war to end all wars

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-war to end all wars.wav

The fact is there are still a lot of wars going on in the world, and there is no general acceptance as yet that the ‘war to end all wars’ is really over.

1920 February 9, “World Leadership Lost, says Baker”, in New York Times, page 3:

In contrast to its predecessor (the so-called war to end all wars), the 1939–1945 conflict was truly global in conduct, encompassing continents and hemispheres, and its political impact on the conduct of world affairs was and remains momentous.

1990 March, Alexander S. Cochran Jr., “‘Remarkably Clear Picture’ of WWII’s Complexities”, in Army, volume 40, number 3, Association of the U.S. Army, page 59:


NORAD

w:North American Aerospace Defense Command

Acronym of North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Commandement de la Défense Aérospatiale de l’Amérique du Nord

北米航空宇宙防衛司令部

ほくべい こうくううちゅうぼうえいしれいぶ


conventional warfare

The waging of war in set military battles, as opposed to waging guerrilla warfare or fighting insurgencies.


war veteran

A person who has served in the armed forces during a war.


fission bomb

I heard the fission bomb test clearly and I was over a hundred miles away.

An atomic bomb that uses nuclear fission as a source of energy


fusion bomb

An atomic bomb that uses nuclear fusion as a source of energy; a hydrogen bomb


emma

(British, dated, World War I, signalese) M in RAF phonetic alphabet


iWar

From i- (“alluding to cutting-edge or fashionable digital devices and computer programs”) + war.

prefix

(NATO) A form of Internet-based warfare.

Biologically Inspired Tactical Security Infrastructure


Pickett's charge

en-noun

Pickett's charge (plural Pickett's charges)

A reference to an event during the American Civil War, wherein 16,000 Confederate infantrymen attacked Union positions; the attack failed, with several thousand Confederate casualties.


Johnny Canuck

1869, Johnny + Canuck, a character in political cartoons.

(chiefly World War I, World War II) A Canadian soldier.


nuclearize

en-verb

nuclearize (third-person singular simple present nuclearizes, present participle nuclearizing, simple past and past participle nuclearized)

nuclearizes (present singular third-person)
nuclearizing (participle present)
nuclearized (participle past)
nuclearized (past)

(transitive) To arm with nuclear weapons.


nuclearization

en-noun

nuclearization (countable and uncountable, plural nuclearizations)


calling card

(World War I– World War II military slang) An explosive dropped from a bomber aeroplane.


gigaton

A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many billion tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy.


nuclearism

The advocacy of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology for the maintenance of national security


preemptive strike

preemptive strike (plural preemptive strikes)

In every war the salarians have fought, they struck first and without warning. For the salarians, to know an enemy plans to attack and to let it happen is folly. To announce their own plans to attack is insanity. They find the human moral concepts of "do not fire until fired upon" and "declare a war before prosecuting it" incredibly naive. In defensive wars, they execute devastating preemptive strikes hours before the enemy's own attacks.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Military Doctrine Codex entry:

An attack launched as a defensive measure.


bellicism

One cannot understand the causes of the First World War unless one appreciates the degree of bellicism in European society at that time, especially in Central Europe […].

1962, Michael Howard, The Causes of Wars, page 271:

Today the phrase "holy war" suggests a no holds barred fanaticism, a form of unbridled bellicism.

2003, Timothy Patrick Jackson, The Priority of Love, page 126:

Not all of France was inundated by the nationalist wave – it was predominantly young, intelligent Parisians who embraced the new bellicism […].

2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 295:

An inclination to war; warlike policy or behaviour.

عُدْوَانِيَّة

an inclination to war — see also militarism


Yalta

From Crimean Tatar Yalta, from Byzantine Greek Γιαλίτα (Gialíta), a derivative of γιαλός (gialós, “beach, seashore”), from Ancient Greek αἰγιαλός (aigialós).

(by ellipsis) The Yalta Conference of 1945.


subcritical

a subcritical reactor

(physics) Having insufficient mass to sustain a chain reaction


MIRV

Picking up where we had left off at Vladivostok, we discussed verification of underground nuclear tests that each side could conduct, and also the rules for counting MIRVs — how to tell whether a missile had a single or a multiple warhead. There the Soviets granted a concession. If they placed a MIRV in a certain location, then we had the right to assume that every missile in that field had a MIRV capability.

1980, Gerald Ford, A Time to Heal, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 294:

The M.I.R.V. is a tactical nuke. Uh, fifty kilotons, nominal yield, say… five times Hiroshima.

1989, James Cameron, The Abyss (motion picture), spoken by Lt. Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn):

(military) Initialism of multiple independently-targettable reentry vehicle; the independently targettable reentry capsule for a ballistic missile's payload, typically a nuclear weapon, where the missile has multiple instances of such.


MRV

multiple reentry vehicle
multiple reentry vehicle#English

(military) Initialism of multiple reentry vehicle: the reentry capsule for a ballistic missile's payload, typically a nuclear weapon, where the missile has multiple instances of such, but can only target one site with all reentry vehicles.


SLBM

The Circular Error Probable (CEPs) of SLBMs and SLCMs ought thus to be deliberately kept above the 'Hard Target Kill' (HTK) level.

1989, Marlies ter Borg-Neervoort, Wim Smit, Non-provocative Defence as a Principle of Arms Reduction:

ballistic missile
ballistic missile#English

(weaponry) Initialism of submarine-launched ballistic missile.


LRBM

long range ballistic missile
long range ballistic missile#English

(weaponry) Initialism of long range ballistic missile.


IRBM

intermediate-range ballistic missile
w:intermediate-range ballistic missile

(weaponry) Initialism of intermediate-range ballistic missile.


MRBM

medium range ballistic missile
medium range ballistic missile#English

(weaponry) Initialism of medium range ballistic missile.


denuclearization

denuclearization (countable and uncountable, plural denuclearizations)


nuclear testing

The testing of a nuclear weapons for effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability.


all's fair in love and war

Unpleasant behavior is acceptable during love and conflict.

كل شيء مباح في الحب والحرب

unpleasant behavior is acceptable during love or conflict

可以不择手段

zhǐyào mùdì zhèngdàng, kěyǐ bùzéshǒuduàn

sodassa ja rakkaudessa kaikki on sallittua

en amour comme à la guerre, tous les coups sont permis

in der Liebe und im Krieg ist alles erlaubt

with the right strategy you can wage war

כִּי בְתַחְבֻּלוֹת תַּעֲשֶׂה-לְּךָ מִלְחָמָה

恋愛と戦争では手段を選ばない

れんあいとせんそうではしゅだんをえらばない

in love and war you don't choose the means

mu mukwano ne mu lutalo byonna byejeerezebwa.

orang sedang bercinta, yang dibuat betul belaka

w miłości i na wojnie wszystko jest dozwolone

в любви́ и на войне́ все сре́дства хороши́

muḥabbat aur jang meṉ sab kuch jā'iz hai

مُحَبَّت اَوْر جَنگ میں سَب کُچھ جائز ہَے


antinuke

en-adj

antinuke (comparative more antinuke, superlative most antinuke)

more antinuke (comparative)
most antinuke (superlative)

Holly Near […] interpreter for the deaf Susan Freudlich […] and pianist J. T. Thomas […] appeared in Bostonr Nov. 28 as part of a national tour aimed at educating people about nuclear power. […] The concert was introduced by Dr. Helen Caldicott (left) author of Nuclear Madness and a founder of the anti-nuke movement in Australia.

1979 December 8, “On Tour For A Nuclear-Free Future (image caption)”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 20, page 6:


counterproliferation

The nightmare scenario, of course, is what happens if an extremist Islamic government emerges with an instant nuclear arsenal, said Robert Joseph, a counterproliferation expert who left the administration this year.

2007 November 11, David E. Sanger, “So, What About Those Nukes?”, in New York Times:


total war

en-noun

total war (countable and uncountable, plural total wars)

Calque of German totaler Krieg, coined by Erich Ludendorff.

Warfare where all of a country's available resources, military as well as civilian, are employed.

الحَرْب الشَّامِلَةُ

warfare where all of a country's resources are employed


postnuclear

postnuclear pitch


superbomb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superbomb.wav

An extremely powerful bomb, especially the atomic bomb or hydrogen bomb.


trinitite

trinitite (usually uncountable, plural trinitites)

atomsite

melt glasses from US nuclear bomb test sites

melt glass

minerals melted by exposure to extreme heat and vitrified

kharitonchik

melt glasses from the Soviet nuke bomb Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan

impactite

metamorphic minerals caused by meteor heating of non-meteoritic materials

impact glass

melt glasses caused by meteor heating of non-meteoritic materials

fulgurite

melt glasses caused by lightning strikes

fusion crust

metamorphic minerals on the surface of meteorites caused by atmospheric entry heating

The glassy residue left on the desert floor after the Trinity nuclear bomb test of 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA.


nuclear summer

A period, hypothesized to follow a nuclear winter, in which surface temperatures rise to a dangerous degree because of the release of carbon dioxide and methane from decayed organic matter.


NFU

National Farmers Union
w:National Farmers Union


NFU

Initialism of no first use. (of nuclear weapons)

(set theory) Initialism of New Foundations with urelements.


MARV

A maneuverable reentry vehicle, a type of nuclear warhead capable of shifting targets in flight.


Totenkopf

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Totenkopf.wav

Borrowed from German Totenkopf (literally “dead person's head”).

bor+

3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
w:3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf

(World War II) Ellipsis of 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf.


red mercury

A supposed substance for use in the creation of nuclear bombs and other weapons, about which there are various conspiracy theories.


megatonnage

en-noun

megatonnage (countable and uncountable, plural megatonnages)

"We have grown accustomed to a deadly paradox: the world's greatest megatonnage of TNT is buried in the heart of the earth's most productive agricultural area.

1988 September 9, Harold Henderson, “The City File”, in Chicago Reader:

That simple idea gained increasing public support in the late 1970s and early 80s as an alternative to the complexities of the arms race, with its continuing posturing and intermittent negotiations about megatonnage, throw weight and inspections.

2007 October 26, Dennis Hevesi, “Randall Forsberg, 64, Nuclear Freeze Advocate, Dies”, in New York Times:

The destructive power of an explosive, measured in megatons.


Comecon

w:Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

(historical) Abbreviation of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, a multinational economic organization that existed in the Eastern Bloc from 1949 to 1991.


Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact formalized Moscow's dominance in Europe's east.

(historical) A pact (long-term alliance treaty) signed on May 14, 1955 in Warsaw by the Soviet Union and its Communist military allies in Europe.


nonwar

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signed a directive allowing non-war uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a "special operation" not classified as war.[…]
"[It] provides a legal basis for non-war military operation," it said.
Among the six-chapter document's stated aims are "maintaining national sovereignty ... regional stability and regulating the organization and implementation of non-war military operations," it said.

2022 June 13, Chun-mei Hwang, “Chinese leader Xi Jinping signs new rules governing 'non-war' military operations”, in Luisetta Mudie, transl., edited by Luisetta Mudie, Radio Free Asia, archived from the original on 2022-06-14:


Stalingrad

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Stalingrad.wav

Borrowed from Russian Сталингра́д (Stalingrád). Named after Soviet supreme leader Joseph Stalin.

named-after

(historical) The former name, 1925-1961, of Volgograd, a city, the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, and site of a famous World War II battle.


Gorbachev

Transliteration of Russian Горбачёв (Gorbačóv), usually written Горбаче́в (Gorbačév) (see note about Russian letter ё (jo)), from горба́ч (gorbáč, “hunchback”).

transliteration

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Горбачёв Горбачёв#Russian

A transliteration of the Russian surname Горбачёв (Gorbačóv).


Mussolini

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Mussolini.wav

From Italian Mussolini, from mussola, mussolina (“muslin”), from Mussolo (“Mosul”), that is Mosul in northern Iraq.


Kriegsmarine

(historical, military, nautical, World War II) The navy of Nazi Germany.


intercontinental ballistic missile

en-noun

intercontinental ballistic missile (plural intercontinental ballistic missiles)

intercontinental ballistic missiles (plural)

From intercontinental + ballistic missile.

(military, astronautics) A class of long-range missiles associated especially with carrying nuclear warheads.

междуконтинентална балистична ракета

a class of long-range missiles associated especially with carrying nuclear warheads (ICBM)

大陸間弾道ミサイル

たいりくかんだんどうミサイル

межконтинента́льная баллисти́ческая раке́та


Gossage

Named after Air Marshal Sir Ernest Leslie Gossage, Commander-in-Chief RAF Balloon Command 1940-4.

(slang, UK, World War II, RAF) A barrage balloon.


Big Bertha

A heavy, long-range howitzer used by Germany in World War I.


make love, not war

desc

→ French: faites l’amour, pas la guerre (calque)

Originally coined by those who opposed the United States's involvement in the Vietnam War.

I want you to make love, not war / I know you've heard it before

1973, John Lennon (lyrics and music), “Mind Games”, in Mind Games:

A hippie anti-war slogan encouraging love and peace.


fuzzy-wuzzy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fuzzy-wuzzy.wav

Adjective: Reduplication of fuzzy. Noun: From the adjective, in reference to their fuzzy hair texture.

(Australia, World War II) A Papuan, especially one who assisted the Australian military against the Japanese; a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.


southron

Likely from a Northumbrian alteration of earlier Old English suþern, suþærn. The switch from -ern to -ron is likely due to the influence of Old Norse rann (“place, house, home”) on Old English ærn (“home, place”).
More at southern.

Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America

(US, archaic) Alternative form of Southern: of or related to the American South, particularly (historical) the Confederate States of America.


southron

To the natural impressibility of the southron, the Louisianian adds the enthusiasm of the Frenchman.

1890, T. C. DeLeon, Four Years in Rebel Capitals:

(US, archaic) Alternative form of Southerner: someone from the American South, particularly (US, historical) a Confederate citizen or soldier.


antinuker

(informal) One who is opposed to nuclear weapons.


antiatomic

(politics, military) Opposing or countering atomic weapons.


Hanford

en-proper noun

Hanford (countable and uncountable, plural Hanfords)

From Welsh hen ("old") and ford ("a way"): the old way (Source: William Arthur 1857).

Cerro Gordo County
Cerro Gordo County#English

An unincorporated community in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa.


Brezhnev

Borrowed from Russian Бре́жнев (Bréžnev).

Бре́жнев Брежнев#Russian

A transliteration of the Russian surname Бре́жнев (Bréžnev); usually refers to the Russian revolutionary and Soviet Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) Leonid Brezhnev.


antiproliferation

Used attributively to describe the countering of proliferation (of nuclear weapons, cancer etc.)


Victory Day

Any of various public holidays in various countries to commemorate victories in important battles or wars in the countries' history.

عِيد اَلنَّصْر

a day to commemorate victories in important battles or wars in the countries' history


War Democrat

United States of America
United States of America

(US politics, historical) A member of the Democratic Party of the United States of America who supported the prosecution of Confederates and sympathizers during the American Civil War.


micronuke

A hypothetical nuclear weapon built on a very small scale.


old sweat

(British, military slang, chiefly World War I) An experienced soldier.


downwinder

A person (or community) that lives downwind from a potential hazard (such as a nuclear power station)


juneteenth

juneteenth (countable and uncountable, plural juneteenths)

Alternative letter-case form of Juneteenth


hybrid warfare

Some, however, have recently added a single intermediate category of “hybrid warfare”: […]. The notion of “hybrid” war makes a valuable contribution in breaking down unhelpful dichotomies between “conventional” and “guerrilla,” and is a clear and important step in the right direction.

2008, Stephen Biddle, Jeffrey A. Friedman, “The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy”, in Strategic Studies Institute, page 28:

the changing character of conflict from conventional to irregular and hybrid warfare.

2009, Patrick M. Cronin, Global Strategic Assessment 2009: America’s Security Role in a Changing World, NDU Press, page 2:

Entities using IW [irregular warfare] flout Geneva Convention rules and use nontraditional tools, including weapons of mass destruction, improvised explosive devices, and cyberwar operations. Hybrid warfare is waged using a combination of regular and irregular warfare tools, concepts, and doctrines.

2013, Jacquelyn K. Davis, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Anticipating a Nuclear Iran: Challenges for U.S. Security, →ISBN, page 200:

The US state department said it was “incredibly” concerned about Russia’s campaign of hybrid warfare against the west, amid fears it will escalate following Ukraine’s first use of US-made long-range missiles on targets inside Russia, after the Biden administration lifted restrictions on their use.

2024 November 19, Andrew Roth, Shaun Walker, Pjotr Sauer, “US and Europe fear escalation of Russian hybrid warfare amid Ukraine missile attacks”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

conventional warfare
conventional warfare

A form of conflict which blends conventional warfare, irregular warfare, and activities such as political warfare and information warfare.

հիբրիդային պատերազմ

warfare that blends conventional warfare and irregular warfare


a bridge too far

→ Dutch: een brug te ver (calque)

In reference to Operation Market Garden, Allied airborne military operation of 1944. General Roy E. Urquhart, in his 1958 memoir Arnhem, ascribed the phrase to general Frederick “Boy” Browning. It was popularized by being chosen as the title of Cornelius Ryan’s 1974 book on Operation Market Garden and the subsequent 1977 epic war film.

Cloning was an interesting concept. Cloning body parts was again just man's search for immortality riding on the back of naive altruistic medicinal benevolence. But cloning a person was a bridge too far.

2006, Adair Broughton, Crossing the Bridge of Infinity, page 40:

“Maybe we are seeing a similar phenomenon with NFTs — but it could be a bridge too far for people with collections in other media.”

2021 April 28, Zachary Small, quoting William Goetzmann, “As Auctioneers and Artists Rush Into NFTs, Many Collectors Stay Away”, in New York Times:

(idiomatic) A step or action that is too ambitious; an act of overreaching.

A Bridge Too Far (book)
A Bridge Too Far (film)
Cornelius Ryan
Frederick Browning
Operation Market Garden
Roy Urquhart


declare war

en-verb

declare war (third-person singular simple present declares war, present participle declaring war, simple past and past participle declared war)

declares war (present singular third-person)
declaring war (participle present)
declared war (participle past)
declared war (past)

Germany declared war on France, who reciprocated, on August 3 [1939], and England declared war on Germany on August 4, when Belgium was already under invasion.

2007, Carlos Ramirez-Faria, Concise Encyclopaedia of World History:

(of a governmental authority) To make a formal pronouncement, or sign a legal document, that initiates a state of war between one nation and another, usually before hostilities begin.

πόλεμον ἐκφέρω (pólemon ekphérō) (πρὸς + accusative)


Vietnam War

The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.

2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times:

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

(historical) The war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia between 1955 and 1975 between South Vietnam (backed by the United States and SEATO) and North Vietnam aiding the South Vietnamese communist guerrilla army known as the Vietcong (supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union) for the struggle for total Communist control of Vietnam as one state.


Upper South

The northern part of the South (Southern United States), typically consisting of North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma, sometimes also inclusive of southern Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, eastern/southern/western Maryland, and southern Delaware.


Tiny Tim

(historical, military, countable) A United States rocket, used in World War II and the Korean War.


Hump

The C-47s could not make it over the Hump with a full load and full tanks.

(historical, World War II, slang) The Himalayas (a mountain range in Asia), as the challenge for the supply route between India and China.


put to the sword

put to the sword (third-person singular simple present puts to the sword, present participle putting to the sword, simple past and past participle put to the sword)

puts to the sword (present singular third-person)
putting to the sword (participle present)
put to the sword (participle past)
put to the sword (past)


Eastern Bloc

Coordinate term: Western Bloc

(geopolitics, historical) The largely Communist countries of the eastern world, usually Eastern Europe and especially in the Cold War era.

اَلْكُتْلَة الشَّرْقِيَّة

the communist countries of the eastern world


Brezhnev Doctrine

Named after Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.

named-after

A policy which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in places where capitalism threatened communism.


butchershop

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-butchershop.wav

(World War I– World War II military slang) A military hospital or its division where surgeries upon the wounded are performed.


CWT

Central War Time
Central War Time#English

(US, historical) Initialism of Central War Time.


Sputnik moment

A reference to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 which caught the US unprepared. The event ignited the Space Race during the Cold War, and led to the US successfully launching Explorer 1 into space in 1958.

Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans found themselves again facing a Sputnik moment. They realized that they were caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Qaeda terrorists.

2004 June 22, Rush Holt, Suggested Remarks for Rep. Rush Holt: Is American Security Being Lost in Translation?, National Language Conference, U.S. Department of Defence, archived from the original on 2008-12-27, page 4:

Americans are having another Sputnik moment: one of those periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's the Chinese and the Indians

2005 May 25, Robert J. Samuelson, “Sputnik Scare, Updated”, in Washington Post:

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal.

2011 January 5, Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, speechwriter, “Remarks by the President in State of Union Address”, in White House Office of the Press Secretary, WhiteHouse.gov, archived from the original on 2016-05-06:

"It's a national call, a Sputnik moment," said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race.

2011 June 11, Claire Cain Miller, “Computer studies made cool, on film and now on campus”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2011-06-11:

The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some other country or countries by increasing its investment into education, innovative research and development, etc.

Explorer 1
National Air and Space Museum
Sputnik 1


Lincolnian

en-adj

Lincolnian (comparative more Lincolnian, superlative most Lincolnian)

more Lincolnian (comparative)
most Lincolnian (superlative)

Of or pertaining to Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), 16th president of the United States.


Strangelovian

Strangelovian (comparative more Strangelovian, superlative most Strangelovian)

more Strangelovian (comparative)
most Strangelovian (superlative)

From Strangelove + -ian, referring to the title character in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a black comedy satirizing the nuclear weapons scare.

Paul C. Warnke, President Jimmy Carter's first director of ACDA, came to Reagan's defense by noting the Strangelovian affection of some armchair strategists for nuclear weaponry.

1987, “INF Agreement in Principle”, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 43, number 9, page 5:

How many hundreds of millions of dollars have been sunk into Strangelovian bunkers, how many tens of thousands of hours invested in preparing for that apocalyptic vision? Only a handful of senior doomsday officials may ever know...

1994, Mother Jones Magazine (volume 19, number 1, Jan-Feb 1994)

Just today, I read a Strangelovian story in the paper revealing that some of Russia's nuclear missiles, still aimed at the United States, have gone unattended because their guards were denied their bonus rations of four pounds of sausage a month.

2008, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Four Star Reviews — 1967-2007, page 833:

Of or pertaining to nuclear apocalypse, especially through incompetence or shortsightedness.


Eighty Years' War

(historical) The conflict in the Low Countries against Spanish rule, from 1568 to 1648, that gradually turned into a Dutch war of independence.


puppet army

From puppet + army, a calque from Mandarin 傀儡軍／傀儡军 (kuǐlěijūn, “puppet army”).

(specifically) Such an army in China during the Sino-Japanese War.


doomsday weapon

en-noun

doomsday weapon (plural doomsday weapons)


electromagnetic pulse

electromagnetic pulse (plural electromagnetic pulses)

Compton-recoil electrons and photoelectrons from photons scattered in the materials of a nuclear event causing electric and magnetic fields to couple with electrical and electronic systems to produce damaging current surges.


nuclear magnetic pulse

nuclear magnetic pulse (plural nuclear magnetic pulses)

electromagnetic pulse
electromagnetic pulse#English

An electromagnetic pulse caused by a nuclear explosion


Unknown Soldier

In 1920, following World War I, a monument to an Unknown Warrior was established in London and Paris simultaneously to the common memories of all soldiers killed in any war. Since then, monuments to the Unknown Soldier have been raised in many countries, each containing the body of one such unidentified soldier.

The representative of military personnel who have died unidentified without proper burial, usually in war.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

tuntematon sotilas

representative of unidentified fallen soldiers


domino theory

An allusion to a row of dominoes in which the fall of one leads to a cascade of falling pieces.

(politics, historical) Synonym of domino effect


subcritical mass

subcritical mass (plural subcritical masses)

(physics) A mass of fissile material that is insufficient to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.

alikriittinen massa

insufficient mass to sustain chain reaction


supercritical mass

supercritical mass (plural supercritical masses)

(physics) A mass of fissile material that is more than sufficient to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.


Kitchener

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Kitchener.wav

Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal in the First World War


radioflash

radioflash (usually uncountable, plural radioflashes)

electromagnetic pulse
electromagnetic pulse


nukeable

en-adj

nukeable (comparative more nukeable, superlative most nukeable)

more nukeable (comparative)
most nukeable (superlative)


B-NICE

(emergency medicine) Initialism of biological, nuclear / radiological, incendiary, chemical, and explosive agents, used to remember the types of hazmat emergencies.


CBRN

weapons of mass destruction
weapon of mass destruction

(military, US, emergency medicine) Initialism of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, used to remember the four types of weapons of mass destruction.


Quaker gun

An allusion to the pacifism associated with practitioners of the Quaker religion.

"At all events, your honour, I will carry the quaker in," said Joyce, tossing the stuffed figure on a shoulder. "He do to man the quaker gun at least, and may be of use in frightening some one of the other side."

1843, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 21, in Wyandotte:

The Quaker gun found there was consigned to the flames to-day, and in its stead heavy artillery, of the genuine sort, commands all the surrounding country.

1861 October 4, “The Great Rebellion”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-10-30:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, military, weaponry) A nonfunctional imitation of a gun or of a piece of artillery, typically made of wood and usually intended to deceive enemy forces into overestimating one's available firepower.


American Civil War

A war fought in the United States between 1861 and 1865, between the Northern states (Union) and Southern states (Confederacy).

美國內戰 /美国内战

civil war in the United States (1861-1865)


Wilsonianism

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Wilsonianism.wav

An approach to foreign policy typical of US president Woodrow Wilson, characterized by the spread of capitalist democracy and an emphasis on openness, conflict resolution, and the self-determination of peoples.


wave the bloody shirt

en-verb

wave the bloody shirt (third-person singular simple present waves the bloody shirt, present participle waving the bloody shirt, simple past and past participle waved the bloody shirt)

waves the bloody shirt (present singular third-person)
waving the bloody shirt (participle present)
waved the bloody shirt (participle past)
waved the bloody shirt (past)

(US politics, slang) To mention martyrs and wars (especially the American Civil War) in an effort to draw empathy.


START

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
w:Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

(law) Acronym of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.


Punic War

So ended the first and longest of the three Punic Wars; or, if viewed from a more romantic standpoint, the first act of a three-act tragedy, the tragedy of the destruction not only of Carthage but also of old Rome - of Rome the city state.

1992, Brian Caven, The Punic Wars, Barnes & Noble, page 64:

The first Punic War has ended in 241 BC, but another Punic War would begin in 218 BC.

2002, Richard Michael Pasichnyk, In Defense of Nature: The History Nobody Told You About, iUniverse, page 133:

The third and last Punic War (151-146 B.C.E) led to the complete destruction of Carthage.

2004, Kevin McGeough, The Romans: new perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 69:

Any of several wars between Ancient Rome and Carthage.


Civil War

Puritans had always been only a minority, albeit one with disproportionate influence. The Civil War of the 1640s, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the establishment of a republic, gave them supreme power.

2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 46:

Any of several civil wars, taken specifically.


Appomattox

The river was named after the Appamatuck tribe of Native Americans (whose name is from Powhatan). The town was named after the county, which in turn was named after the river.

Appomattox County
Appomattox County#English

A town, the county seat of Appomattox County, Virginia, United States, formerly known as Nebraska and Appomattox Station

A historic village in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States, formerly the county seat, also known as Clover Hill and Appomattox Court House


substrategic

(military, nuclear weapons) At a lesser level than full strategic nuclear warfare.


victory garden

A kitchen garden planted in wartime to reduce the pressure on the public food supply.


prestrategic

(military, nuclear weapons) Before the onset of full strategic nuclear warfare.


Reb

"Jest here, or hereabouts," Disko replied, "earnin' my bread on the deep waters, an' dodgin' Reb privateers. […]"

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(US) Abbreviation of Rebel (“Confederate soldier”).


Abbreviation of Military Intelligence, Section 9.

abbrev

(historical) A section of British military intelligence in World War II; they were charged with aiding resistance fighters in enemy territory and recovering Allied troops from behind enemy lines.


the Bomb

Alternative form of the bomb (as in a nuclear bomb)


N-bomb

The synthetic hallucinogen 25I-NBOMe, used as a recreational drug.


Billy Yank

American Civil War
American Civil War#English

(US, dated) A soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


minnie

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-minnie.wav

(World War I military slang) A minenwerfer trench mortar.


decommunization

The act, process, or result of decommunizing.


Viet Minh

From Vietnamese Việt Minh, shorted form of Việt-Nam Độc-Lập Đông-Minh (Vietnam Independence League).

(historical) A Vietnamese Communist independence and nationalist movement led by Hồ Chí Minh in 1941 organized to wage a guerrilla war against the invading Imperial Japanese forces and later the French in an effort to drive colonialist powers out of Indochina.


abolitiondom

Abolitionists, specifically the northern states during the US Civil War.


A-bomber

From A-bomb + -er. (atomic bomber / atom bomber).

An aircraft capable of delivering an atomic bomb as a weapon.


Gulf War

(history) One of several wars fought at the Persian Gulf in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, principally the one from 1990 to 1991.


philopolemic

en-adj

philopolemic (comparative more philopolemic, superlative most philopolemic)

more philopolemic (comparative)
most philopolemic (superlative)

/ˌfɪləʊpəˈlɛmɪk/

From philo- + polemic, modelled after Ancient Greek φιλοπόλεμος (philopólemos, “fond of war, warlike”), from φίλος (phílos, “beloved, dear; loving”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰil- (“decent, good; friendly, harmonious”)) + πόλεμος (pólemos, “war; battle”).

der

[L]et us direct our attention to what Plato and his best interpreter Proclus have transmitted to us concerning Minerva, who as a mundane deity is connected with ether, and has also an allotment in the celestial regions. Plato then in the Timæus describes this Goddess as both a lover of war, and a lover of wisdom; for he says that she is philopolemic and philosophic.

1816, Proclus, chapter XXI, in Thomas Taylor, transl., The Six Books of Proclus the Platonic Successor, on the Theology of Plato, Translated from the Greek; […] Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for the author, by A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:

[H]e dropped his title, which has since remained in abeyance; all of which was done with such secrecy as would have been successful had he been fighting a less diabolical and philopolemic enemy than the descendants of the deeply-wronged and unforgiving Evangeline.

1899, Hanson Penn Diltz, Hollow Bracken: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Dillinghan, →OCLC, page 385:

Strange! as her thoughts hovered about this, his greeting, with the subtle feeling of elation, which ran with direct and certain evidence of philopolemic strength and ability to twine the threads of destiny straight from the loom of the master-spinner, her mind reverted unconsciously and without impetus on her part, to those words in the last letter of de Monasterys— […]

1904, Winefride Trafford-Taunton, chapter XXXVIII, in The Redemption of Damian Gier, London: Digby, Long & Co., […], →OCLC, page 298:

And what after all was this philopolemic building but a mausoleum in need of a body? His conscience thus quietened, Pascoe unscrewed the top of the urn, took out a handful of dust, examined it for fear, found it, […]

1996, Reginald Hill, The Wood Beyond (A Dalziel and Pascoe Novel; Collins Crime; book 14), London: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN; republished London: Harper, 2009, →ISBN, page 42:

(rare) Exalting or supporting conflict or war.


SOE

Special Operations Executive
w:Special Operations Executive

(historical, World War II) Initialism of Special Operations Executive.


ADM

agency debit memo
agency debit memo#English

(travel) Initialism of agency debit memo.

Coordinate term: SADM

atomic demolition munition
w:atomic demolition munition

(military) Initialism of atomic demolition munition.


ADM

(rail transport) The station code of Admiralty in Hong Kong.


Copperhead

After the dangerous copperhead snake, to which propagandists of the Republican Party compared Democrats interested in appeasement.

(US, historical, slang) A northerner who sympathized with the South or wanted to end hostilities during the American Civil War.


Truman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Truman.wav

A place in the United States:
A city in Martin County, Minnesota.

An unincorporated community in Cameron County, Pennsylvania.

Lafayette County
Lafayette County#English

An unincorporated community in the town of Kendall, Lafayette County, Wisconsin.


Shiloh

From Biblical Hebrew שִׁילֹה \ שִׁלֹה (shiló).

bor

שִׁילֹה \ שִׁלֹה

Shiloh
Shiloh (biblical city)
Shiloh (given name)

A number of places in the United States:

An unincorporated community in Marengo County, Alabama.

An unincorporated community in Illinois Township, Pope County, Arkansas.

A historical district in Springdale, Arkansas.

A former village in Brevard County, Florida.

St. Clair County
St. Clair County#English

A village in St. Clair County, Illinois.

An unincorporated community in Cass Township, Sullivan County, Indiana.

An unincorporated community in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Issaquena County
Issaquena County#English

A ghost town in Issaquena County, Mississippi.

Cumberland County
Cumberland County#English

A borough in Cumberland County, New Jersey.

census-designated place
census-designated place

Montgomery County
Montgomery County#English

A census-designated place in Harrison Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.

A census-designated place in West Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania.

A census-designated place in Sumter County, South Carolina.

An unincorporated community in Hardin County, Tennessee, location of the Battle of Shiloh.

An unincorporated community in Gregg County, Texas.

An unincorporated community in Waller County, Texas.

An unincorporated community in Bath County, Virginia.

King George County
King George County#English

An unincorporated community in King George County, Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Pulaski County, Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Stafford County, Virginia.

Hampshire County
Hampshire County#English

An unincorporated community in Hampshire County, West Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Raleigh County, West Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia.

A number of townships in the United States, listed under Shiloh Township.


bromobenzyl cyanide

(organic chemistry) A lachrymatory agent (aka tear gas) introduced in World War I.


buncher

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-buncher.wav

Each airfield had its own buncher which emitted a particular radio signal. Each plane had a radio compass so that when we flew toward the buncher, the compass would go straight up. When we flew over the buncher, it would point straight down.

2008, W. C. Gibson, “54: Lieutenant W.C. Gibson”, in Alan L. Griggs, editor, Flying Flak Alley: Personal Accounts of World War II Bomber Crew Combat, page 247:

(military, RAF, World War II) A ground-based radio transmitter, configured within a system to guide aircraft to their allocated airfields.


Bamboo Curtain

After iron curtain, the original Cold War “curtain” (in Europe). First used in Time magazine in 1949.

Gen. Wego Chiang, commander-in-chief of the Combined Service Forces, called on leaders of the free world to design an effective global strategy to safeguard world peace and to rescue the enslaved people behind the Bamboo Curtain.

1982 November 7, “ROC to aid joint security”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXIII, number 44, Taipei, page 1:

“A new bamboo curtain may be coming down on Southeast Asia,” he worried. This would not be a hard-and-fast wall like the Iron Curtain; nor would it be part of some newly imagined Asian domino theory.

2008 September, Robert D. Kaplan, “Lifting the Bamboo Curtain”, in The Atlantic:

As it had been for other Western reporters getting their first look behind the Bamboo Curtain, it was all a marvel for Payne. After all, here was a country that less than a quarter of a century ago had been destitute after three decades of revolutionary warfare.

2015, James McGrath Morris, Eye on the Struggle, Amistad, →ISBN, page 321:

(historical) The political and ideological barrier between the communist and capitalist states of Asia during the Cold War.

Бамбукавая заслона

political barrier between communist and capitalist in Asia

ബാംബൂ കർട്ടൻ

bāmbū kaṟṭṭaṉ


Starfish site

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Starfish site.wav

Wartime code name derived from the initials SF for special fire.

(UK, historical, World War II) Any of the decoy cities built in the British countryside and set on fire during nearby bombing raids to divert German bombers away from their intended targets.


SALT

(politics) Acronym of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.


hemoclysm

Coined by Matthew White (a historian) (see citation 1998, below), from hemo- + Ancient Greek κλυσμός (klusmós, “wash; flood”).

It's very possible, therefore, that future historians will consider these events to be mere episodes of a single massive upheaval -- the "Hemoclysm", to give it a name (Greek for "blood flood") -- which took the lives of some 155 million people.

1998, Matthew White, “30 Worst Atrocities of the 20th Century”, in Twentieth Century Atlas:

In 1911, the Eastern hemoclysm, a Greek term for "blood flood," began with the ousting of the Manchu dynasty in China, leading to thirty-eight years of Civil War and a Japanese invasion.

2001, Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Misbegotten Anguish, page 67:

‘The twentieth century was the bloodiest in history’ […] The claim is rarely backed up by numbers from any century other than the 20th, or by a mention of the hemoclysms of centuries past.

2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, page 233:

During the early phase of the Hemoclysm war still possessed a thin veneer of glory, soldiers dying with greater frequency than the unarmed masses of civilians.

2013, Carl Mosk, Nationalism and Economic Development in Modern Asia, page 233:

A violent and bloody conflict, a bloodbath; specifically (chiefly with capital initial), the period of the mid-twentieth century encompassing both world wars.


art of war

The numerous strategies and tactics available to military leaders during combat.


give battle

en-verb

give battle (third-person singular simple present gives battle, present participle giving battle, simple past gave battle, past participle given battle)

gives battle (present singular third-person)
giving battle (participle present)
gave battle (past)
given battle (participle past)

(dated) To engage in warfare; to attack or fight with military force.


Hindenburg

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Hindenburg.wav

Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal in the First World War and second President of the Weimar Republic.


Red Army

Calque of Russian Красная Армия (Krasnaja Armija). The red was the traditional color of the communist movement which was the official ideology of the Soviets at the period.

calque

Красная Армия

(historical, military) Name of the Soviet army in the period 1918–1946.

(historical, informal, military) The Soviet Armed Forces.

If Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could order his troops into his neighbor with impunity, surely China’s President Xi Jinping might finally decide to recover Taiwan, the island province that has remained staunchly independent ever since Mao Zedong’s Red Army finished his conquest of the mainland in 1949.

2022 August 30, Donald Kirk, “Could China invade South Korea after Taiwan?”, in The Hill, archived from the original on 2022-08-30:

(historical, military) The Chinese Red Army.

(informal, military) The Russian Armed Forces, especially the Ground Forces component.


War

Through much of the War, Hitler carried his painter's kit, did water colors of War-ruined buildings.

1939 October 30, “Paintings by Adolf Hitler”, in Life, volume 7, number 18, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52:

Preceded by the: designating a particularly notable war.

(chiefly British, informal) World War II.

The personification of war, often depicted in armour and riding a red horse; the red rider.


nuclear warfare

The use of nuclear weapons as weapons of war.


Purex

Shortening of plutonium uranium extraction.

A chemical method used to purify fuel for nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons, based on liquid–liquid extraction ion-exchange.


invasion money

(historical, World War II) Currency issued by the Japanese government for use in its occupied territories.


South Vietnam

China is so large, looms so high just beyond the frontiers, that if South Vietnam went, it would not only give them an improved geographic position for the guerrilla assault on Malaya but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in Southeast Asia was China and the Communists. So I believe it.

1971, Lyndon Johnson, quoting John F. Kennedy, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 61:

(historical) A state, officially the Republic of Vietnam, that governed southern Vietnam from 1955–1975.


bounty jumper

(US, slang, historical) One who, during the latter part of the Civil War, enlisted in the United States service, and deserted as soon as possible after receiving the bounty.


irregular warfare

非正規戰爭 /非正规战争

warfare in which one or more combatants are irregulars

2005, Robert Russell Mackey, The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865, →ISBN:

Studying the raid's effect on one community reveals how the different forms of irregular warfare — partisan warfare, guerrilla tactics, and cavalry raids — intertwined along the Ohio River border.

2010, Stephen I. Rockenback, “The Spoliation of Defenseless Farmers and Villagers”, in U.S. Army and Irregular Warfare 1775-2007: Selected Papers, →ISBN:

2011, John Arquilla, Insurgents, Raiders, and Bandits: How masters of irregular warfare shaped our world, →ISBN:

Warfare in which one or more combatants are irregulars (such as partisans, guerrillas or insurgents) rather than regular military forces.

(in particular) Warfare with the aim of gaining or establishing political authority using asymmetric warfare tactics.


CEP

The Circular Error Probable (CEPs) of SLBMs and SLCMs ought thus to be deliberately kept above the 'Hard Target Kill' (HTK) level.

1989, Marlies ter Borg-Neervoort, Wim Smit, Non-provocative Defence as a Principle of Arms Reduction:

circular error probable
w:circular error probable

(ballistics) An initialism of three synonymous phrases, namely:


nukespeak

From nuke + -speak, coined by linguist Paul Chilton.

A form of misleading language used to present nuclear weapons in a positive light.


Secession War

(outside the US) The American Civil War.


Scotch mist

en-noun

Scotch mist (countable and uncountable, plural Scotch mists)

(UK, dialect, chiefly Lancashire and Yorkshire, idiomatic) Something that is hard to find or does not exist.

(World War II) Something imaginary, nonexistant, or overlooked.

chiefly Lancashire and Yorkshire; World War II; World War II


Bay of Pigs

A small inlet on the southern side of Cuba, site of a famous failed invasion in 1961.


Crimean War

He also thought nothing of laying down a railway in a war zone. For example, he was one of those behind the Grand Crimean Central Railway, built during the Crimean War [...].

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 57:

(historical) A conflict held mostly in the Crimean Peninsula between October 1853 and February 1856, in which Russian troops were defeated to an alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.

Кырым сугышы

Qırım suğışı


Midway

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Midway.wav

An atoll in the North Pacific. Known for its World War II battle.


Gallipoli

From Italian Gallipoli, from Turkish and late variant forms of Byzantine Greek Καλλίπολις (Kallípolis, “Callipolis”), from the combining form of Ancient Greek κάλλος (kállos, “beauty, beautiful”) + πόλις (pólis, “city, city-state”). Doublet of Gelibolu, Callipolis, and Kallipolis.

doublet

(by ellipsis, historical) The Gallipoli Campaign (1915–16) in World War I.


wave the white flag

en-verb

wave the white flag (third-person singular simple present waves the white flag, present participle waving the white flag, simple past and past participle waved the white flag)

waves the white flag (present singular third-person)
waving the white flag (participle present)
waved the white flag (participle past)
waved the white flag (past)

I started in with a fine left-hander on his right eye. Liverpool had been a fighter once, but dissipation and bad company had taken the nerve out of him. In ten minutes I had him lying on the sand waving the white flag.

1911, O Henry, “The Day We Celebrate”, in Sixes and Sevens:

Last week the Herald waved the white flag, editorialized: "In view of the Professor's unfortunate exposé of Boston newspaper punditing, we have little alternative but to follow his advice."

1951 May 21, “The Press: Fog Cutter”, in Time, retrieved 2014-04-25:

The Louisiana governor accused the president of “waving the white flag” on the American economy.

2014 Feb. 24, "Bobby Jindal After Meeting With Obama" (video), New York Times (retrieved 25 April 2014)

(figurative) To yield, give up, or quit.


bunker buster

(military) A bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.


From the years in which the war was fought, 1914 to 1918.


nuclear option

From analogy with the political decision to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a war.

So now that the Republicans have used the nuclear option to kill the poor filibuster to clear the way for the elevation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, we can lose perspective.

2017 April 5, Steven Waldman, “Learning to Love the Nuclear Option”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US politics) A procedure by which the United States Senate can decide any issue with a simple majority, rather than the usual supermajority.


die in the last ditch

die in the last ditch (third-person singular simple present dies in the last ditch, present participle dying in the last ditch, simple past and past participle died in the last ditch)

dies in the last ditch (present singular third-person)
dying in the last ditch (participle present)
died in the last ditch (participle past)
died in the last ditch (past)

Popularized from an 1847 translation by Agnes Strickland of a quote attributed to William of Orange during the French invasion of 1672 on his being advised to surrender Holland to Louis XIV: "No, I mean to die in the last ditch."

To fight till death; to die rather than surrender.


Stars and Bars

Confederate States
Confederate States of America

The first national flag of the Confederate States.


Rhenish Palatinate

County Palatinate of the Rhine
County Palatinate of the Rhine

(historical) The County Palatinate of the Rhine, particularly during the time between the Napoleonic Wars and the end of World War II (1816–1945), when it was in personal union with Bavaria.


asymmetrical warfare

asymmetric warfare
asymmetric warfare#English


compo ration

(British, World War II, historical) A composition ration; a crate containing food, tea, soap, toilet paper etc. for 14 men for one day.


Wagnerite

Until international law settles the status of PMCs, the Kremlin will continue to use them in the international arena. According to Reuters, about 400 ‘Wagnerites’ have been recently sent to Venezuela to protect president Nicolas Maduro.

2019 January 31, Denis Shpigov, “Wagner group: Mercenaries protecting Kremlin’s interests worldwide”, in BelsatTV, archived from the original on 2023-03-15:

Wagnerites: "We need more drones, ideally armed. And MRAPs, and more thermal sights, and better comms, and new helicopters to replace those lost..."
Prigozhin: "Best I can do is another movie"

2021 December 5, @AbraxasSpa, Twitter, retrieved 2023-03-15:

“The enemy again made a desperate attempt to storm the city of Soledar from different directions and threw the most professional units of the Wagnerites into battle,” Ukraine’s military said on Monday, echoing comments made by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Sunday.

2023 January 9, Peter Beaumont, “Ukraine reinforces Bakhmut defences amid relentless Russian assault”, in The Guardian:

"We will not leave Bakhmut," vowed Prigozhin in his audio message. "We'll simply die in double the numbers until all [the Wagnerites] are finished. And when the Wagnerites are completely finished, most likely Shoigu and Gerasimov will have to pick up machine guns."

2023 February 22, Paul Kirby, “Russian Wagner chief Prigozhin blames ammunition shortage for high deaths”, in BBC News:

(military) A mercenary from the Wagner Group PMC.


multiple rocket launcher

en-noun

multiple rocket launcher (plural multiple rocket launchers)

(military) An artillery weapon consisting of an array of rails or tubes used to fire rockets.


sic semper tyrannis

From the Latin sīc semper tyrannīs (“thus always to tyrants”). While the line is sometimes said to have been uttered by Brutus after he assassinated Julius Caesar, the utterance itself is recorded in no ancient sources and appears to be a modern invention. It is probably a Latin translation by the US Founding Father George Wythe of what Tiberius Gracchus' grandfather, the general and statesman Scipio Aemilianus, said when he heard of the assassination of his grandson. According to Plutarch (21.4), he reacted by quoting Homer's Odyssey (1.47): ὡς ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἄλλος, ὅτις τοιαῦτά γε ῥέζοι (And so perish all who do the same). This etymology is presented by Mike Fontaine, though he mentions both Wythe and George Mason as possible translators, which is very unlikely since Wythe is famous as a Classicist whereas there is no recorded mention of Mason's knowledge of Greek.

der

Thus always to tyrants; tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown.

George Mason
George Wythe
John Wilkes Booth
Julius Caesar
Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger
Tiberius Gracchus


TNT equivalent

The amount of energy released by an explosion expressed in terms of the amount of TNT needed to generate a similar explosion. Used especially to describe nuclear bombs.


robot revolution

en-noun

robot revolution (plural robot revolutions)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-robot revolution.wav

(science fiction) A violent uprising by sapient robots, aimed at overthrowing human government.


war by proxy

war by proxy (plural wars by proxy or wars by proxies)

wars by proxy (plural)
wars by proxies (plural)


war of aggression

war of aggression (plural wars of aggression)

The crime of war, the crime of the war of aggression, and the crime of aggression are clearly three different crimes with three different facts of the case. For a complex judgment of war, they nonetheless overlap with one another, and their separation seems to a large section of public opinion a mere juridical artifice.

2011, Carl Schmitt, edited by Timothy Nunan, Writings on War, Polity, →ISBN, page 149:

(international law) A military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation.


North Vietnam

When we visited Laos, I had lunch with Souvanna Phouma. During the course of the lunch, he said we ought to bomb Red China, that it was the effective way to stop their aid to North Vietnam.

1976, Hubert H. Humphrey, The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 333:

Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Democratic Republic of Vietnam

(historical) A state (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) that governed northern Vietnam in 1945–1975.

Vietnam i Veriut

(historical) a state (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) that governed northern Vietnam in 1945–1975


REB

Borrowed from Russian РЭБ (REB), abbreviation of радиоэлектронная борьба (radioelektronnaja borʹba, “radio-electronic combat”).

Even though the relationship between the Information Troops and the existing REB Troops is not completely clear, REB Troops were one of the few elements of the Russian forces whose performance did not suffer intense cricisism
[note] REB Troops are the Voyska radioelektronnoy bor’by, or Voyska REB — the Russian military’s electronic warfare branch.

2012, “A Slovenian Perspective on Cyber Warfare”, in Daniel Ventre, editor, Cyber Conflict: Competing National Perspectives, London: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

The Russian command created groupings of radio-electronic combat (REB) forces designed to work at the tactical control level. During the First Chechen War, REB forces experienced a narrow frequency range for their equipment and an insufficient level of automation.

2003, Anne C. Aldis, Roger N. McDermott eds., Russian Military Reform 1992–2002, London: Frank Cass Publishers, →ISBN:

The development of a nuclear-powered ship with a standard-displacement of a 75,000–80,000 tons with an aircraft fleet of “No less than 7 LAk [carrier-based aircraft],” which included fighter aircraft, ground attack aircraft, and ASW, RTR [radio-relay support], REB [electronic warfare], and RLD [radar picket] aircraft and various types of helicopters.

1992, Warship International, volume 29, Rutland, Mass.: International Naval Research Organization, page 210:

(chiefly in a Russian context) electronic warfare and related techniques, equipment, or troops.


armed conflict

armed conflict (countable and uncountable, plural armed conflicts)

(international law, military) A contested incompatibility that entails the use of armed force between two parties including a territory, the government of a state, or both.


Pig War

(historical) A diplomatic dispute involving the United States and the United Kingdom over the Oregon Treaty boundary around the San Juan Islands, which began with an American farmer shooting a British company's pig in 1859.


Beaver Wars

Great Peace of Montreal
Great Peace of Montreal

a number of mid-17th century wars fought over land and the fur trade in the Great Lakes region, which ended with the signing of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701.


Vicksburg

A city, the county seat of Warren County, Mississippi, United States.


war profiteer

Microsoft workers are calling on their employer to cancel a $480m contract to provide the US army with augmented reality (AR) headsets, saying they “do not want to become war profiteers”.

2019 February 22, Julia Carrie Wong, quoting Microsoft workers, “‘We won't be war profiteers’: Microsoft workers protest $480m army contract”, in The Guardian:

A person or group that gains a significant amount of revenue from selling weapons and military equipment.

Kriegsgewinnler

person or group that gains from selling weapons and military equipment


Winter War

(historical) A war between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1940.


warspeak

In an interesting passage the author discusses what he considers the kind of "Warspeak that glorified and sanitized the actions of the U.S.-led allied forces (the use of words like eliminate, neutralize, loyal, brave, cautious, etc.) […]

1993, Political Science Quarterly, volume 108, page 184:

My personal favorite that emerged from the fog of warspeak was gorilla snot (2001), a gluelike substance that is spread over sand to prevent a dust cloud from forming whenever a helicopter takes off or lands.

2004, Paul McFedries, Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture, Broadway Books, →ISBN:

Whatever your views about the rights and wrongs of these military campaigns, you would probably agree that it is psychologically easier to kill 'gooks' and 'turkeys' than human beings. Here are some more examples of 'warspeak', which is often used to cover up the reality on the ground.

2015, Richard van de Lagemaat, Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 106:

The jargon of war and military operations.


civil defense

Efforts to protect the citizens of a state from military attack.

دفاع مدني

efforts to protect the citizens of a state from military attack


Trianon

/ˈtɹiːəˌnɒn/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Trianon.wav

From French Trianon, the name of a hamlet that formerly occupied the site on which the Grand Trianon would be built.

(metonymically, historical) The Treaty of Trianon, a peace treaty signed in the Grand Trianon on 4 June 1920, which formally ended World War I between most of the Allies and the Kingdom of Hungary, leaving Hungary as a landlocked state with less than one-third of its prewar area.


nukage

From nuke + -age. Attested since the 20th century.

Go down the left path around the nukage pit and past the closed door. Carefully climb the steps and blast the Imps waiting near the green flames to the right.

I scoop black beans and cheese into a salsified (read: artificially red) wrap and wait my turn for nukage at the microwave.

2005, Emily Franklin, Piece, Love, and Happiness: The Principles of Love, page 64:

The process of nuking something, in various senses.


Enola

Created for the titular character in the 1886 American novel Enola, derived from alone spelled backwards.

A place in the United States:
A town in Faulkner County, Arkansas.


Gettysburg

Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg
Gettysburg Address
Samuel Gettys

From Gettys + -burg; named for Samuel Gettys, settler.

A borough, the county seat of Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States.

A small city, the county seat of Potter County, South Dakota, United States.


Lysander

Lysander
Lysander (disambiguation)
Westland Lysander

From Ancient Greek Λῠ́σᾰνδρος (Lŭ́săndros).

A British military aircraft used during World War II


Armistice Day

From being the day on which the armistice of World War I was signed.

Ημέρα Ανακωχής

11th November, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice agreement to end World War I, commemorating the fallen of that war.

(Canada) Former name of Remembrance Day.


Euromissile

An American or Soviet missile stationed in a European country during the Cold War


isomer bomb

From isomer + bomb from being a bomb fuelled by nuclear isomer changes.

A more useable size might be 1 g with an accelerated decay of 200 kg of TNT. The isomer bomb obtained funding, but was canceled as nonsensical.

2013, David Hafemeister, Physics of Societal Issues: Calculations on National Security, Environment, and Energy, Springer, →ISBN, page 23:

But in recent years, a group of fringe scientists aided by defense industry insiders has convinced the Pentagon that America's post-9/11 survival depends on developing an isomer bomb. While proponents compare it to the Manhattan Project, opponents point out that independent researchers have not been able to duplicate the results attained by isomer enthusiasts, and that many assumptions behind the bomb contradict the laws of physics. Though Congress canceled isomer bomb development in 2004, the Department of Energy found $5 million to continue the research.

2011, Karolina Dean...Where the HELL is my monkey?, “The Pentagon's fascination with fringe science”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):

Danger Room has closely followed developments related to miniature nuclear weapon, such as the “isomer bomb,” a notional weapon based on some rather controversial physics of accelerating the decay of nuclear isomers. Like Red Mercury, nuclear isomers never grows old. In January, the first ever isomer bomb was detonated in front of millions of viewers. Of course the bomb in question was fictional, a handy plot device in the new Knight Rider series. It was set to go off if the car dropped to below 100 mph; how original is that as a plot device?

2009, David Hambling, “Red Mercury Mania Returns as Saudis Buy Up “Mini-Nuke” Material”, in Wired:

The AWE's emphasis is on basic research and the potential for energy storage. But Thomson does not believe that an isomer bomb can be ruled out, saying that the controversy over Collins' claims has not been fully resolved. He adds: "A secondary role of AWE is to provide independent advice to the UK government on potential threats to the security of the UK, so an understanding of the fundamentals of isomer physics is essential."

2008, David Hambling, “Discredited pseudoscience or a newly useful technology?”, in The Guardian:

In America, the most controversial research has involved trying to "trigger" — get energy out of — a Hafnium isomer. In Russia, there has been plenty of controversy over Hafnium, as well. A 2005 paper on induced decay of the nuclear isomer 178m2Hf and the ‘isomeric bomb’ written by E. V. Tkalya, is deeply skeptical of the physics involved.

2008, David Hambling, “Russia’s Isomer Bomb, Funded by Your Taxes”, in Wired:

The hafnium isomer bomb concept is the product of a physicist's imagination. The hafnium, or isomer, bomb, is proposed by an expert who needs research funding to prove that the reaction takes place.

2008, Richard M. Swiderski, Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore and Effects of Mercury, McFarland, →ISBN, page 229:

For those who want all the nitty gritty details on the very weird life and death of DARPA’s isomer bomb, you can read my book, or for a shorter overview, you can read David Hambling’s New Scientist article along with my Washington Post Magazine article.

2008, Sharon Weinberger, “Is the Pentagon Funding Isomer Bombs Again?”, in Wired:

Washington bureaucracy works in strange ways. I was immediately asked what stake the arms control groups at State had in a fight over whether or not DARPA was to be allowed to waste $40 million on what my instincts said was very bad science. But we did have a reason to get involved: the proponents of isomer weapons suggested that–although the energy release derived from excited states of nuclei–because the mechanism did not involve either fission or fusion, an isomer bomb would not be a nuclear weapon. That would mean it could be tested even under the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and could even be tested in the atmosphere, despite the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty

2007, Peter D. Zimmerman, “The Strange Tale of the Hafnium Bomb: A Personal Narrative”, in American Physical Society News:

Take the so-called hafnium bomb, also known as the isomer bomb. According to its proponents, this futuristic weapon would harness the immense energy in subatomic particles known as isomers to deliver kiloton yields in a tiny package.

2006, Daniel G. Dupont, “Far-Out Physics”, in Scientific American, →DOI:

• Pure isomer bomb: 0.1 to 5 MeV gamma-rays;

2005, Andre Gsponer, “Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects”, in arXiv:

The problem of developing the isomeric bomb on the basis of these isomeric nuclei is considered. The experimental data analysis shows that development of the hafnium bomb at present is nonreal, because the existing plans of its creation are based on the noncorrectness of obtained experimental data

2005, E.V. Tkalya, “Induced decay of the 178m2Hf and isomeric bomb”, in Physics Uspekhi:

I think a hydrogen bomb can be made that is started by an isomer bomb not an atomic bomb.

2004, Kurt stocklmeir, “Re: laser cooling”, in sci.math (Usenet):

(military, weaponry) a type of theoretical radiological nuclear weapon that relies on an induced rapid change in the state of nuclear isomers to generate an intense gamma ray flash.


thermonuclear bomb

thermonuclear bomb (plural thermonuclear bombs)

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon#English


armatole

/ˈɑɹməˌtoʊl/

Borrowed from Greek αρματολός (armatolós), alternative form of αρματόλογος (armatólogos, “a person concerned or involved with arms or weapons”), from άρματα (ármata) (plural of άρμα (árma, “weapon”), from Byzantine Greek ἄρμα (árma), from Latin arma (“armour, defensive arms, shields, weapons of war”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmos (“fitting”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to join”)) + λόγος (lógos, “subject matter”) (from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos), from λέγω (légō, “I say”), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-).
The plural form armatoloi and possibly armatoli are from the Greek plural form αρματολοί (armatoloí).

der

[page 159] These [the Klephtai] are either Greeks whose ancestors taking refuge in the mountains when the Turks first conquered the country, have transmitted to them hereditary persecution and liberty; or Armatoloi (a sort of Grecian militia, originally established in Thessaly, armed for their own protection, and recognized, though always suspected, by the Turkish authorities) who have been driven by oppression to join their brethren on the mountains, and become, like them, guerrillas. Every thing relating to the Klephtai and Armatoloi ought to be now doubly interesting, since their institutions preserved, through the long darkness of Grecian suffering, the vestal flame of liberty, and their hardy bands have principally contributed to swell the Greek armies. […] [page 160] Call me a priest—to whom I may confess / All my past errors—would the list were less— / A Klephtes long! an Armatolos longer, / Terror of Turks—but now the foe is stronger— / 'Tis Death! […]

1824 July, “Art. VII. Histoire de la Régénération de la Grèce, par F[rançois] C[harles] H[ugues] L[aurent] Pouqueville. 4 tomes. Paris, 1824. [et al.]”, in The Westminster Review, volume II, number III, London: Printed for the proprietors, and published by Robert Heward, at the office of the Westminster Review, 2, Wellington Street, Strand, →OCLC, pages 159–160:

The rank of captain was hereditary; and the profession of an Armatòle probably descendible. The members composing each band were called Pallikàrs: a term for which we have no English equivalent, but which nearly answers to the French expression "des braves." Of these, the first, or Protopalikar, acted as lieutenant and secretary to the captain, and bore, as a badge of office, a silver writing-case affixed to his sash; besides the silver plates bound over the knees, and the ornamental buttons which studded the breast of every Armatòle: […]

1825, “Preface”, in Charles Brinsley Sheridan, transl., The Songs of Greece, from the Romaic Text, Edited by M. C[laude] Fauriel, with Additions. Translated into English Verse, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page xxii:

From a very early period of the Turkish dominion over Greece, a system was adopted of having a local police, composed of native Greeks, for the preservation of the peace of each district, and for repressing the incursions of the independent tribes of the mountains. The appellation of this police was Armatoles (Ὰρματολοὶ); […] The armatoles were bound to obey the directions of the pasha or his deputy, and the Greek primates. The arms of the armatoles were the same as those of the Albanians, namely, a long gun, a sword, and a dagger.

1830, Thomas Keightley, chapter 1, in History of the War of Independence in Greece. … In Two Volumes (Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications in the Various Departments of Literature, Science, & the Arts; LX), volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for Constable and Co. and Hurst, Chance, and Co. London, →OCLC, page 7:

The armatoli were a Christian local militia, which had existed in the Byzantine empire, and which had in some degree protected the Greek population against the Franks, the Servians, and the Albanians, during the anarchy that reigned in Greece and Macedonia, while the worthless race of the Paleologoi ruled at Constantinople. The Greeks in the mountain districts, fearing anarchy more than despotism, generally submitted to the sultans on the condition of being allowed to retain their local privileges. The institution of the armatoli was thus adopted into the scheme of the sultan's administration.

1861, George Finlay, “The Condition of the Modern Greeks”, in History of the Greek Revolution … In Two Volumes, volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 24:

(historical) A Greek armed mercenary who enforced Ottoman rule in Greece from the 15th century onward; during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832), many armatoloi became pro-independence guerrilla fighters opposed to Ottoman rule.

armatol

Greek mercenary who enforced Ottoman rule


wargasm

Group 1--over-testosteroned freaks who are just thrilled that the Big Bad USA is finally gonna get to blow shit up and have a wargasm every time a bomb hits.

2003 May 28, Frank Downey, “Re: (NBC) Unbelieveable”, in rec.music.artists.springsteen (Usenet):

Interesting how you guys have a "wargasm" just thinking about bombing the shit out of some third world country yet it drives you up the wall to think that someone may be having sex. Most strange!

2003 May 13, jha_amin [username], “Re: President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski”, in alt.prophecies.nostradamus (Usenet):

Many ammosexuals practice the religion of gundamentalism or demand the invasion of weaker countries as a means of reaching wargasm.

2014 June 5, GOP_Decline_and_Fall [username], “Re: Forget gun control: New plan is to stop mass shootings”, in alt.politics.liberalism (Usenet):

(slang, derogatory) An intense excitement or pleasure derived from war or the thought of war.


Great Patriotic War

Calque of Russian Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́ (Velíkaja Otéčestvennaja vojná). This term was first used in 1844 to refer to the Russian resistance and victory over Napoleon's invasion, and was evoked again in 1912 during the centenary of the French defeat. In 1941, the newspaper Pravda used the term for the defence against the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in order to motivate citizens to unite and fight.

calque

Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́

(historical, in Soviet or Russian contexts) the German-Soviet war (a portion of World War II fought between the USSR and Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945)

الْحَرْب الْوَطَنِيَّة الْعُظْمَى

the war between the USSR and Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945


War Between the States

(Southern US, uncommon) The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865.


War of Northern Aggression

the War of Northern Aggression (canonical)


Great Rebellion

(historical, chiefly Northern US) The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865.


Yamamoto

Borrowed from Japanese 山本 (Yamamoto), meaning "(one who lives at) the base of the mountain(s)" or "(one from) Yamamoto District".

Nolan: You do know Japan have expressed concern?
Douglas: What, the whole country?
Nolan: No, not the whole... Mr Yamamoto.
Douglas: He's important, isn't he?
Nolan: He's the major shareholder.

2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1

A surname from Japanese, one of the 10 most common in Japan.


Opium War

(historical) The First Opium War or the Second Opium War, two Anglo-Chinese wars relating to opium trade in the mid-19th century.


Confederate States

Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America#English

Synonym of Confederate States of America


kiyi

From the pronunciation of the abbreviation KIA (killed in action).

You know that Doc's been treating him for melancholy and depression... ever since he got that kiyi about his son... … Kiyi: K.I.A.: Killed In Action letter from the War Dept.

1940s, Sam Glanzman, "The Kiyi", in Our Army at War #258, July 1973

(US military slang) An official letter informing of a person killed in action.

пахава́льная

an official letter informing of a person killed in action


fissban

A ban on the production of fissile material.


GAR

He was a Yankee and they say he would not hang a man who had been in the G.A.R.

Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic#English

(US, historical, military, mid-19th century) Initialism of Grand Army of the Republic.


layer cake

A type of layering of materials, used in some nuclear bombs.


fall of the wall

(history) The deconstruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 1990.


Rodman gun

Designed by Union artilleryman Thomas Jackson Rodman (1815–1871).

Any of a series of heavy columbiads with a curved bottle shape, designed to fire both shot and shell, and used in the era of the American Civil War.


X-Day

unconditional surrender
unconditional surrender

(historical) 1 November 1945, the planned date for the Allied invasion of Kyushu in southwestern Japan in World War II (cancelled following Japan's unconditional surrender in September 1945).


war memorial

A monument to commemorate the people who were killed in a particular war


price war

A situation where commercial competitors repeatedly undercut each other's prices in order to attract buyers.


Boxer Rebellion

From Boxer + rebellion. Boxer refers to 義和拳 /义和拳 (Yìhéquán, literally “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”), the martial arts practiced by the rebels.

Young Major Leonard, with only one arm (the other lost during the Boxer rebellion in China), Mr. John Lodge and a charming young Italian named Gherardesca, and many others, made these visits stand out in my memory.

1937, Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, pages 113–114:

According to one published account, said to be based on information provided by foreign missionaries in Chungking, whose reaction may have been influenced by the excesses of the Boxer Rebellion just a few years earlier, Tuan-fang was killed by his own soldiers at Tzu-chou, Shensi province.

1991, Thomas Lawton, A Time of Transition: Two Collectors of Chinese Art, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 63:

A violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising which took place in China towards the end of the Qing dynasty between 1899 and 1901.

義和團運動 /义和团运动

violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901


Tojo

After General Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during World War II.

(military, slang, ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive, dated) A Japanese person, especially a soldier during WW2.


Dr. Strangelove

en-noun

Dr. Strangelove (plural Dr. Strangeloves)

[ˈdɑk̚tɚ ˈʃt͡ʃɹeɪ̯nd͡ʒɫʌv]

From the character Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

When it was important in 1969 for Henry Kissinger to gain a reputation as a “secret swinger” to create a Dr. Strangelove reputation and provide cover for secret trips, he would appeal to White House wags and their friends (Richard Moore, television producer Paul Keyes, and this writer) for lines making that point.

2008, William Safire, Safire's Political Dictionary, →ISBN, page 654:

Just as the central question of the nuclear age was how to keep a Dr. Strangelove from pushing the button, the central question of the geoengineering age will be how to prevent a Dr. Strangelove from hacking the climate.

2010, Jeff Goodell, How to Cool the Planet, →ISBN:

His game theory became the foundation for modern finance. Dr Strangelove went to work on Wall Street.

2015, Katrine Marcal, Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?, →ISBN, page 62:

In both the world of new science and that of quick-fix military technology we need, more than ever, to be on perpetual guard against the Dr Strangeloves of the future.

2012, Dr J Richardson, War, Science and Terrorism: From Laboratory to Open Conflict, →ISBN:

The Darth Vaders, Dr. Strangeloves and many people in positions of power have advocated the use of nuclear weapons to resolve conflicts.

2014, Jerry Kroth, Implosion: Delusion, denial, and the prospect of collapse, →ISBN, page 240:

But CIA observers everywhere choked when CNN announced that a psychological trauma team, mustered by the American Psychological Association, would converge in Oklahoma City to treat survivors of the explosion and the victims' families—led by none other than Dr. Louis Jolyon West of UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute, the breeding ground of some of the most necrotizing Dr. Strangeloves in the mind control business.

2014, Alex Constantine, Virtual Government: CIA Mind Control Operations in America, →ISBN, page 255:

Someone who is likely to launch a nuclear attack or otherwise destroy the world.


Revolutionary War

Any of several revolutionary wars (wars of revolution), taken specifically.

American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) of the contiguous southern 13 colonies of the British Empire on the east coast of the North American mainland


act of war

(military) An action that would justify the initiation of hostilities against the perpetrator; an action that by its nature comprises a cessation of peace.


(colloquial, World War I, military, historical) Ellipsis of French 75.


War of 1812

United States of America
United States of America

(historical) A military conflict that lasted from 1812 to 1815, fought between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, its North American colonies, and its North American Indian allies.


November Criminals

(historical, derogatory, among German nationalists) The German government leaders who signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918.


Axis power

The target was from a country that, in World War II, was an Axis power.

2015 January 22, Adam Reed, 0:02:50 from the start, in Archer, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin):

(chiefly in the plural) A country in the alliance (in effect before and during World War II) of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, imperial Japan, and a few other countries, which opposed the Allies.


gold star

From Gold + star from the star shape of the award and its colour, representing the highest of three levels: gold, silver, bronze.

a gold-star mother

(in compounds, US military) A relative of a U.S. soldier when the latter has been killed in action.


nuclear triad

intercontinental ballistic missile
intercontinental ballistic missile

Three traditional components of a nuclear weapons arsenal: strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.


kilotonnage

The regions contaminated by local fallout depend critically on local weather conditions, particularly wind, and cannot be accurately predicted, but the total areas are roughly proportional to the size (kilotonnage) of the fission part of the bomb.

1967, Patricia Joyce Lindop, A Poor Man's Guide to Nuclear Weapons, page 8:

In addition, the intense study of the nuclear winter phenomenon now going on in both the United States and the Soviet Union may push the arms competition further into lighter, low-kilotonnage weapons.

1985 March, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, page 32:

Nuclear tests were nationally televised, and data on systems, kilotonnages, and weapons were published by major American newspapers.

2014, Robert A. Pape, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War:

The destructive power of an explosive, measured in kilotons.


letter of last resort

letter of last resort (plural letters of last resort)

A handwritten letter from the British Prime Minister to the commanding officers of nuclear submarines, specifying the action to be taken if an enemy nuclear strike destroys the British government.


Gold Code

(US) A launch code for nuclear weapons, provided to the President of the United States.


decapitation strike

decapitation strike (plural decapitation strikes)

An initial attack (often nuclear) that aims to destroy the command and control mechanisms of the enemy, preventing retaliation.

斬首行動 /斩首行动

attack aiming to destroy the central command and control


female tank

armoured fighting vehicle
armoured fighting vehicle

(World War I military, historical) an armoured fighting vehicle on caterpillar tracks equipped with machine guns but no cannon.


male tank

(World War I military, historical) an armoured fighting vehicle on caterpillar tracks equipped with cannon.


Big Red One

The shoulder insignia of this unit is emblazoned with a red numeral one.

(US, informal) The United States 1st Infantry Division.


warblogger

Possibly the most famous warblogger was the Baghad architect, Salam Pax, who logged on regularly to provide eyewitness reports on the bombing of his city.

2005, Graeme Turner, Ending the Affair: The Decline of Television Current Affairs in Australia, page 138:

And when Lileks turned into a warblogger, he made his bones. His audience swelled as Lileks turned tremendous writing skills to the issues of the war and a post-9/11 world.

2005, Hugh Hewitt, Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World, page 106:

Another notable difference is that warbloggers eventually made themselves heard on their own terms by the mainstream media, which had initially scorned them.

2009, Melissa Wall, “The Taming of the Warblogs: Citizen Journalism and the War in Iraq”, in Stuart Allan, Einar Thorsen, editors, Citizen Journalism: A Global Perspective, page 33:


warblog

September 11 also spawned a generation of "warblogs,” mostly hawkish sites that focused on the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks.

2002, Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, page 156:

Roggio, a former US soldier, turned his long-running warblog into a grander enterprise called the Long War Journal.

2009, Donald Matheson, Stuart Allan, Digital War Reporting, page 123:

Some of the most interesting are the warblogs created by soldiers and others.

(Internet) A blog documenting an ongoing military conflict or presenting analysis or opinions related to it.


prisoner-of-war camp

prisoner-of-war camp (plural prisoner-of-war camps)

A camp in which prisoners of war are interned.


jus in bello

From Latin jūs (“law, right”) + in (“in”) + bellō (“war”, ablative case of bellum).

affix

ablative case of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">bellum</i>

(international law) the law that governs the way in which warfare is conducted.


cautionaries

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cautionaries.wav

Both the thrusters and the cautionaries thought the war would end with a massive naval battle involving the battleships of both fleets.

2002, Jean Heffer, The United States and the Pacific: History of a Frontier:

(US, historical, World War II) Those who air on the side of caution regarding military engagement.


Seven Years' War

(historical) A war fought between 1754 and 1763 between almost every European great power of the time, partly over colonies and partly over Austria's desire to recover Silesia from the Prussians. The main conflict occurred in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763.


Welman

All clandestine equipment devised at Station IX in Welwyn Garden City had names starting with Wel, e.g. Welbike, Welrod.

(historical) A one-man British midget submarine developed for use in World War II, though barely used.


battle-array

the strategic arrangement of fighters and weapons ready to fight a battle.

τάξις

the arrangement of fighters and weapons ready for battle


go nuclear

en-verb

go nuclear (third-person singular simple present goes nuclear, present participle going nuclear, simple past went nuclear, past participle gone nuclear)

goes nuclear (present singular third-person)
going nuclear (participle present)
went nuclear (past)
gone nuclear (participle past)

In this context, the humiliating defeat of 1971 and the Indian nuclear test were major factors in the Pakistani decision to go nuclear.

2000, Hooman Peimani, Nuclear Proliferation in the Indian Subcontinent, →ISBN, page 28:

A decision to go nuclear has important adverse diplomatic repercussions as well. Trying to build a nuclear arsenal is not the way to win friends in the international community.

2008, Ted Galen Carpenter, Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America, →ISBN, page 111:

This agreement codified nuclear apartheid, leaving in place three types of nuclear states: the five recognized nuclear powers (the United States, Britain, China, France, and the Soviet Union), NATO and Warsaw Pact allies with access to nuclear weapons but not ownership, and a large class of non-nuclear states who renounced their right to go nuclear.

2010, Shane J. Maddock, Nuclear Apartheid, →ISBN:

(of a country) To acquire nuclear weapons.

Some have suggested that nuclear disarmament will increase the chance that conventional wars will occur since nation states will no longer be deterred by the thought that wars can go nuclear.

1984, Douglas P. Lackey, Moral Principles and Nuclear Weapons, →ISBN, page 236:

This paper does not deal with nuclear terrorism as Thomas Schelling once defined it — namely being he 'balance of nuclear terror' between the major nuclear weapon state - but rather refers to terrorist groups going nuclear.

2012, Paul Wilkinson, Technology and Terorrism, →ISBN, page 48:

The best place to be if things went nuclear was in a bomb shelter.

2015, Dean Marquis, Roxanne of Dark Energy: A Construct of Science Fiction, →ISBN:

To involve the use of nuclear weapons, especially in war.

“We cut the show short, and the brothers went nuclear on me afterward,” said Sammy. “They crucified me for that."

2011, Kevin Dodds, Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography, →ISBN, page 150:

He snickered. Janelle was going nuclear. “Why didn't you tell me?” she shouted.

2015, James Patterson, NYPD Red 3, →ISBN:

There's barely a week that goes by without me going nuclear about something or other to do with middle age as portrayed in the media.

2015, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years, →ISBN:

(figurative) To throw a fit; To become enraged with an angry outburst.


ACW

American Civil War
American Civil War#English


Kappel War

First War of Kappel
First War of Kappel#English

Second War of Kappel
Second War of Kappel#English

(historical) Either the First War of Kappel in 1529, or the Second War of Kappel in 1531, or both.


Iran-Iraq War

A war between Iran and Iraq lasting from September 1980 to August 1988.


bunker-busting

(military) Having the penetrative quality of a bunker buster.


Chamberlain

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Chamberlain.wav

Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister at the outbreak of World War II.


Beatty

en-proper noun

Beatty (countable and uncountable, plural Beattys)

Two main origins:
* From a pet form of the personal name Bartholomew.
* Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Mac an Bhiadhtaigh (“son of the victualer”), from biadhtach (“victualer, hospitaller”).

der

David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, British admiral in the First World War


countervalue

en-verb

countervalue (third-person singular simple present countervalues, present participle countervaluing, simple past and past participle countervalued)

countervalues (present singular third-person)
countervaluing (participle present)
countervalued (participle past)
countervalued (past)

From counter- + value. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., records the first use of the word in 1660 and the first use in the modern sense in 1965, where it is described as a "euphemism for attacking cities".

(military) To target an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.


countervalue

(military) Targeting an opponent's assets which are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.


Three Kingdoms

I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.

1977, Yee Chiang, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155:

(historical) The tripartite division of China between the states of Wei (魏 (Wèi)), Shu (蜀 (Shǔ)), and Wu (吳／吴 (Wú)), during AD 220–280, following the Han dynasty and preceding the Jin dynasty.


Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America


USCT

United States Colored Troops
w:United States Colored Troops

(US, historical) Initialism of United States Colored Troops.


dambuster

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dambuster.wav

dambuster bombs

(colloquial) The type of bomb dropped by this kind of aircraft.


Cold Warrior

Like many other ‘Cold Warriors’ of the European political center, [Raymond] Aron had only limited sympathy for the United States—‘the U.S. economy seems to me’, he wrote, ‘a model neither for humanity nor the West’.

2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

(history) A participant in the Cold War.


slave state

(US, historical) Prior to the American Civil War, any of the states in which the owning of slaves was legal.


assembly ship

(historical, World War II) A garishly painted aircraft, flying as an initial reference point for a bomber formation in the early part of a mission.


Gold Beach

Named after a beach where gold was found.

A coastal city, the county seat of Curry County, Oregon, United States, located near the mouth of the Rogue River.


preventive war

The German war against Poland initiated by Hitler was justified as a preventive war by Carl Schmitt, German jurist and philosopher

We do not believe in aggressive or preventive war. Such war is the weapon of dictators, not of free democratic countries like the United States.

1950 September 1, Harry S. Truman, 4:15 from the start, in MP72-73 Korea and World Peace: President Truman Reports to the People, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

War started by one of the parties without having received any attack from the other party. This type of war is initiated by states unable to use diplomacy


Verdun

A small city in the Meuse department, Grand Est, France, the site of a ten-month long battle in World War I.


denuke

denuke (third-person singular simple present denukes, present participle denuking, simple past and past participle denuked)

denukes (present singular third-person)
denuking (participle present)
denuked (participle past)
denuked (past)

There have been suggestions by a number of American neoconservative hawks to denuke Iran with “swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime.

2014, Jahangir Amuzegar, The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy:

(transitive, colloquial) Short for denuclearize.


Trident

The nuclear weapon that is the nuclear deterrent of the United Kingdom


bhangmeter

From bhang + -meter, with the first element being a pun on bang, mocking the idea that the machine would work. Coined by Fred Reines in 1950.

A non-imaging radiometer used to detect nuclear detonations and determine the yield of the nuclear weapon.


fail-deadly

From fail + deadly, modelled on fail-safe.

(military) In nuclear weapons strategy: encouraging deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if the command-and-control infrastructure has been damaged by the enemy's first strike.


pyromachy

The general-in-chief of pyromachy was holding in readiness a detail outfitted with supplies of tinder and torches for emergency incendiary action.

1950, Paul Frischauer, So great a queen: the story of Esther, Queen of Persia, page 313:


philopolemical

en-adj

philopolemical (comparative more philopolemical, superlative most philopolemical)

more philopolemical (comparative)
most philopolemical (superlative)

/ˌfɪləʊpəˈlɛmɪkl̩/

From philo- + polemical, modelled after Ancient Greek φιλοπόλεμος (philopólemos); see further at philopolemic.


14-18 war

From the years in which the war was fought, 1914 to 1918.


bomb crater

Scene near Ingatestone, L.N.E.R., shortly after the locomotive of a London-Harwich train had fallen into a bomb crater.

1943 September and October, “Notes and News: Locomotive in Bomb Crater”, in Railway Magazine, page 311, photo caption:

A hole in the ground created by the explosion of a large bomb, usually one dropped by a bomber (aircraft).


rebel flag

In fact, the rebel flag is so prolific in the revival some musicians intentionally avoid using it not because of racially charged meanings but to affirm their own uniqueness and individuality as southern rockers.

2017, Jason Eastman, The Southern Rock Revival: The Old South in a New World, page 190:

(Southern US) The Confederate battle flag


Dixie flag

(Southern US) The Confederate battle flag.


consistent life ethic

capital punishment
capital punishment#English

A cultural, political, and religious right to life belief opposed to abortion, capital punishment, economic injustice, euthanasia or assisted suicide, and war.