tommy gun n.
(orig. US Und.) a sub-machine gun; also attrib.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr. 54/3: There are three types of machine guns used — Tommy guns, Browny guns and Louie guns [DA]. | |
| ‘About Kid Deth’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2007) 278: Bess had screamed [...] And then the Tommy had been turned loose. | |
| Limey 27: There was a Thompson sub-machine gun, universally known in gangland as a ‘Tommy-gun.’. | |
| Really the Blues 63: Their cute little Ford tagged along behind those big trucks [...] nobody ever guessing that it was loaded up with tommy guns. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Beach Red 57: One tap on the Tommy butt means halt. | |
| Junkie (1966) 13: One day he called me up and said he had stolen a Tommy gun. | |
| Rap Sheet 115: We had split up with Johnny and he had taken his tommy with him. | |
| Mad mag. June 48: Whenever some rat / Starts to chat / Tommy answers ‘Rat-tat-tat.’. | |
| Once upon a Droshky 161: Joel is holding a plastic tommy gun. | |
| (con. 1949) True Confessions (1979) 97: They’re coming in after you, like in the movies. The chief’s got a tommy gun, for Chrissake. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | About Face (1991) 147: Nomcombat types who wanted to play out the role of a tommy-gun-toting warrior. | |
| (con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 208: They yanked guns. They dollied them over — full-drum Thompsons/one hundred plus [...] The troops stacked the Tommys. Pete ignored them. |
In compounds
(US Und./prison) a machine-gunner.
| Und. Speaks. | |
| San Quentin Bulletin in L.A. Times 6 May 7: TOMMY GEE, a machine-gunner. |
(US Und.) an armed gangster.
| It’s a Racket! 240: tommy man — A machine or sub-machine gunner. | |
| ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 441: Tommy-man, n. A machine-gunner for a mob. |