Lewis Machine-gun
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Named after an American Army officer and inventor, Isaac Newton Lewis (1858-1931), whose organizational system still dominates the artillery corps.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Lewis Machine-gun” mean?
Named after an American Army officer and inventor, Isaac Newton Lewis (1858-1931), whose organizational system still dominates the artillery corps.
Is “Lewis Machine-gun” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.