Carolina. He was a physician by education but an inventor by inclination. Because the South had few technical resources, he moved to Indiana, where he devoted all his time to the business of inventing. He invented a practical screw propeller for steamboats, a grain-sowing machine, a hemp-breaking machine, a steam plow, and a wheat drill. Catling then became interested in weaponry and invented a crankoperated machine gun, consisting of a cluster of barrels, usually ten, which he patented in 1862. It was mounted on wheels, and the gunner controlled the rate of fire, up to 150 rounds per minute, by turning a hand crank. The gun was accepted by the Union forces, but too late to see much service. Nevertheless, the Confederate leaders were devastated when they learned that the gun had an effective firing range of two thousand yards.
   If Colonel Custer had had more confidence in the Gatling guns, he would not have left them behind (which historians say was deliberate), and the massacre of his men at the Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer's last stand) might never have occurred. In any event, Catling has become immortalized, not because of the Gatling gun, which has long been allocated to the junk heap, but because that gun has given birth to a slang term for a gun, a term that is widely used and immediately understood — the gat.

Dictionary of eponyms. . 2013.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gat — (en hebreo גת , lagar ) era una de las cinco ciudades estado filisteas, situada al noroeste de la zona controlada por éstos. Según la Biblia, en los tiempos de David y Salomón el Rey de la ciudad era Achish, sin quedar claro que la Biblia haga… …   Wikipedia Español

  • gât — GÂT, gâturi, s.n. 1. Parte a corpului (la om şi la unele animale) care uneşte capul cu trunchiul; grumaz; gâtlan; p. ext. gâtlej. ♢ expr. A se arunca (sau a se agăţa etc.) de gâtul cuiva = a) a îmbrăţişa (cu căldură) pe cineva; b) a copleşi, a… …   Dicționar Român

  • GAT — bezeichnet: seemännisch ein Loch, eine Öffnung, einen Lagerraum oder das Heck, siehe Gatt ausgehend vom niederländischen Gat: Loch die Meerenge Kattegat („Katzenloch“) einen traditionellen koreanischen Hut einen anderen Namen des Kathstrauchs Den …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gat — bezeichnet: seemännisch ein Loch, eine Öffnung, einen Lagerraum oder das Heck, siehe Gatt ausgehend vom niederländischen Gat: Loch das Meeresgebiet Kattegat („Katzenloch“) einen traditionellen koreanischen Hut einen anderen Namen des Kathstrauchs …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • gat — gat1 [gat] vt., vi. GET gat2 [gat] n. [< Scand, as in Dan, Swed, ON gat, an opening, passage, akin to OE geat: see GATE1] a narrow channel of water as between cliffs or sandbanks ☆ gat3 [gat ] n. [< …   English World dictionary

  • gat — GAT, gaturi, s.n. (reg.) Zăgaz de pietre ridicat de a curmezişul unei ape curgătoare (prin care se închide calea peştilor). – Din magh. gát. Trimis de gall, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  gat s. n., pl. gáturi Trimis de siveco, 10.08.2004. Sursa:… …   Dicționar Român

  • Gat(t) — Sn Loch, Öse per. Wortschatz ndd. (16. Jh.), as. gat., Stammwort afr. jet, gat Loch , ae. g(e)at Tor, Tür, Öffnung , anord. gat Loch . Niederdeutsch/niederländisch (dialektal) bedeutet das Wort auch Arschloch , und in dieser Bedeutung könnte es… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • gat — gȁt m <N mn gàtovi> DEFINICIJA 1. ustava za vodu 2. a. lukobran b. dio luke za pristajanje brodova; mol, mulo c. šetalište uz obalu 3. zast. jaz, odvodni kanal ONOMASTIKA top. (osobito u mikrohidronimiji, ali i kao ime naselja): Gáćce (Krk) …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • GAT — (Heb. גַּת), kibbutz in southern Israel, N.E. of kiryat gat , affiliated with Kibbutz Arẓi ha Shomer ha Ẓa ir, founded by East European settlers in 1942, as one of the first outposts established in the framework of the program to extend the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Gat — (g[a^]t), imp. of {Get}. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Gat — Gat, eine seemännische Bezeichnung für 1. das Heck eines Schiffes, ein rundes Heck heißt Rundgat. Ein Schiff liegt im Gat, wenn es steuerlastig, achterlastig (s.d.) ist. 2. Für ein Loch oder eine Oeffnung in den Rundhölzern, im Block u.s.w.,… …   Lexikon der gesamten Technik

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”