Dictionary

Chicago typewriter en · NOUN

Etymology

From its use by Chicago's underworld in the Prohibition Era, and likening the rattling sound of gunfire to that of a typewriter.

Meanings

1. (slang) Synonym of Thompson submachine gun.
   • As the .45 cartridge is used in many weapons, Ballistics test-fired it in all — three different models of the Thompson sub-machine gun, the “Chicago typewriter” of gang warfare; the Reising sub-machine gun used by the marine Corps; the new and exciting M-3 sub-machine gun; the Colt .45 automatic pistol […] 1946, Wesley Winans Stout, Bullets by the Billion, page 68:
   • Few arrests were made and the city was alive to the sound of screeching tyres, the chatter of the Chicago typewriter or Tommy gun (which was invented just too late for the First World War but just in time for Capone & Co) and the music of the speakeasies and juke joints. 2010 July 23, Neil Norman, “The man who really caught Capone”, in Express:
   • The Russian soldiers carried Czech-made Skoda Tommy guns reminiscent of the well-known Thompson Chicago typewriter, made famous by the FBI and gang warfare during the Depression years. 2012, Edward M. Arnett, A Different Kind of War Story, page 105:

Forms

Hypernyms

trench broom · trench sweeper

Relateds

Chicago lightning · Chicago overcoat

Synonyms

Chicago atomizer · chopper · Chicago piano · Tommy gun · Chicago style · Thompson submachine gun