|mē.trə|yə(r)z, -|yə̄z noun
( -s )
Etymology: French, from mitrailler to fire mitraille, from mitraille
1. : a breech-loading machine gun using small projectiles and consisting of a number of barrels fitted together and so arranged that the barrels can be fired simultaneously or successively and rapidly and first used by the French army in the war of 1870 with Germany
2. : machine gun