Adjacent Words

Garand definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a semiautomatic rifle [syn: Garand rifle, Garand, M-1, M-1 rifle]

Merriam Webster's

biographical name John Cantius 1888-1974 American (Canadian-born) inventor

Britannica Concise

U.S. (Canadian-born) firearms engineer. Born in St. Ré mi, Quebec, he moved with his family to Connecticut in 1898. During World War I he designed a lightweight, automatic machine rifle, which was rejected by the U.S. Army. From 1919 he worked at the Springfield Armory; after 17 years, he devised a gas-operated weapon of .30-in. caliber that was 43 in. (109 cm) long yet weighed only 9.5 lbs (4.3 kg). Adopted in 1936, the M1 became the world's first standard-issue autoloading infantry rifle; it gave U.S. troops in World War II and the Korean War such an advantage in firepower that G. Patton called it "the greatest battle implement ever devised." More than 5 million M1s were manufactured. Garand signed over all patents of his invention to the U.S. government.