The Lee-Enfield is a particular rifle — the standard long gun carried by British and Commonwealth soldiers for the first half of the twentieth century, through both World Wars. It is a bolt-action rifle: after each shot the soldier pulls a small handle back and forward to throw out the empty case and load the next round. What made it famous is that its bolt was quick and its magazine held ten rounds when most rival rifles held five, so a trained British soldier could fire fifteen or more aimed shots a minute. There is a well-known story from 1914 that German troops meeting this fire thought they were facing machine guns. Treat that story the way you would any war story — it is repeated everywhere and may well be tidied up in the telling. The name is two names joined: James Paris Lee, who designed the bolt and magazine, and the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, north of London, where the barrel design came from and where the rifles were made. British weapons are often named this way, designer plus factory. You will meet the word in war history, museums, films, video games, and books about the World Wars — not in ordinary conversation. It is a proper noun, so it keeps its capital letters and its hyphen, and people often shorten it in speech to 'the Lee-Enfield' or just 'the Enfield'. Millions were made, and because so many were built and they were sturdy, they are still found in use in parts of the world today.