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.


overviolent

en-adj

overviolent (comparative more overviolent, superlative most overviolent)

more overviolent (comparative)
most overviolent (superlative)


civil defense

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

民事防護

efforts to protect the citizens of a state from military attack


Trianon

/ˈtɹiːəˌnɒn/

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.


Roko's basilisk

Proposed as a transhumanist thought experiment in 2010 by user Roko on the LessWrong Internet discussion forum.
According to LessWrong, discussion of Roko's basilisk was banned from the forum for several years as part of a general policy against spreading potential information hazards. This in fact drew further attention to the topic, and other websites began sharing information about it.

2020, Griffin Kao, Jessica Hong, Michael Perusse, Weizhen Sheng, Turning Silicon into Gold, Springer (Apress), page 177,
Roko's Basilisk closely resembles traditional religious belief systems, merely replacing the role of God with a super-AI instead.

2021, Richard Heimann, Doing AI, BenBella Books (Matt Holt Books), page 137,
Roko's Basilisk is a thought experiment about the potential risks involved in developing so-called true artificial intelligence. The premise is that an all-powerful artificial super-intelligence could retroactively punish those who did not help bring about its existence. Roko's Basilisk resembles a futurist version of Pascal's Wager in that it suggests people should weigh the possible infinite gain and infinite punishment for accepting or rejecting the creation of artificial super-intelligence.

Roko's Basilisk has been described as the most terrifying thought experiment of all time, or as Slate’s David Auerbach subtitled his 2014 article: "Why Are Techno-futurists So Freaked Out by Roko's Basilisk?"

2023, James B. Miles, AI and the End of Humanity, Troubador Publishing (Matador), page 168:

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

A hypothetical, otherwise benevolent artificial intelligence of the future that would have an incentive to torture anyone who, having imagined (or even heard about) said AI, had not helped bring about its existence; the thought experiment which posits its existence.


gut-shoot

en-verb

gut-shoot (third-person singular simple present gut-shoots, present participle gut-shooting, simple past and past participle gut-shot)

gut-shoots (present singular third-person)
gut-shooting (participle present)
gut-shot (participle past)
gut-shot (past)

In the case above, Bruce had gut-shot the buck.

Of all the fine men I've labored to save, it had to be you who survives being gut-shot.

2000, Julia Hanlon, Mine for All Time, →ISBN, page 48:

I put one of them down—gut-shot him—and they pulled out again.

2004, Louis L'Amour, Comstock Lode, →ISBN:

If the animal has been gut-shot, however, then you will have a problem.

2010, Monte Burch, The Complete Jerky Book, →ISBN, page 38:

If it comes down to it, let McCord get real close and then gut-shoot him with the 10-gauge, one barrel and then t'other.

2014, William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone, Gut-Shot, →ISBN, page 318:

(transitive) To shoot in the gut with a firearm.


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.


VAWG

The most prevalent form of VAWG (as already stated) is IPV, not rape in public by a non-partner (which most firewood rapes are classed as) or conflict rape.

2021, Tamsin Bradley, Janet Gruber, Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls:

Initialism of violence against women and girls.


Gettysburg

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

From Ancient Greek Λῠ́σᾰνδρος (Lúsandros).

A British military aircraft used during World War II


Armistice Day

From being the day on which the armistice was signed.

Ημέρα Ανακωχής

November 11, 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.


bloodscape

Over the horizon, the red moon stood like a blot, an imputation of evil, on the outraged background of the stars. It turned the surrounding terrain into a dank bloodscape, full of crimson and evanescent forms like uncomprehended murders .

1977, Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane, Sienna Cameron:

The last thing Dash saw before something blunt and hard hit the back of his neck was a nightmare bloodscape misted by hot tears.

2009, Robert Appleton, Godiva in the Firing Line, Damnation Books, →ISBN, page 31:

His skin pimpled with horror, his feet felt like freight, he wanted to retch. But the fires sent a drift of woodsmoke over the bloodscape and the burned meat smell was abruptly overridden.

2014, Philip Wylie, Tomorrow!, Open Road Media, →ISBN:


murdery

en-adj

murdery (comparative more murdery, superlative most murdery)

more murdery (comparative)
most murdery (superlative)

So he gets a little murdery to speed up the inheritance process.

2013, Michelle Witte, Faker's Guide to the Classics: Everything You Need to Know About the Books You Should Have Read (But Didn't), Lyons Press, →ISBN, page 98:

Lately, there's been this contagious idea that I resemble a hungry, murdery girl ghost from a Japanese horror movie, so Jenny came to school in blue lipstick and white powder. To mock me.

2015, Maria Dahvana Headley, Magonia, HarperTeen, →ISBN:

The Doctor: So, they'll try to kill you, blah blah blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murdery, sure, but even so.

2015 3 October, Toby Whithouse, "Under the Lake", episode 9-3 of Doctor Who, 00:15:56–00:16:03

(informal) Committing, disposed to, or characteristic of murder.


Euromissile

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


thermonuclear bomb

en-noun

thermonuclear bomb (plural thermonuclear bombs)

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon#English


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.


suicide attack

An attack on others that involves the assailant committing suicide.


death roll

The behaviour where a crocodilian rolls underwater so as to drown its prey or tear off pieces of meat to eat.


Islamicide

What we need to straighten this mess out is both tyrannicide and homocide. I am sure you would want to add Islamicide too, or something like it.

2006 March 31, Bob, “Re: Weirder election than Battlestar Galactica's”, in alt.battlestar-galactica (Usenet):

Both of these social acts (evils) are or have overtones of being religious-genocides—Judaocide and Islamicide.

2009, Kenneth Vaux, America in God's World, page 82:

Islamicide, always justifiable. […] Pislam must be nuked back into the 7th century where it belongs...along w/its collaborators/apologists/symps.

2009 January 22, ÇDoügßT, “The squatters will leave!”, in alt.religion.islam (Usenet):

(nonstandard, rare) The killing of Muslims.


have someone's head

en-verb

have someone's head (third-person singular simple present has someone's head, present participle having someone's head, simple past and past participle had someone's head)

has someone's head (present singular third-person)
having someone's head (participle present)
had someone's head (participle past)
had someone's head (past)

The tyrant would have their heads for their temerity.

(literal) To kill somebody, especially with violence and especially by decapitation.


punch someone's lights out

punch someone's lights out (third-person singular simple present punches someone's lights out, present participle punching someone's lights out, simple past and past participle punched someone's lights out)

punches someone's lights out (present singular third-person)
punching someone's lights out (participle present)
punched someone's lights out (participle past)
punched someone's lights out (past)

"My intention was to punch his lights out," Parker said of Garber, "but as I got closer to the mound, my faculties came back and I cooled off. I just him and asked him what was going on."

1979 May 10, “NL Action is Wild and Woolly”, in Spokane Daily Chronicle, retrieved 2015-11-12, page 45:

After nasty phone calls, curses hurled over the back fence, fist-shaking, and other attempts to impress him with your seriousness, you meet him at the supermarket, lose control, and punch his lights out.

1980 July 17, Mike Steere, “Mediation Can Replace Lawsuits”, in Toledo Blade, retrieved 2015-11-12, page 18:

A Jersey Guy is a guy who does his duty and loves his family and will punch your lights out if you insult his wife.

2005 December 11, Terry Golway, “Jersey: Codey Can Now Bow Out With His Head Held High”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-11-12:

(idiomatic) To give someone a serious beating using one's fists; to punch someone until he or she is unconscious.


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.


hell-born

en-adj

hell-born (comparative more hell-born, superlative most hell-born)

more hell-born (comparative)
most hell-born (superlative)


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


flatten out

en-verb

flatten out (third-person singular simple present flattens out, present participle flattening out, simple past and past participle flattened out)

flattens out (present singular third-person)
flattening out (participle present)
flattened out (participle past)
flattened out (past)

(slang) To win a fight, usually by punching someone until they are knocked over


War of Northern Aggression

the War of Northern Aggression (canonical)

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


have blood on one's hands

have blood on one's hands (third-person singular simple present has blood on one's hands, present participle having blood on one's hands, simple past and past participle had blood on one's hands)

has blood on one's hands (present singular third-person)
having blood on one's hands (participle present)
had blood on one's hands (participle past)
had blood on one's hands (past)

(idiomatic, often sarcastic) To be responsible for a violent act.


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


knifecrime

knifecrime (third-person singular simple present knifecrimes, present participle knifecriming, simple past and past participle knifecrimed)

knifecrimes (present singular third-person)
knifecriming (participle present)
knifecrimed (participle past)
knifecrimed (past)

Is it just my imagine, or has teh yoof on the left of the top bit just knifecrimed someone?

2008 August 8, Dave Larrington, “Buck Uni spelling”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet):

Is this not just another example of racist stereotyping - the little gollies are basically criminals, probably going around doing lots of knifecriming.

2009 February 5, Will, “Summary apology from a celebrity”, in alt.usage.English (Usenet):

Jack: "Oi, don't you talk to my fuckin' bird like that you paedophile bastard or I'll fuckin' knifecrime you."

2009 July 11, alt-f4, “Mansfield Cathokic Comprehensive”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):


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


androcide

From andro- + -cide, by analogy with genocide and homicide.


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

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.


bamboo torture

An apocryphal Asian form of torture where a bamboo shoot is grown through the victim's body, piercing it and eventually emerging on the other side.


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.


active shooter

The sense “individual engaged in a shooting spree” was popularized in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre (1999).

In most cases, active shooters use firearms and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims.

“When you have an active shooter going after people at random—a shooter with a plan,” he said, “that's completely different than your typical barricade hostage situation.”

1999 April 28, Timothy Egan, quoting Larry Glick, “School Attack May Bring Changes in Police Tactics”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Today, the sound of gunshots often prompts “active shooter” warnings on social media, whether or not the event fits the F.B.I.’s definition of the term. In many cases, reports of active shooters have turned out to be false.

2021 May 5, Jacey Fortin, “What Does ‘Active Shooter’ Really Mean?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, military, law enforcement) A person actively engaged in a shooting spree.


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.


falaka

falaka (usually uncountable, plural falakas)

Although technically forbidden, the torture of prisoners through falaka, beating on the soles of the feet or the back of the legs, is very widely practiced in Iran.

1995, Kate Millett, The Politics of Cruelty: An Essay on the Literature of Political Imprisonment:

A torture method consisting of whipping a person's bare feet.


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.


lam into

en-verb

lam into (third-person singular simple present lams into, present participle lamming into, simple past and past participle lammed into)

lams into (present singular third-person)
lamming into (participle present)
lammed into (participle past)
lammed into (past)

(informal, dated) To run into (someone); to have a chance encounter with (someone).

But certainly those eggs we got were as fresh as if they had been new laid. Fresh! Carrying them down to the boat one of my […] chaps dropped one on a rock and it smashed. How I lammed into the beggar!

1894 December 27, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Æpyornis Island”, in The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1895, →OCLC, page 144:

It's all right. An Englishwoman there lammed into me last night, first about the atom bomb and then saying that I must be a fanatic.

1954, Saul Bellow, “The Gonzaga Manuscripts”, in Mosby's Memoirs and Other Stories, Penguin, published 1984, page 120:

1968, Hansard, 16 July, 1968, "Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations Report," https://web.archive.org/web/20190212095659/https://www.hansard-corpus.org/
I have to admit that it was for me a substantial eye-opener when, as a member of the T.G.W.U., I attended its summer school and heard one of the national officials lamming into the men in a way which I would not have believed possible if I had not heard it.


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 5, 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.


Gold Code

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


letter of last resort

en-noun

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 in the event that an enemy nuclear strike destroys the British government.


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

attack aiming to destroy the central command and control


male tank

armoured fighting vehicle
armoured fighting vehicle

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


female tank

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


Cinderella effect

Named after the mistreated girl from the fairy-tale Cinderella.

evolutionary psychology
evolutionary psychology

(evolutionary psychology) The alleged higher incidence of child abuse and mistreatment by stepparents than by biological parents.


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.


wooden horse

Synonym of Spanish donkey: a torture device.


cautionaries

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.


hurtcore

2015, "P Schmidt", Re: How new are you? This whole board is nothing but fucked up shit. Ponies, 100% legals, traps, drawings, hurtcore, rape, the list goes on, just click on a random thread here and you'll get your answer. (on newsgroup alt.politics.immigration)

'Have you […] heard the term hurtcore?'
'No.'
'It's rape porn. There's a whole movement of fans that pay a lot of money to watch. Unfortunately, lots of it involves children.'

(slang) Pornographic material depicting actual rape and abuse.

(usually specifically) Child pornography depicting such.


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.


sexual violence

The use of sexual violence against civilian populations by invading armies.

(uncountable) A broad term encompassing sexual assault, harassment, indecent assault, rape, and other sexual offences against a non-consenting victim.


assassinee

/əˌsæsɪˈniː/

From assassin(ate) + -ee (suffix forming nouns meaning people or things to whom or to which actions are done).

suffix

In some ways I regret the failure to arrive at a definite conclusion, but it has provided me with an extremely interesting list of suicides and assassinees that includes such great names as Hannibal, [Julius] Cæsar, [Thomas] More, [Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of] Strafford, [Robert] Clive, [Maximilien] Robespierre and [Robert Stewart, Viscount] Castlereagh.

1924 March, A[ubrey] Wyatt Tilby, “A Study in Life Values”, in The Nineteenth Century and After: A Monthly Review, volume XCV, number DLXV, London: Constable & Company […], →OCLC, footnote 1, page 462:

The general rule, I suppose, is that if the assassinee is deep enough sunk in turpitude the assassin may secure an honourable place in history.

1941, The Spectator: A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art, volume 167, London: F. C. Westley, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 228, column 1:

On entering the city room, I was met by the managing editor, who asked me if I knew that the assassinee’s brother-in-law owned the money behind the paper. The family had had the story jerked, and had managed to keep it out of every other paper in the city.

1953, A[bbott] J[oseph] Liebling, “The Navasota Murder”, in The Honest Rainmaker: The Life and Times of Colonel John R. Stingo, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC; republished in Liebling at Home, New York, N.Y.: Wideview Books, 1982, →ISBN, page 311:

"Who was it?" / "They haven't caught him yet." / "I mean the—the assassinee." / "Nobody important. But he looked like the Minister. Where did you have supper?"

1958 October 24, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment, London: The Reprint Society, published 1960, →OCLC, part IV, section I, page 119:

On the even brighter side, if the rubbed-out would-be reader were a person of some note, the assassination might merit some free widespread publicity resulting in a rush to buy and read what was so thoughtfully tucked under the armpit of the assassinee at the moment the fatal bullet struck home.

2007, Robert George Cooper, Thailand beyond the Fringe, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, →ISBN, page 25:

(nonstandard, often humorous) One who is assassinated.

salamurhan uhri

(nonstandard, often humorous) one who is assassinated


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

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.


slapfight

slapfight (third-person singular simple present slapfights, present participle slapfighting, simple past and past participle slapfought)

slapfights (present singular third-person)
slapfighting (participle present)
slapfought (participle past)
slapfought (past)


slap fight

They slap fought until Vinnie's cheeks were red from Jason's rapid-fire handwork.

2010, Frank Fata, Albany, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 54:


armed and dangerous

Possessing a weapon and likely to try to harm or kill someone with it.


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.


counter-genocide

A genocide perpetrated in response or retaliation to another genocide.


Eisenhower

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


cunt-punt

cunt-punt (third-person singular simple present cunt-punts, present participle cunt-punting, simple past and past participle cunt-punted)

cunt-punts (present singular third-person)
cunt-punting (participle present)
cunt-punted (participle past)
cunt-punted (past)

(slang, vulgar, transitive) To kick (a female) in the groin.


USCT

United States Colored Troops
w:United States Colored Troops

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


dambuster

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.


desk murderer

→ German: Schreibtischtäter (calque)

Used by Gideon Hausner to describe Adolf Eichmann, but often attributed to Hannah Arendt.

A bureaucrat, etc. who indirectly assists in genocide or other killing by performing clerical tasks.

Adolf Eichmann
Gideon Hausner
Hannah Arendt


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.


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.


Red Room

(Internet) According to an urban legend, a room where people are tortured and murdered for an audience of viewers via the Dark Web, the viewers sometimes voting or bidding on the form of torture to be performed.


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.


celebricide

en-noun

celebricide (countable and uncountable, plural celebricides)

Mark David Chapman's celebricide of John Lennon and John Hinckley, Jr.'s attempted assassination of President Reagan were neither politically motivated acts of terror nor psychologically motivated […].

1991, Joël Black, The Aesthetics of Murder, page 188:

“This started with O.J.,” he declares. […] Not only were we sanctioning celebricide, but we were watching it as a daily ritual.

2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:


mass shooting

mass shooting (countable and uncountable, plural mass shootings)

There is no consensus on what constitutes a mass shooting; different groups define it differently, depending on circumstances including the number of victims, whether the victims are killed or wounded, and whether the shooting occurs in a public place. The Gun Violence Archive[…] defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people were killed or injured.

2023 March 28, Daniel Victor, “U.S. Mass Shootings in 2023: A Partial List”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(chiefly US, crime) The shooting of multiple people over a short period of time, particularly when there are many victims and in which the victims are targeted indiscriminately.


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.


at half-sword

I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by miracle. I am eight times thrust through the doublet, four through the hose; my buckler cut through and through; my sword hack'd like a hand-saw

c. 1623, William Shakespeare, The First Part of King Henry the Fourth:

(archaic, rare) fighting a close fight, closer than a sword's length to one's opponents.


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).


pedicide

en-noun

pedicide (countable and uncountable, plural pedicides)

Pedicide victims are much apt to be killed by close relatives than are adult homicide victims.

1991, L. Adelson, “Pedicide revisited. The slaughter continues.”, in The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology:


Dixie flag

(Southern US) The Confederate battle flag.


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


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.


brinkman

It compels the 'brinkmen' to realise that, if they seek to make war on the Soviet Union, they cannot count on cooperation from Britain or France, and probably not from Western Germany.

1958, The Labour Monthly, volume 40, page 18:

The brinkmen Kennan abhorred were supreme realists, and if "the assumption that state behavior is a fit subject for moral judgment" is baseless, then anything, even the realism of atomic blackmail, would be permissible.

1970, John W. Coffey, Realist social thought in America: Reinhold Niebuhr and George F. Kennan:

The Syrian force was pulled back quickly and with reportedly heavy losses, but it stayed around long enough to remind the world that the Syrians are still the biggest blusterers and brinkmen in the Middle East.


put in the ground

en-verb

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

puts in the ground (present singular third-person)
putting in the ground (participle present)
put in the ground (participle past)
put in the ground (past)


warchest

From war (major conflict) + chest (metaphorical place used to store objects).


Chinese water torture

It has come to be known as Chinese water torture, but was actually invented by a sixteenth-century Italian lawyer named Hippolytus de Marsiliis.

2002, Greg Emmanuel, Extreme Encounters, →ISBN:

The plunk of the keys was beginning to feel like Chinese water torture, each note a painful drip. Is that a real thing? Chinese water torture, I mean.

2006, Jacqueline Pearce, The Truth About Rats (and Dogs), →ISBN, page 1:

My name is General Robinson Risner. I was the highest-ranking prisoner-of-war in the Vietnam War. I spent seven years locked up in solitary confinement. I was tortured beyond belief. I limp because of it. Today I still have a hole in the front of my skull from the Chinese water torture inflicted on me.

2007, Dan Clark, The Thrill of Teaching, →ISBN, page 61:

Is it true that a person really went crazy when subjected to the ancient practice of Chinese water torture?

2010, Erin Barrett, Jack Mingo, Just Curious About History, Jeeves, →ISBN, page 220:

A form of torture in which water is repetitively dripped onto the forehead of a victim who is restrained.


Carlist Wars

A series of civil wars that took place in Spain during the 19th century.


Algerian War

The war between France and the Algerian nationalist FLN from 1954 to 1962, as a result of which Algeria gained its independence from France.


Federal

(chiefly US, law) Alternative form of federal


Iuka

All are apparently named after the Chickasaw chief Iuka. Alternatively the Kansas town was named after the Battle of Iuka.

A village in Marion County, Illinois, United States.

A small city in Pratt County, Kansas, United States.

Livingston County
Livingston County#English

An unincorporated community in Livingston County, Kentucky, United States.

Tishomingo County
Tishomingo County#English

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

An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States.


Spotsylvania Courthouse

census-designated place
census-designated place

Spotsylvania County
Spotsylvania County#English

A census-designated place, the county seat of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States.


Spotsylvania

From Alexander Spotswood (British colonial Lieutenant Governor of Virginia). From Spotswood (“from Spots(wood)”) + sylvan (“pertaining to woods, forest, from (Spots)wood”) + -ia.

af

a battle in the American Civil War; see Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.


European War

From European + war. From being a war fought in Europe.

(Canada, US, obsolete, 1910s) Former name of WWI / World War One / First World War / The Great War.

(1940s-onwards) The European theatre of World War II / WW2 / Second World War


Pacific War

From Pacific + war.
From being a war fought in the Pacific Ocean, and along its coasts.

(1940s-onwards) The Pacific theatre of WWII / World War 2 / Second World War.


eat lead

en-verb

eat lead (third-person singular simple present eats lead, present participle eating lead, simple past ate lead, past participle eaten lead)

eats lead (present singular third-person)
eating lead (participle present)
ate lead (past)
eaten lead (participle past)

(figurative) To commit suicide by shooting oneself in the mouth with a firearm.


Columbine

Jefferson County
Jefferson County#English

A census-designated place in Arapahoe County and Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, infamous for the school shooting that happened there in 1999.


Pastry War

So called because it was initiated by a complaint to King Louis-Philippe from a French pastry chef known as Monsieur Remontel.

(historical) The first of two 19th-century wars between Mexico and France


RNAS

Royal Navy Air Service
w:en:Royal Navy Air Service

(UK, World War I, aviation) Initialism of Royal Navy Air Service. (British)


pick a fight

pick a fight (third-person singular simple present picks a fight, present participle picking a fight, simple past and past participle picked a fight)

picks a fight (present singular third-person)
picking a fight (participle present)
picked a fight (participle past)
picked a fight (past)

To deliberately provoke someone into fighting.


A-bomb maiden

Hiroshima maiden
Hiroshima maiden#English


Hiroshima maiden

en-noun

Hiroshima maiden (plural Hiroshima maidens)

(historical) Any of a group of Japanese women who were disfigured by the thermal flash from the fission bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and who subsequently went on a highly publicized journey to get reconstructive surgery in the United States in 1955.


council of war

A committee of high-ranking military officers convened to consult on urgent matters in wartime.


clinicide

clinicide (countable and uncountable, plural clinicides)

LL-Q1860_(eng)-I learned some phrases-clinicide.wav

From clini(cal) (“dealing with the practical management of patients”) + -cide (suffix meaning ‘killing’).

suffix

[page 90, column 1] [Harold] Shipman killed himself in Wakefield prison on 13 January 2004. The Coronial hearing brought to an end a series of inquiries that found he had committed at least 250 murders in a killing career – a clinicide – that went back to internship at Pontefract General Infirmary. [...] [page 92, column 1] The frenetic consulting was a process of constant preparation for the clinicides, familiarizing himself with the killing ground and meticulously preparing for the moment when he could catch the patient alone, swiftly kill them and loot the place for their stock of narcotics, either for his own use or to use on the next victim.

2006 March, Robert [M.] Kaplan, “Harold Shipman: An Awful Sod: Review of Clarkson W., Evil beyond Belief”, in Gary Walter, editor, Australasian Psychiatry, volume 14, number 1, [Thousand Oaks, Calif.]: SAGE Publications for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-17, pages 90 and 92:

Clinicide is the unnatural death of multiple patients in the course of treatment by a doctor. Clinicide occurs in a group that has a high rate of homicide. [H. G.] Kinnell maintains that doctors kill more than any other group (veterinarians, apparently, have never produced a serial killer).

2007 August, Robert [M.] Kaplan, “The Clinicide Phenomenon: An Exploration of Medical Murder”, in Gary Walter, editor, Australasian Psychiatry, volume 15, number 4, [Thousand Oaks, Calif.]: SAGE Publications for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-17, pages 299–300:

The analogies between poisoning patients, forging a will to announce the end of the clinicides and finally, death by hanging seem uncannily close.

2009, Robert M. Kaplan, “Searching for Shipman”, in Medical Murder: Disturbing Cases of Doctors Who Kill, [Sydney, N.S.W.]: Read How You Want, published 2010, →ISBN, page 117:

Clinicide can also be detected by the substantiation of injurious, unnecessary, and potentially lethal medical procedures or treatment.

2010, Joshua A. Perper, Stephen J. Cina, “To Catch a Killer: Investigating Serial Murders”, in When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How, New York, N.Y.: Copernicus Books, Springer Science+Business Media, →ISBN, section 2 (When Doctors Kill), page 50:

The striking aspect of clinicide is the scale of suspicious deaths with which it is associated, which outnumbers proven murders by an order of magnitude (in [Harold] Shipman's case, a factor of (240-15)#x2F;15#x3D;15), a figure that only hints at the enormous interpersonal disruption and family grief which follows in its wake.

2013, Brian Hurwitz, “Healthcare Serial Killings: Was the Case of Dr Harold Shipman Unthinkable?”, in Danielle Griffiths, Andrew Sanders, editors, Bioethics, Medicine and the Criminal Law (Cambridge Bioethics and Law), volumes 2 (Medicine, Crime and Society), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 19:

The deliberate killing of a patient in the course of medical treatment.


crescentade

From crescent, a symbol of Islam; by analogy with crusade.


Radical Republican

en-noun

Radical Republican (plural Radical Republicans)

(historical) A member of the Republican Party or the Radical Republican Party in the United States, who supported Reconstruction as the rapid full emancipation of African Americans and continuation of the martial law regime in former Confederate states.


death by a thousand cuts

death by a thousand cuts (countable and uncountable, plural deaths by a thousand cuts)


nuclear famine

nuclear famine (countable and uncountable, plural nuclear famines)

Famine resulting from the harmful effects of nuclear war on agriculture.


Salo Republic

From Salo + republic; From being a republic whose capital lay in Salo.

(World War II) The Nazi puppet state set up in northern Italy after the capitulation of the Italian government to the Allied powers


Armistice

[W]hat was to be the future policy of the Associated Governments in regard to the renewal of the Armistice: should the Armistice constantly be renewed, with new clauses and new conditions, or were the final naval and military terms to be drawn up immediately and imposed on the enemy.

1928, David Hunter Miller, “Supreme War Council, February 12, 1919”, in The Drafting of the Covenant, volume 2, New York, N.Y., London: G. P. Putnam's Sons […], →OCLC, page 165:

The armistice of November 1918 could represent many things: the end of the war, the victory. But for the Carnard [the newspaper Le Canard enchaîné], first and foremost, it represented dissention among the French. […] After the armistice and the emergence of the first difficulties of the peace, many more both on the right and in the center argued that the armistice should have been signed in Berlin—in a word, the armistice of November 11 was premature.

2002, Allen Douglas, “Web of Memory”, in War, Memory, and the Politics of Humor: The Canard Enchaîné and World War I, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 151:

Philomena passed another line of shabby soldiers waiting patiently at a soup kitchen. Months after the Armistice the war wasn't over. […] Dan was killed after the Armistice – an armistice is only a truce, it isn't the end. Is the Armistice technically ended? What will come after the Armistice – the peace? That would be nice.

2009, Nick Stafford, Armistice, London: Quercus, →ISBN:

Later he [British Prime Minister David Lloyd George] meets with the House of Commons and, after an opening prayer is said, reviews the armistice terms, then moves for adjournment.

2018, Richard J. Connors, The Road to the Armistice 1918, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dorrance Publishing Co., →ISBN, pages 66–67:

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have left their own mark of reconciliation at the start of events to mark the centenary of the end of World War One. They signed a book of remembrance in a railway carriage identical to the one in which the 1918 Armistice was sealed. […] Mrs Merkel became the first German leader since World War Two to visit the forest near the town of Compiègne in northern France where the Armistice was signed.

2018 November 10, “Armistice Day: Macron and Merkel mark end of World War One”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2018-11-11:

The armistice agreement signed between the Allies and Germany on 11 November 1918 to end World War I; (by extension) the end of World War I.


child molestation

(crime) Sexual abuse of a child by an adult or older child.


war-weary

en-adj

war-weary (comparative war-wearier or more war-weary, superlative war-weariest or most war-weary)

war-wearier (comparative)
more war-weary (comparative)
war-weariest (superlative)
most war-weary (superlative)

/ˈwɔː ˈwɪəɹi/

/ˈwɔɹ ˈwɪəɹi/

Read the language in which the poet of the war-weary Roman world salutes the Augustan empire. [...] The place which Virgil held in the estimation of pious Churchmen though the mediæval period, in which pagan and devilish were almost convertible terms, is mainly due to the almost prophetic character of the visions which the poet paints for his war-weary countrymen of the restoration of the blessed Saturnian reign.

1873 July, J. Baldwin Brown, “The Whole Armour of God”, in [Robert William Dale], editor, The Congregationalist, volume II, London: Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 393:

[T]he three Great Powers should not hesitate to take whatever steps may be necessary to bring about a settlement. They may be war-weary, but they are not too war-weary for that, now that they are united in purpose.

1922 April 6, “Paris and the Near East”, in The Near East, volume XXI, number 569, London: Printed by the Guilbert-Wenham Printing Co., →OCLC, page 460, column 2:

[T]he highest of social circles sought to recognize the poet [Sir Walter Scott] whose flame of patriotism had been an inspiration of England in her war-weariest hours.

1932, S[ydney] Fowler Wright, chapter LVI, in The Life of Sir Walter Scott, London: Poetry League, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Haskell House Publishers, 1971, →ISBN, page 362:

Warweary populations not only needed new investment and economic growth, they also needed a new vision of international economic relations and management [...]. This social need helps to explain the rapid public acceptance of the Bretton Woods plan.

2006, Ngaire Woods, “Whose Institutions?”, in The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and Their Borrowers (Cornell Studies in Money), Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN; republished Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2014, →ISBN:

For general relativity, there was a dramatic experimental test that was possible, one that had the potential to dazzle and help heal a war-weary world.

2007, Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 255:

In military terms, the Tet Offensive was not a victory for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. But military victory was not the enemy's intent. Their effort was targeted at war-weary Americans watching the bloodshed on their TV screens.

2011, Donald Rumsfeld, “Young Turks”, in Known and Unknown: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Sentinel, →ISBN, part III (The U.S. Congress: From Camelot to Quagmire), page 103:

Thus, “the idea of Europe” was fundamentally forged out of war-weary dreams of unity: postwar Europe was always the venue for ripening cosmopolitan and unification models.

2011 October, Mary N. Hampton, “Between Euroland and Abendland? Opportunities and Challenges for German Foreign Policy since Unification”, in Peter C. Caldwell, Robert R. Shandley, editors, German Unification: Expectations and Outcomes (Studies in European Culture and History), New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 45:

Nevertheless, even as these atrocities continue to be committed, some would argue that waging a new war to defeat global Islamic terrorism would only result in the creation of dozens more like Bin Laden and Al-Baghdadi. [...] Further, the opponents to real military action would also lead us to believe that the U.S. is too war-weary to press forward.

2016, H. Edward Phillips III, Islamic State: the Coming Storm, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, →ISBN:

And whiles the honourable Captaine there / Drops bloody ſwet from his warre-wearied limbes, / And in aduantage lingring lookes for reſcue, / You his falſe hopes, the truſt of Englands honor, / Keepe off aloofe with worthleſſe emulation: [...]

[1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 112, column 2:

Sunk in silence and sleep in the cottager's bed, / Oblivion shall visit the war-weary head; / Perchance he may dream, but the vision shall tell, / Of his lady-love's bower and her latest farewell; [...]

1851, M. Kelly, “Rest, Warrior, Rest”, in Gems from the Operas: A Choice Collection of the Most Admired Songs, Duets, Glees, Choruses, &c. &c. […] With All the New Songs, Philadelphia, Pa.: John B. Perry, […], →OCLC, page 46:

"And now," said King Richard, "what say ye all to a feast to celebrate our victory and refresh our war-weary limbs?"

1956, Edward Eager, “The Quest”, in Knight’s Castle, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Children’s Books, w:, →ISBN, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1999, page 186:

Sir, we are getting more modern equipment. In some cases the equipment we are receiving is a little war weary. It does take some rebuilding and repair. [...] [W]e are doing everything we can with Air Force assistance to bring up the level of maintenance of those aircraft that are a little war weary.

1973 March 27, Francis Greenlief (witness), “Department of the Air Force: Reprogramming [Operation and Maintenance, Air National Guard: Reprogramming Request 73-21 P/A]”, in Second Supplemental Appropriation Bill, 1973: Hearings before Subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-third Congress, First Session: Part 3: Department of Defense, Supplemental Budget Requests for Fiscal Year 1973: Reprogrammings […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 946:

The Eastbourne Convalescent Camp, on the Downs below Beachy Head was a sort of rough-hewn paradise for war-weary officers.

1978, H[arold] E[dward] L[eslie] Mellersh, Schoolboy into War: Book 2: the Autobiography, London: Kimber, →ISBN; republished Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Troubador Publishing, 2015, →ISBN:

As the 87th received new fighters and began flying combat missions, another veteran unit started turning in its war-weary airframes for P47s.

2012, Jonathan Bernstein, “Operation Strangle”, in Tony Holmes, editor, P-47 Thunderbolt Units of the Twelfth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft; 92), Botley, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 27:

Certain countries' athletes appeared far war-wearier and more sloppily shod than others.

2015, Julie Checkoway, The Three-year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui’s Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory, New York, N.Y.: Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:


INF

Initialism of intermediate-range nuclear forces.

initialism

w:Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Ellipsis of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.


warlight

Methinks I see their sabers as they flashed in battle's sun, I seem to see the warlight fall on bayonet and gun; Before the farm-house gate I stand and listen for their tread, Forgetting that the mighty camps are guarded by the dead;

1896, Loomis' Musical and Masonic Journal - Volumes 30-31, page 221:

The issues of life and death have by the lurid warlight been forced upon our attention.

1917, Catherine Gasquoine Hartley, Motherhood and the Relationships of the Sexes, page 32:

We passed industrial buildings, their lights muted, faint as stars, as if we were in a time capsule of the war years when blackouts and curfews had been in effect, when there was just warlight and only blind barges were allowed to move along this stretch of river.

2018, Michael Ondaatje, Warlight, →ISBN, page 81:

The light produced by acts of war, such as exploding bombs.


Big Three

(UK, World War II) The World War II military alliance consisting of the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The leaders of that alliance: Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.


vertical proliferation

Coordinate term: horizontal proliferation

weapons of mass destruction
weapon of mass destruction

The increase in the stocks of weapons of mass destruction of states that already had them.


horizontal proliferation

Coordinate term: vertical proliferation

The spread of weapons of mass destruction to states that did not previously have them.


Sherman necktie

en-noun

Sherman necktie (plural Sherman neckties)

/ˈʃɜːmən ˈnɛktaɪ/

From Sherman, the surname of Union Army general William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891) + necktie. During the American Civil War, Sherman ordered the destruction of the rails of railways in order to obstruct the Confederate States Army.

We were compelled to go by carriage, as the railroads had been destroyed, the fat-pine cross-ties burned to heat the rails and the red-hot rails wrapped around the trees growing near the track. We used to call these iron rails "Sherman's neckties," and the solemn-looking chimneys standing guard over the former sites of once happy homes were called by the natives "Sherman's monuments."

[1917, James Morris Morgan, chapter XXVIII, in Recollections of a Rebel Reefer, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, page 244:

As the Democrats met in Chicago to declare the war a failure, northern soldiers 700 miles away were making "Sherman neckties" out of the last open railroad into Atlanta by heating the rails over a bonfire of ties and twisting the iron around trees.

1988, James M. McPherson, “We are Going to be Wiped Off the Earth”, in Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (The Oxford History of the United States; 6), New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2003, →ISBN, page 774:

I break camp and push down the road to the tiny town of Lithonia. It was here that [William Tecumseh] Sherman saw the first homes on the March to the Sea go up in flames as his men wrecked the railroad, twisting the iron rails into Sherman's Neckties.

1995, Jerry Ellis, chapter 11, in Marching through Georgia: My Walk with Sherman, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN; Marching through Georgia: My Walk along Sherman’s Route, paperback edition, Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2002, →ISBN, page 74:

Sherman's army cut a swath of destruction fifty miles wide as it marched leisurely through Georgia without any meaningful Confederate resistance. The men destroyed nearly all property in their path, famously twisting railroad tracks around tree trunks—"Sherman neckties"—so they would never be usable again.

2006, Christopher J. Olsen, “Confederate Families at War in 1864–1865”, in The American Civil War: A Hands-on History, New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang, 2007, →ISBN, page 214:

Sherman, however, had grown to hate the Confederate trains running into Atlanta almost as much as the armies behind the city's earthworks. He declared, "Let the destruction be so thorough that not a rail or tie can be used again." The troops had a two-day-long Sherman necktie party.

2009, Marc [Josef] Wortman, “The First Bonfire”, in The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta, New York, N.Y.: PublicAffairs, →ISBN, part VI (War is Cruelty, and You Cannot Refine It), page 306:

The Road to Tara Museum had a lot of Gone with the Wind and almost no Sherman, except for one twisted Sherman's necktie.

2014, Anne Sarah Rubin, “Conclusion: Rubin’s March”, in Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 232:

(US, rail transport, historical, chiefly in the plural) A segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway.

Confederate States Army
Fort McAllister Historic State Park
Union Army
William Tecumseh Sherman


Johnny Turk

(obsolete, informal, military slang) An Ottoman soldier in World War One, particularly a Turkish one.


liberty ship

Originally used in a speech by then U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt when the first of the ships were launched to emphasize their purpose, and then later spread.

(nautical) A simple, cheap cargo ship built in the United States during World War II.


cherch

en-verb

cherch (third-person singular simple present cherches, present participle cherching, simple past and past participle cherched)

cherches (present singular third-person)
cherching (participle present)
cherched (participle past)
cherched (past)

(US military slang, World War I) To scrounge, to obtain in an unintended fashion, to scrape together.


shed blood

shed blood (third-person singular simple present sheds blood, present participle shedding blood, simple past and past participle shed blood)

sheds blood (present singular third-person)
shedding blood (participle present)
shed blood (participle past)
shed blood (past)

For he to day that sheds his blood with me, / Shall be my brother:

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

(idiomatic) To kill or wound, or be wounded or killed, in violence.


throw hands

throw hands (third-person singular simple present throws hands, present participle throwing hands, simple past threw hands, past participle thrown hands)

throws hands (present singular third-person)
throwing hands (participle present)
threw hands (past)
thrown hands (participle past)

I wish I could simply throw hands with him or any of his goons, because I'd bury them, but this is all about who plays this out smarter.

(informal, intransitive) To come to blows, fistfight.


Red Star

A depiction of a red star, often used as a symbol of communism and the Soviet Union.


Home Army

During World War II, the Home Army was the largest underground army in Europe organized to fight the German (and Soviet) occupying forces.

(history) the dominant Polish resistance movement in Poland, occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, during World War II.


Warsaw Uprising

For Poles, the Warsaw Uprising is one of the several exceptionally painful tragedies that indelibly stamp Poland’s struggle for survival from its extinction from Europe’s political map in the Third Partition of 1795 to its independence in 1989.

(historical) a major World War II operation, in the summer of 1944, by the Polish underground resistance, led by the Home Army, to liberate Warsaw from German occupation.


premurder

We fail to see, and the State has not indicated, how the premurder statements to one who was not a co-conspirator can be termed in furtherance of the conspiracy.

1981, Illinois Appellate Reports: Official Reports of the Illinois Appellate Court, page 1008:

And in 1997, a grand jury that was grinding away at the case learned of an interesting premurder conversation between Neulander and Myron "Pep" Levin.

2006, Sam Stall, Suburban Legends: True Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Minivans, Quirk Books, →ISBN, page 67:

Performing a premurder ritual that includes wine, dancing, and the music of Dusty Springfield's hit song “The Look of Love,” Rodriguez asks Frannie, “You ever been in love? All women want love, right?”

2012, Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Karen Randell, Screening the Dark Side of Love: From Euro-Horror to American Cinema, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 56:


try titles

try titles (third-person singular simple present tries titles, present participle trying titles, simple past and past participle tried titles)

tries titles (present singular third-person)
trying titles (participle present)
tried titles (participle past)
tried titles (past)

To litigate a claim to property (most often real estate) or a public office.


bombing run

There’s palpable peril in the squadron’s ever-mounting bombing runs, and Cathcart’s moving target of a mission quota makes a clever parallel to contemporary America’s Forever War, but the flight sequences wind up acquiring a deadening repetitiousness

2019 May 16, Erik Adams, “A potent satire has its wings clipped in Catch-22”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-09-01:

(military) The route of a bomber as it approaches its target; a sortie of a bomber


Hanfordite

(rare, historical) Someone working at the Hanford Site, a nuclear production facility active during World War II.

(rare) Someone from or residing in Hanford, California, United States.


four-minute warning

en-noun

four-minute warning (plural four-minute warnings)

(idiomatic) A UK government public alert system in use during the Cold War to advise of an imminent nuclear attack.


last man standing

(video games) A multiplayer deathmatch gameplay mode in which the last surviving player is the winner.


make the fur fly

en-verb

make the fur fly (third-person singular simple present makes the fur fly, present participle making the fur fly, simple past and past participle made the fur fly)

makes the fur fly (present singular third-person)
making the fur fly (participle present)
made the fur fly (participle past)
made the fur fly (past)

From the way fur is torn from fighting animals.


wilful homicide

en-noun

wilful homicide (plural wilful homicides)

211. (1) Whosoever shall be guilty of wilful homicide shall be punished with imprisonment for life. (2) A person shall be guilty of wilful homicide if, maliciously, with intent to kill another person or to put the life of such other person in manifest jeopardy, he causes the death of such other person.

2019, Criminal Code of the Republic of Malta (English version), article 211, subarticles 1 and 2

(law, Malta) murder; defined similarly as in English law


Sherman's necktie

Sherman's necktie (plural Sherman's neckties)


coffin corner

coffin corner (American football)
coffin corner (aerodynamics)

We'd though that because of the TNT we might be somewhere in the middle. But we got the rear corner on the starboard side. They call that the coffin corner.

1943, William Harrison Fetridge, The navy reader, page 207:

Suddenly we spotted her coming directly for the Spencer, since the Spencer was the last ship in the column next to the sun ('coffin corner,' it is called.)

1945, National 4-H Club News - Volumes 23-24, page 16:

Forgetting he was an officer, I shot back, "Friend, you didn't draw coffin corner because of me, I drew it because of you!"

1995, Robert L. Thompson, Flying in coffin corner, page 278:

However, most survivors remembered it as positioned in "coffin corner", where it was especially vulnerable to attack from the air or by submarine, thus the name.

1998, Dr. James G. Bennett, The Rohna Disaster: World War Ii's Secret Tragedy, page 87:

He had been rostered in the safest position—high element number three—but now when he came to take off he was back in low number two—”coffin corner.”

2007, John Nichol, Tony Rennell, Tail-End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War, 1944-45:

Also, at a briefing that morning, we learned much to our dismay that once again our squadron's position in the formation was to be at the tail end of the lower left echelon, the infamous “coffin corner."

2009, Harry X. Ford, Mud, Wings, and Wire, page 169:

Each time we had a flight, we were assigned a different spot in the formation. Our crew members knew that, eventually, we would be assigned the “coffin corner.”

2010, Kenneth V. Horrigan, Coffin Corner: The True Story of Kenneth Horrigan:

(World War II) The position in a formation of ships or bombers that is most exposed to enemy fire.


mossyback

From mossy + back (in sense 2 (“person who stayed hidden to evade conscription during the American Civil War”) probably a variant of mossback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it.
Sense 3.2 (“menhaden”) may be influenced by mossbunker.

(informal, historical, obsolete) Synonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”)


warcore

Coined by Steff Yotka in Vogue in 2018, from war + -core.

Arguably, this strain of warcore clothing is reflective of the violence, chaos, and widespread anxiety in the world at large.

2018 July 27, Steff Yotka, “Has Warcore Replaced Normcore in Fashion?”, in Vogue:

Your trench coat, your chinos, your Father’s Day necktie—your closet overflows with gear that was originally worn by stout patriots, fearful conscripts, and paid killers. But this warcore thing is new.

2019 March 6, Troy Patterson, “From Grunt Style to 'Warcore,' Civilians Are Embracing Military Fashion”, in The New Yorker:

They can be thrown on top of a denim jacket or underneath a light coat for extra warmth, or can even be worn as part of a multi-pocketed warcore ensemble.

2020 January 2, Adam Welch, Ashley Clarke, “20 menswear essentials for 2020”, in Mr Porter:

A style of fashion characterised by aspects of military apparel.


rearrange someone's face

en-verb

rearrange someone's face (third-person singular simple present rearranges someone's face, present participle rearranging someone's face, simple past and past participle rearranged someone's face)

rearranges someone's face (present singular third-person)
rearranging someone's face (participle present)
rearranged someone's face (participle past)
rearranged someone's face (past)

However, the bigoted, racist, hateful, condescending, "My shit smells just like roses" attitude spewing out of him this episode has taken me from liking/admiring him to wanting to rearrange his face in hopes of causing a change in his attitude.

2012 March 9, Don Bruder, “Tarzan--Jason”, in alt.tv.survivor (Usenet):

(informal, figuratively, humorous) To punch someone in the face.


FOBS

(historical) Acronym of fractional orbit bombardment system.


go code

(US, military) A launch code to commence a nuclear attack.


Sherman's hairpin

en-noun

Sherman's hairpin (plural Sherman's hairpins)


nucleomitophobia

Coined by psychiatrist Milton Arnold Dushkin in the early 1960s, from nucleo- (“atomic nucleus”) + mito- (“mitosis”) + -phobia (“fear of”), in reference to a supposed resemblance of atomic fission to cellular division.

Nikita Krushchev's war of nerves was plainly having an effect on the U.S. citizenry... There were the usual neurotics. In Chicago, public officials received a spate of calls from women complaining that their hair curlers were radioactive, from men suspicious of the olives in their martinis. (Chicago Psychiatrist Milton A. Dushkin named the ailment "nucleomitophobia"—fear of the atom).

1961 September 29, “The People: Ready to Act”, in Time:

A physician says the Nuclear Age has spawned a new phobia—nucleomitophobia, or fear of the atom. An article in Today's Health, a magazine published by the American Medical Assn., said public officials have received a rash of calls from persons who believe they are radioactive.

1961 November 19, Cedar Rapids Gazette, page 122:

When they are frantically expanding armament and making preparations for war, and they need to create war hysteria, they encourage man-made nucleomitophobia to spread rampantly, letting people know how radioactivity is already "threatening normal life in the United States." But when they want to sell their milk, they have to try "to find ways and means to set people's minds at ease regarding the question of radioactivity." Under the capitalist system, which is characterized by irresoluble contradictions, such jokes cannot be avoided.

1963 January, Michael Freeberne, translating an article in the 1 March 1962 Hongqi (《红旗》) in "Chinese Vignettes", Problems of Communism, Vol. XII, No. 1, p. 15

Bertie Rupp, who wanted to become a farmer in his youth, is entrapped by city life and achieves brief celebrity as the man who aestheticized continuous computer stationery. Disenchantment and nucleomitophobia (an exaggerated fear of atomic Armageddon) cause him to drop out.

1988, Brian Stableford, "American Book of the Dead", Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual

I SUFFER, I HASTEN TO SAY, FROM NUCLEOMITOPHOBIA, THE FEAR of atomic attack, and my quest for a cure has led me to grapple with the great debate on war and peace as it is being carried on in the United States.

1999, Arthur Herzog III, The War–Peace Establishment, page vii:

Fear of nuclear weapons is known as nucleomitophobia. The same term applies to fear of atomic energy... The fear is based on a feeling by individuals that they have no control over the fate of the world and that nuclear weapons can kill off all of human life and civilization. This fear is also related to a fear of death and a fear of apocalypse, or the end of the world.

2008, Ronald M. Doctor & al., The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties, 3rd ed., s.v. "nuclear war and nuclear weapons"

Fear of nuclear radiation, now especially atomic bombs.


Duke of Exeter's daughter

the Duke of Exeter's daughter (canonical)

After Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, who served as constable of the Tower of London during the period when the rack was in use there.

If we hadn't lagged you when we had, they'd be stretching you now on the Duke of Exeter's Daughter where they racked Guy Fawkes, and you'd be bleating out everything you know and a lot you don't know.

2022, Thomas B. Costain, For My Great Folly:

(UK, obsolete, slang) The rack (torture device).


Lincolnite

(US, historical) A supporter of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), his policies, or Northern interests during the American Civil War.


commerce raiding

commerce raiding (countable and uncountable, plural commerce raidings)

Although the Admiralty have published no report on the subject of the last manœuvres, it is generally believed that, during the short period commerce raiding lasted, Sir W. May's fleet, limited as the area was, and stringent as the rules laid down as to exemptions, did far more damage to our trade than the authorities care to make known.

1907, Captain R. N., “Food for Thought”, in The United Service Magazine:

(military, historical) A form of naval warfare that primarily targets enemy merchant ships on the open sea.


DKM

From German DKM, from German Deutsche Kriegsmarine, from deutsch+Kriegsmarine, from Krieg+Marine.

(military, nautical, World War II, initialism) A ship prefix used for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine.

H. M. S.

His Majesty's Ship; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland


Xhosa Wars

A series of wars between Europeans in the Cape Colony and the Xhosa to the east, from 1779 to 1879.


War of the Axe

The seventh Xhosa war (1846-1847), which began with the theft of an axe.


death flight

(politics, dated) A form of extrajudicial killing done by military forces in possession of aircraft by which victims are dropped to their death from airplanes or helicopters into oceans, large rivers or mountains.


shooting war

An outright war between military powers.


joy division

Here they kept close watch over the girls' bodies to keep them whole, undamaged. Here, when a girl was flogged she was not permitted to return to the Joy Division. She was immediately tossed on the van and—Off to the crematorium!

1955, Ka-tzetnik 135633, translated by Moshe M. Kohn, House of Dolls, New York: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 174:

As the girl, in the present moment, beseeches him to “look,” in a flashback Sol is forced by the commandant to look as various members of the “joy division,” and then specifically his wife, service SS guards.

2013, Jacqui A. Miller, “The Pawnbroker”, in Carlos E. Cortés, editor, Multicultural America, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 1686:

(historical, World War II) A Nazi concentration camp brothel and its battalion of conscripted sex slaves of young Jewish women.


Lincolniana

Objects, materials, or documents relating to Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), 16th president of the United States.


French 75

(military, historical) The Canon de 75 modèle 1897, an artillery piece capable of firing 75 mm shells.


Tedder certificate

Tedder certificate (plural Tedder certificates)

The certificates were issued in the name of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.

(historical) An award given to foreign citizens who assisted British service personnel to escape from German captivity in Western Europe during World War II.


Carthaginian peace

Carthaginian peace (usually uncountable, plural Carthaginian peaces)

In reference to the draconian peace terms imposed on the Carthaginian Empire by the Roman Republic following the Punic Wars. At the end of the Third Punic War, Rome destroyed Carthage.

To be sure, the Treaty of Versailles was not a Carthaginian peace as many contemporaries, most notably John Maynard Keynes, believed. Germany was not crippled as an economic power. It remained the most populous state in Europe, its industrial potential was largely intact, and with the demise of the Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian empires Eastern Europe was now populated by small, fragile states. While on the surface reparations seemed to impose a huge burden on Germany’s public finances, Weimar’s inflation and the speculation that came with it led to a substantial net flow of capital into Germany.

2015, Stephen Gross, Export Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 50–51:

(politics) Peace maintained with devastating consequences for one of the parties involved; a very harsh peace, particularly one that results in the defeated side being destroyed or nearly so.