proliferation

en-noun

proliferation (countable and uncountable, plural proliferations)

/pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

/pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹæɪ.ʃən/

(countable) The result of building up; buildup, accretion.


blockbuster

→ Catalan: blockbuster

→ French: blockbuster

→ German: Blockbuster

→ Italian: blockbuster

→ Japanese: ブロックバスター (burokubasutā)

→ Korean: 블록버스터 (beullokbeoseuteo)

→ Polish: blockbuster

→ Portuguese: blockbuster

→ Russian: блокба́стер (blokbástɛr)

→ Spanish: blockbuster

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From block + buster, referring originally to aerial bombs capable of destroying a whole block of buildings.

A high-explosive bomb used for the purposes of demolishing extensive areas, such as a city block.

"General William Booth Enters into Heaven" is lusty, a blockbuster conception.

1961, “Ives”, in Twentieth Century Music In The Western Hemisphere, J. B. Lippincott, page 146:

The report noted that 'an increasing public appetite for large "blockbuster" musicals is a firmly established feature of London’s West End theatre scene'.

1994, “Drama”, in Whitaker's Almanack, 1994, page 1135:

(informal) Something, especially an event or a film, book or other creative work, that is intended to achieve high sales (perhaps indicated by large budgets or high advertising spending) or that is conceived on a large or epic scale

A large firework of the firecracker type; an M-80.

Whereas White residents fell prey to blockbusters who stoked fears of invading Negroes and plummeting housing values during the 1950s, African Americans confronted more-than-imagined difficulties in neighborhoods after the 1968 riots.

2016, Sabiyha Prince, African Americans and Gentrification in Washington, D.C., page 106:

(US) One who engages in blockbusting (technique encouraging people to sell property).


pipe bomb

(explosives) An improvised explosive device consisting of blasting powder or other explosive material encased in a metal pipe to increase the blast effect.

pijpbom

explosive device consisting of blasting powder or other explosive encased in a metal pipe


cluster bomb

Bellingcat[…] has reviewed some of the pictures collected by the Guardian, confirmed the presence of tail fins of RBK-500 cluster bombs with PTAB-1M submunitions and cluster rocket, launched by BM-30 Smerch.

2022 April 21, Lorenzo Tondo, “Russia using cluster bombs to kill Ukrainian civilians, analysis suggests”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

An explosive munition designed to explode in the air and release a cluster of smaller explosives, thus spreading the blast over a larger area.


dirty bomb

Without providing evidence, Shoigu said Ukraine could escalate by using a “dirty bomb” – conventional explosives laced with radioactive material.

2022 October 24, Peter Beaumont, “Ukraine war heading for ‘uncontrolled escalation’, says Russia”, in The Guardian:

A device containing conventional explosives and radioactive material, designed to spread radiation over a wide area.


quoin

(firearms) A wedge of wood or iron put under the breech of heavy guns or the muzzle of siege-mortars to raise them to the proper level.


shooting

shooting (countable and uncountable, plural shootings)

From Middle English shoting, schoting, from Old English scotung (“shooting”), from Proto-Germanic *skutungō, equivalent to shoot + -ing. Cognate with Dutch schieting, German Erschießung (“shooting”), Swedish skjutning (“shooting”).


ADT

ADT (countable and uncountable, plural ADTs)

Active Denial Technology
w:Active Denial Technology

(military, weaponry) Initialism of Active Denial Technology.


beeline

From bee + line, due to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course, originally an Americanism.

(mining, chiefly historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.

тура һауа юлы

straight course, ignoring established paths of travel


coulisse

A side scene of the stage in a theater or the space between the side scenes.


submachine gun

Bare-chested children and their parents gathered in doorways, on roofs and in windows as he passed, watched warily by Brazilian troops carrying submachine guns.

2007 March 9, Jim Rutenberg, Larry Rohter, “Bush’s South America Tour Incites Fight for Attention”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A type of short range machine gun that is carried as a personal weapon and uses pistol ammunition.


sidearm

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A personal weapon, such as a handgun or sword, carried on the hip in a belt, sheath, holster, etc., for rapid access.


machine gun

I'm gonna get you, baby / Like a machine gun, I'm gonna… Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak

1974, “I'm Gonna Get You”, performed by Eleanore Mills:

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

Brigadier John K. Lawson's bunker on the west side of Wong Nai Chung Gap that the West Brigade used as headquarters. Brigadier Lawson and three of his men were hit by machine-gun fire escaping from the bunker on Dec. 19, 1941.

2016 December 23, Lam Yik Fei, “World - Image”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-19:

A type of fully automatic firearm that fires bullets in rapid succession by a single action of the trigger and is capable of sustained fire.

beeʼeldǫǫh tʼáá bíniʼdii bikʼa ádiih yiyiinííłígíí


lightsaber

From light + saber; coined by American filmmaker George Lucas for the Star Wars film franchise. First mentioned in the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) which was released on 25 May, 1977.

coined

[Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker] Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

1977 May 25, George Lucas, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1:

This was the era of Star Wars, the reinvention of science fiction with the homely Luke Skywalker. But even Luke had the Force and a tie-fighter. The Doctor was a humanist, and his spacecraft was an obsolete phone box redolent of bobbies with whistles. He would never resort to lightsabre against villains, preferring to confront them with jelly babies.

2006 September, Steve Tomkins, “Icon of the Month No. 82: Dr Who”, in Simon Jones, editor, Third Way, volume 29, number 7, Harrow, London: Third Way Trust, →ISSN, page 24:

Poster Power / Get the scheme behind the scene with Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection. This boxed set includes five double-sided posters with blueprints of the Death Star, R2-D2, and C-3PO, lightsabers and blasters, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon.

2008 November, “Collecting”, in Boys' Life, volume XCVIII, number 11, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 52:

(science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of light or energy.


trident

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin tridēns, from tri- (“three”) + dēns (“tooth”).

Poseidon's trident

I recall the height of comfort attained by the green-cushioned "first" with starched white antimacassars and a pretentious grey floor mat on which it seemed a sacrilege to stand, as it was embellished with the North Western conception of Britannia, complete with trident.

1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, pages 703-704:

A three-pronged spear somewhat resembling a pitchfork.

(geometry) A curve of third order of the form:


anti-aircraft

en-noun

anti-aircraft (countable and uncountable, plural anti-aircraft or anti-aircrafts)

anti-aircraft (plural)
anti-aircrafts (plural)

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I am blacking out—ease the stick forward slightly—the sky is clear again—I turn out over water—reverse turn—there are antiaircraft on the island below—I reverse again—and again.

1944 June 3, Charles A. Lindbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1970, page 839:


scourge

From Middle English scourge (“a lash, whip, scourge; affliction, calamity; person who causes affliction or calamity; shoot of a vine”), and then either:
* from Anglo-Norman scorge, escorge, escurge, or Old French scurge, escourge, escorge, escorgiee, escurge (modern French escourgée (“(archaic) whip made of leather strips”)), either:
** from Vulgar Latin *excoriāta (“strip of hide; a scourge”), from Late Latin excoriāre, the present active infinitive of excoriō (“to strip the skin from, to skin”), from Latin ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + corium (“skin; hide, leather”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)); or
** from Latin ex- (intensifying prefix) + corrigia (“a whip”) (from corrigō (“to make right, correct; to reform”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)); or
* from Middle English scourgen (verb) (see etymology 2).
cognates
* Italian scuriada, scuriata

der

He flogged him with a scourge.

Yf they breake myne ordinaunces, and kepe not my commaundementes. I vil vyſet their offences with the rodde, and their ſynnes with ſcourges.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm lxxxviij:[31–32], folio xxvij, verso, column 1:

My father layd vpon you a heauie yoke, vvhich I vvil make heauier: my father bette you vvith ſcourges, but I vvil beate you vvith ſcorpions.

1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, 2 Paralipomenon 10:11, page 886:

Up to coach then goes / Th' observed Maid, takes both the scourge and reins, / And to her side her handmaid straight attains.

1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 136, lines 111–113:

[H]eaven-born truth, / And moderation fair, vvere the red marks / Of ſuperſtition's ſcourge: […]

a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 204, lines 1059–1061:

Mortify / Your flesh, like me, with scourges and with thorns; / Smite, shrink not, spare not.

1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 61:

Another strange manifestation of collective mental abnormality, though not directly connected with sorcery, was the Brotherhood of Flagellants. […] These men lashed themselves and each other unmercifully with knotted leather scourges until the blood ran, two or three times daily.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, “The Church and Monastic Black Magic”, in The Black Art, London: Senate, Studio Editions, published 1994, →ISBN, page 99:

(weaponry, chiefly historical) A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash.


nitro

en-noun

nitro (countable and uncountable, plural nitros)

(uncountable, chemistry) the univalent NO₂ functional group.


Maxim

* (machine guns): After the inventor Sir Hiram Maxim (1840-1916).

Again we went on, and climbed the false immensity of another ridge, when several rifles and a maxim opened upon us, and very close they were.

1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 104:

(firearms) The Maxim gun, a British machine gun of various calibres used by the British army from 1889 until World War I.

(firearms) Any machine gun that derives from the design pattern of Maxim's patented design

(firearms, informal, obsolete) A machine gun


Atlas

en-proper noun

Atlas (countable and uncountable, plural Atlases)

From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.

der

An unincorporated community in Pike County, Illinois.

A placename:
A place in the United States:
A township in Genesee County, Michigan.

An unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas.

An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Laketown, Polk County, Wisconsin.


Sten

Acronym of Shepherd, Turpin, Enfield.. From the names of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and EN for Enfield

The Sten gun, a family of British 9-millimeter submachine guns used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts.


Trinity

A female given name from English used since the 1970s, from the religious term trinity, or translated from its long-established Spanish equivalent.


neutron bomb

An atomic bomb that produces a greater amount of neutrons, and a lesser amount of blast; the intention being to create equal lethal neutron radiation and blast radii which increases the effectiveness of the weapon against armour while reducing collateral damage.


battering ram

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The heads of some battering rams were carved in the shape of a ram, an animal renowned for butting with its head.

A modern device, usually in the form of a metal bar with handles, chiefly used by police and firefighters to force open locked doors.


napoleon

en-noun

napoleon (countable and uncountable, plural napoleons)

/nəˈpəʊlɪən/

Borrowed from French Napoléon (“given name, usually in reference to Napoleon Bonaparte”). In reference to coins, via French napoléon (“(slang) a coin that originally had the appearance of Napoleon's face in the obverse”). In reference to guns and possibly cards, in reference to Napoleon III.

bor

(historical weaponry) Clipping of Napoleon gun: a 12-pounder cannon first used by the Second French Empire.

наполео́н

12-pounder cannon of the Second French Empire


tamper

(rail transport) A railway vehicle used to tamp down ballast.


high explosive

Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".

1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:

But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

A chemical explosive capable of detonation rather than solely of deflagration; a chemical explosive capable of reacting at a sufficiently-fast rate to produce a shock wave which propagates the reaction throughout the explosive mass; a chemical explosive capable of producing an explosion even when unconfined.


snapshot

How quick the eye and hand to catch him [the ruffed grouse] when he rises from the underbrush and is out of sight in the wood before the untrained sportsman stops him with what is little more than a snapshot, so instantaneously must all be done!

1892, Stanley Waterloo, A Man and a Woman:

(firearms) A quick offhand shot, made without deliberately taking aim over the sights.


Fat Man

Coordinate term: Little Boy

The nuclear bomb dropped over Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945.


Little Boy

Coordinate term: Fat Man

The nuclear bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.


squib

Possibly imitative of a small explosion.

unk

Possibly

(US) Any small firecracker sold to the general public, usually in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuse is lit.

(firearms) A malfunction in which the fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck.

(automotive) The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.

(film, theater) In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface or a gunshot wound on an actor.


doomsday

en-noun

doomsday (countable and uncountable, plural doomsdays)

From Middle English domes + dai, from Old English dom (“judgment”) + dæg (“day”). Equivalent to doom + -s- + day. Possibly influenced by Latin domus dei (“house of God”).

Judgement day; the day of the Final Judgment; any day of decisive judgement or final dissolution.


bowman

From Middle English boweman, bouman, boughman, equivalent to bow + -man.

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 4:29:

(archery) A man who uses a bow; an archer.


conical

(firearms) A bullet with a conical shape.


SDI

The new sales pitch for S.D.I. runs smack up against the recommendations of Mr. Reagan's own Commission on Strategic Forces, the panel that so effectively closed the window of vulnerability back in 1983.

1987 August 31, Howard Ris, “Don't Buy the S.D.I. Soap”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative#English

Initialism of Strategic Defense Initiative.


rocket-propelled grenade

rocket-propelled grenade (plural rocket-propelled grenades)

A modern hand-held weapons system, comprising a launcher that fires a small explosive rocket.

火箭筒

hand-held weapon that fires a small explosive rocket


MAD

(programming) Acronym of Michigan algorithm decoder, a programming language, a variant of ALGOL, developed in 1959 at the University of Michigan.


MOAB

Mother of all Bombs
Mother of all Bombs#English

GBU-43 (originally an acronym of Massive Ordnance Air Blast).


mokusatsu

A policy of ignoring or taking no notice of something.


cruise missile

A missile designed for guided flight over the full course of its path.


tiller

From Middle English teler, from Anglo-Norman telier (“beam used in weaving”), from Medieval Latin telarium, from Latin tēla (“web”).

der

You can shoot in a tiller.

c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:

(archery) The stock; a beam on a crossbow carved to fit the arrow, or the point of balance in a longbow.


tactical

(firearms) having a military appearance, typically with accessories such as a bipod, adjustable stock, detachable magazine or black coloration


semiautomatic

The measure would make California the first state to require that all new semiautomatic weapons be equipped with technology known as microstamping, which imprints microscopic markings as a gun fires.

2007 September 24, “An Opportunity for Mr. Schwarzenegger”, in The New York Times:


semiautomatic

Experts say that there is no clear link between semiautomatics and the number of shootings by the police, and that officers are likely to get higher-powered weapons rather than go back to traditional handguns.

1999 February 7, Jodi Wilgoren, “Fatal Police Barrage Renews Debate Over Safety of Semiautomatics”, in The New York Times:


fletching

en-noun

fletching (countable and uncountable, plural fletchings)

قذة

A set of fins attached to the tail of a projectile

The process of attaching fins, such as halved feathers, to a projectile in order to stabilize its flight.


mushroom cloud

. mushroom cloud (canonical)
mushroom clouds (plural)

It's Christmas at ground zero / There's panic in the crowd / We can dodge debris / While we trim the tree / Underneath a mushroom cloud

1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics and music), “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!:

A large cloud of smoke, flame and debris that rises into the sky as a result of a large explosion, especially after a nuclear explosion, characterized by a long shaft rising from the ground into a much-larger or more-spread-out top, reminiscent of a mushroom in shape.


domino effect

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

(politics, historical) The theory that, if South Vietnam became communist, it would be followed by Cambodia, Laos, additional Southeast Asian countries, other Asian countries, and likely even elsewhere.


semi-automatic

The Los Angeles ordinance covers semi-automatics with a detachable magazine of 20 rounds or more. As examples, it cited such weapons as the AR 15 assault rifles, Uzi assault rifles and carbines, Ingram Mac-10 and Mac-11 assault carbines, AK-47 assault rifles, Thompson carbines and all Avtomat Kalashnikov weapons.

1989 February 8, Robert Reinhold, “LOS ANGELES BANS RAPID-FIRING GUNS”, in The New York Times:

(weaponry) A semi-automatic firearm, especially such a pistol.

semi-automatic transmission
semi-automatic transmission

(automotive) A semi-automatic transmission.


ballistic missile

ballistic missile (plural ballistic missiles)

(military, astronautics) A missile that is initially guided, but then follows a ballistic (freely falling) trajectory.


glasnost

glasnost (countable and uncountable, plural glasnosts)

Borrowed from Russian гла́сность (glásnostʹ, “openness”).

bor

Gorbachev would introduce glasnost (openness and freedom) and perestroika (economic restructuring) to Russia under his tenure, ultimately freeing thousands of political prisoners and dissidents and trying to address the shortages in food and goods that had become the hallmarks of the failing Soviet economy.

2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

(historical) 1980s and early 1990s policy of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev to allow more government transparency; often paired with perestroika

glasnost (usually accompanied by translation)


missile silo

An underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of ICBMs.


perestroika

en-noun

perestroika (countable and uncountable, plural perestroikas)

Borrowed from Russian перестро́йка (perestrójka, “restructuring”).

bor+

перестро́йка

(historical, uncountable) The period of time in the Soviet Union during which these reforms were carried out and in effect.


grenade

Borrowed from French grenade, from Old French grenate in the phrase pomme grenate (“pomegranate”), ultimately from Medieval Latin pomum (“apple”) + granatum (“having grains”). The -d developed in French under influence of Spanish granada. Doublet of garnet.

A small explosive device, designed to be thrown by hand or launched using a rifle, grenade launcher, or rocket.

лимо́нка

certain models, especially shaped as a lemon

ระเบิดมือ

rá-bə̀ət-mʉʉ


HUAC

w:House Un-American Activities Committee

(US, historical) Acronym of House Un-American Activities Committee.


nuclear bomb

In the seaside town that they forgot to bomb / Come, come, come, nuclear bomb

1988, Morrissey (lyrics and music), “Everyday Is Like Sunday”, in Viva Hate:

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki


nuclear weapon

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When Kissinger went to Moscow on March 24 for four days of talks aimed at setting the agenda for Summit III, he reported that Brezhnev seemed to be confronting some of the same problems as we were of military opposition to a permanent agreement to limit offensive nuclear weapons. Thus we knew from the outset that it would be very difficult to produce a major SALT breakthrough at Summit III.

1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973-1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1024:

Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat.

2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times:

A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.

armë bërthamore

a weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion


atomic bomb

H. G. Wells
The World Set Free
atomic bomb

Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in his 1914 novel The World Set Free.

Nine different countries have the atomic bomb as of 2022.

(uncountable, colloquial, with the) The possession of one or more atomic bombs; the ability to launch a nuclear attack.


tilt

From Middle English tilte, from Old English *tyltan, *tieltan (“to be unsteady”), related to the adjective tealt (“unsteady”), from Proto-West Germanic *talt, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”), see also Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Cognate with Icelandic tölt (“an ambling pace”).
The nominal sense of "a joust" appears around 1510, presumably derived from the barrier which separated the combatants, which suggests connection with tilt "covering". The modern transitive meaning is from 1590; the intransitive use appears 1620.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-tilt.wav


small arms

en-noun

small arms pl (normally plural, singular small arm)

The helicopter was attacked by small arms fire.

Firearms designed to be carried and fired by a single person, and often held in the hand.

輕兵器

firearms designed to be carried and fired by a single person


striker

lyöjä

someone or something that hits someone or something else

Someone or something that hits someone or something else.

(firearms, military) A mechanism of a firearm acting upon the firing pin.


megadeath

One million deaths, especially as a unit of measure in reference to nuclear warfare.

megamort

one million deaths, especially in reference to nuclear warfare


taser

Jack Cover
Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle

Acronym of the science fiction story Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle. Coined in the early 1970s by the inventor Jack Cover originally as TSER, to which he later added the letter A to ease pronunciation. Genericization of the trademark Taser.

cattle prod

an electric shock device used to herd cattle

electric fence

a fixed installation electric shock barrier used to control livestock

mace

a self-defense chemical spray used to fend off attackers, similar use to personal tasers

A Taser, a handheld device made by Taser International intended to immobilize another by delivering an electric shock.


amplitude

amplitude (countable and uncountable, plural amplitudes)

Borrowed from Middle French amplitude, from Latin amplitūdō, from amplus (“large”). By surface analysis, ample + -itude.

(firearms) The horizontal line which measures the distance to which a projectile is thrown; the range.


cannonade

A furious cannonade was kept up from the whole circle of batteries on the devoted town.

1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:

The firing of artillery for a length of time.


gladius

From Latin gladius (“Roman short sword, gladius”). Doublet of glaive.

bor

Finally, the Romans made the gladius—sharp, of highly-tempered steel, and strongly piercing—the first real sword (Figs. 17, 18, 19), of which only five specimens are now known to exist.

1882, “The Genesis of the Sword”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 21, page 81:

The gladius was effective either for cutting or for thrusting and was used by legionaries and auxiliaries.

2007, Pat Southern, The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History, page 212:

(historical) A Roman sword roughly two feet long.


siege engine

/ˈsiːd͡ʒ ˌɛnd͡ʒɪn/

/ˈsid͡ʒ ˌɛnd͡ʒɪn/

PIE word
 *h₁én
From siege + engine (“large construction used in warfare”).

compound

Opposite this hill Bohemund's men now began to dig in a definite direction. For the besiegers had devised this new mischief against the city and invented a new knavish siege-engine to apply to the town. For as they dug, they went along under the ground like moles boring holes in the soil and in places protecting themselves by sheds with high roofs against the stones and arrows which were thrown from above, and in others propping up the earth above them with poles, and thus they went on in a straight line.

1928, Anna Comnena [i.e., Anna Komnene], “Book XIII”, in Elizabeth A[nna] S[ophia] Dawes, transl., The Alexiad (Byzantine Series), Cambridge, Ont.: In Parentheses Publications, published 2000, page 233:

The cavalry were on the wings and the siege-engines, mangonels and catapults, planted on sand-dunes.

1934, Robert Graves, chapter XXXII, in I, Claudius: […], New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, →OCLC, page 401:

(weaponry, historical) A large weapon of war used during ancient and medieval times to batter fortifications, settlements, etc.; specifically, a trebuchet or other type of catapult.


line of fire

(military, weaponry) direction in which a weapon fires


shrapnel

en-noun

shrapnel (usually uncountable, plural shrapnels)

From Shrapnel. Named after British army officer Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842) who invented an anti-personnel shell that transported a large number of bullets to the target before releasing them, at a far greater distance than rifles could fire the bullets individually. The surname is likely a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a diminutive of Old French charbon (“charcoal”) in reference to hair color, complexion, or the like.

named-after

(military, historical) An anti-personnel artillery shell used in World War I which carries a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually.


line of sight

(weaponry) The line which passes through the front and rear sight, at any elevation, when they are sighted at an object.


trebuchet

/ˈtɹɛb.jəˌʃeɪ/

From Old French trebuchet, trebuket et al. (modern trébuchet), from trebuchier (“to overthrow, topple”), from tre- + *buchier, from Old French buc (“trunk of the body”), from Old Frankish *būk (“belly, trunk, torso”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, abdomen, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Cognate with Old High German būh (“belly”), Old English būc (“belly, trunk”). More at bouk.

der

Medieval trebuchets are said to have been capable of launching 90-kg projectiles over distances of more than 300 meters.

With counterweight trebuchets at its disposal, a besieging force at last had the advantage in sieges, and it was probably the appearance of the trebuchet which prompted the changes in castle design from the mid-twelfth century onwards which were described in the previous chapter: the move from rectangular to round or multiform towers […]

2003, Helen Nicholson, Medieval Warfare, Macmillan International Higher Education, →ISBN, page 95:

A medieval siege engine consisting of a large pivoting arm heavily weighted on one end.

A torture device for dunking suspected witches by means of a chair attached to the end of a long pole.


trebuchet

en-verb

trebuchet (third-person singular simple present trebuchets, present participle trebucheting, simple past and past participle trebucheted)

trebuchets (present singular third-person)
trebucheting (participle present)
trebucheted (participle past)
trebucheted (past)

/ˈtɹɛb.jəˌʃeɪ/


machete

From Spanish machete, diminutive of macho (“sledgehammer”), from Latin mattea, possibly from mactare (“slaughter in sacrifice”); cognate with Old French machier, French massue, English mace.

A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.

A small stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal, having a double bulged body, traditionally of wood, with a small rib and four metallic strings, sometimes attached by wooden pegs.


machete

machete (third-person singular simple present machetes, present participle macheting or macheteing, simple past and past participle macheted)

machetes (present singular third-person)
macheting (participle present)
macheteing (participle present)
macheted (participle past)
macheted (past)

You can't just machete about with a rapier and expect to succeed; you need to thrust properly.

To hack or chop crudely with a blade other than a machete.


big gun

London, Nov. 1: The big guns opened fire on Paris today at mid-day.

1870 December 2, “The Suez Mail”, in Southland Times, number 1342, New Zealand, page 2:

The smaller crew was possible because the battleship was stripped of all but her big guns.

1968 March 26, “Battleship begins Viet Tests”, in Evening News, Newburgh, NY, USA, retrieved 2011-08-19, page 1:

The USS West Virginia became one of many symbols of American resolve. . . . Her big guns pounded the enemy at the battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

2008 December 6, William J. Bennett, John Cribb, “Deadly resolve answered attack”, in Daily Courier, USA, retrieved 2011-08-19:

(military) A large artillery gun or one of the largest-caliber naval guns (as on a battleship).


depth charge

The trailblazing Oaxacan chef Alejandro Ruiz […] has spiked this black-bean sauce with a hidden depth charge of flavor: patches of foliage from a local avocado tree. The leaves electrify the sauce with an unexpected thrum of black licorice.

2014 October 25, Jeff Gordinier, “In search of the perfect taco”, in T: The New York Times Style Magazine (international edition), page 100:

(military, nautical, aviation) A form of bomb, launched from a ship or dropped from an aircraft, that is designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater for the purposes of attacking a submerged enemy, especially a submarine.

глыбі́нная бо́мба

bomb designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater

Synonym of bomb shot (“type of mixed drink”)


depth charge

depth charge (third-person singular simple present depth charges, present participle depth charging, simple past and past participle depth charged)

depth charges (present singular third-person)
depth charging (participle present)
depth charged (participle past)
depth charged (past)

After the freighter was torpedoed, its escorting destroyers depth charged the submarine for two hours, but failed to sink it.

(transitive, military, nautical, aviation) To attack (a target, usually a submarine) with depth charges.


whoosh

onomatopoeic

imitative


rapier

/ˈɹeɪpˌɪə(ɹ)/

Borrowed from Middle French rapiere, from Middle French (espee) rapiere, from Old French rapiere, raspiere, from Spanish raspadera (“poker; raker; scraper”), from Spanish raspar (“to scrape”), of Germanic origin. More at rasp.

der

John is very quick on his feet during interviews by using his rapier responses.


détente

Unadapted borrowing from French détente (“relaxing”).

ubor

Analogous structural and political constraints stood in the way of a lasting détente between Germany and Britain.

2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 318:

No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.

2014 January 14, Stephen Kinzer, “Invading Iraq was dumb enough. Now Congress wants to derail the Iran deal”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly politics) A relaxing of tension, especially between countries.

разра́дка

a relaxing of tension, especially between countries


bazooka

→ Arabic: بازوكة (bāzūka)

→ Chinese: 巴祖卡 (bāzǔkǎ)

→ French: bazooka

→ Dutch: bazooka

→ Finnish: bazooka

→ German: Bazooka

→ Indonesian: bazoka

→ Japanese: バズーカ (bazūka)

→ Korean: 바주카 (bajuka)

→ Macedonian: базука (bazuka)

→ Maranao: basoka

→ Polish: bazooka

→ Portuguese: bazuca

→ Romanian: bazooka

→ Spanish: bazuca

→ Swedish: bazooka

Bazooka (disambiguation)
Bob Burns (humorist)
European debt crisis

From an extension of the word bazoo (“mouth, boastful talk”), which ultimately probably stems from Dutch bazuin (“trumpet”). In the finance sense first used by policymakers during the European debt crisis (2010).

(weaponry) A shoulder-held rocket launcher used as an antitank weapon, developed by America during World War II and so-called from its resemblance to the bazooka musical instrument.


McCarthyism

Named after United States Senator Joseph McCarthy. Originates from a 1950 Washington Post political cartoon by Herbert Block.

named-after

An important symptom of the difference between McCarthyism and Birchism is the shift in the geographical center of gravity.

1964, Daniel Bell, The Radical Right, page 234:

The intense opposition to, and fear and suspicion of, Communism, particularly in the United States during the 1950s.


nuclear fission

en-noun

nuclear fission (usually uncountable, plural nuclear fissions)

(nuclear physics) A nuclear reaction in which a large nucleus splits into smaller ones, sometimes accompanied by the simultaneous release of energy.


ogive

From late Middle English ogif, egeve, egeove, from Old French ogive, œgive, augive. Doublet of ogee.

Coordinate term: bourrelet

However, Ordnance tests revealed that the existing metal ogive (nose cone) tended to telescope on impact, cushioning the impact shock, and resulting in the failure of the impact fuze. In addition, the ogive tended to shear off from the rest of the body at impact angles of 20 degrees or more, […]

2016, Steven J. Zaloga, Bazooka vs Panzer: Battle of the Bulge 1944, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 32:

Nose: The forward end of a warhead. May have a fuze-well, be solid, or be defined by the shape of the ogive.
Ogive: Is aft of the nose, and forward of the bourrelet. May house a fuze adapter with a shape consistent with the contour of the ogive.

2019, Thomas Gersbeck, Practical Military Ordnance Identification, 2nd edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 111:

(weaponry, ballistics) The pointed, curved nose of a bullet, missile, or rocket.


arms race

The cost of parasitism has provoked an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host, in which hosts evolve defences to avoid becoming victimized and parasites counterattack by evolving strategies to outwit their hosts.

2006, R.M. Kilner, “The evolution of egg colour and patterning in birds”, in Biological Reviews, volume 81, page 389, column 1:

ChatGPT's sudden popularity has triggered an arms race among the world's leading tech companies and start-ups that are rushing to obtain the H100, which Huang describes as “the world's first computer [chip]^([sic]) designed for generative AI”—artificial intelligence systems that can quickly create humanlike text, images and content.

2023 May 28, Tim Bradshaw, Richard Waters, “Nvidia reaps rewards from early lead in AI chipmaking”, in FT Weekend, page 14:

(figuratively) Any similar competition that involves competing developments.


fissile

en-adj

fissile (comparative more fissile, superlative most fissile)

more fissile (comparative)
most fissile (superlative)

North Korea may soon have access to regular amounts of fissile material if it doesn't already ...

2014 March 30, Choe Sang-hun, “North Korea vows to use 'new form' of nuclear test”, in The New York Times:

(physics) Capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.

разцепващ се

capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction


Winchester

From Middle English Wynchester, Winchestre, from Old English Wintanċeaster, from Latin Venta Belgārum (literally “Venta of the Belgae”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Celtic *wentā (“town, place”), Proto-Indo-European *h₁wen- (“place (?)”) + Old English ċeaster, from Latin castra (“camp”).
The bottle is named for the former customary units of the English city. The rifle is named named after American businessman Oliver Winchester (1810–1880). The computer disk is named for the rifle.

named-after

Any of the towns named after it, including:

A number of places in the United States:

A census-designated place in Riverside County, California.

census-designated place
census-designated place

Riverside County
Riverside County#English

A township in Norman County, Minnesota, named after Winchester, Iowa.


trigger

Originally tricker, from Dutch trekker (“pull”, noun, as in drawer-pull, bell-pull), from Dutch trekken (“to drag, draw, pull”).

laukaisin

music: electronic transducer allowing a percussion instrument to control an electronic device

Just pull the trigger.

[W]e pull'd aſide the Tricker, and obſerv'd, that according to our expectation the force of the Spring of the Lock vvas not ſenſibly abated by the abſence of the Air.

1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “[Experiment 14]”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 89:

(firearms) A finger-operated lever used to fire a gun.


East Berlin

(historical, Germany) The Soviet sector of Berlin between 1949 and 1990.

Østberlin

the Soviet sector of Berlin between 1949 and 1990


phaser

* (science fiction): For the fictional weapon coined for Star Trek: originally a "ph(oton ma)ser," later changed canonically to a "phas(ed)-e(nergy) r(ectifier)" (of "nadions", not photons).
* (phase modulation): phase + -er

Captain James Kirk: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun."

1966 September 8, George Clayton Johnson, The Man Trap (Star Trek), season 1, episode 1:

His oddly reserved nature stands out [...]. Whyte sets his phaser on stun, not kill.

A Bajoran rushed past with an armful of phaser rifles, another with a box of hand phasers.

1999, Dafydd ab Hugh, chapter 3, in Fallen Heroes [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; 5], New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books:

Giolitti's Gold Key art is widely admired, [...] and this is a terrific opportunity to pick up a page—set your phasers on bid.

2004, Hertiage Signature Auction #811, page 185:

I said, "Set phasers on be-a-bastard."

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(science fiction) Fictional energy weapon, with multiple settings for degree of intensity, from the television series Star Trek (1966–69).


lat

Borrowed from Hindi लाट (lāṭ, “pillar; minaret; staff, club”), लाठ (lāṭh, “long staff; cudgel”), etc.

bor+

(weaponry, rare) A staff, particularly one of an Indian kind.


riser

From Middle English ryser, risere, equivalent to rise + -er.


inlet

en-verb

inlet (third-person singular simple present inlets, present participle inletting, simple past and past participle inlet)

inlets (present singular third-person)
inletting (participle present)
inlet (participle past)
inlet (past)

From Middle English inleten, equivalent to in- + let. Cognate with Dutch inlaten (“to let in, admit”), Low German inlaten (“to let in”), German einlassen (“to admit, let in”), Swedish inlåta (“to enter, engage”).

(firearms) To carve the wooden stock of a firearm so as to position the metal components in it.


dory

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru).

The basic weapon of the hoplite was the dory, a wooden-shaft spear six to nine feet long with a metal point at each end.

1990, Richard A. Gabriel, The Culture of War: Invention and Early Development (Contributions in Military Studies; 96), New York, N.Y.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 89:

The principal offensive weapon of the hoplite was his spear (dory). Conquered territory was said to be 'spear-won'.

2000, Nick Sekunda, Greek Hoplite: 480–323 BC (Osprey Military, Warrior Series; 27), Oxford: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 12:

The principal weapon of the hoplite was the dory spear. It was unusually long – it could measure up to 10ft (3m) in length, and weighed about 4.4lb (2kg). At one end was a broad, leaf-pattern spearhead, while at the other end was a metal spike called a sauroter. The purpose of the spike is much debated: it almost certainly acted as a counterbalance, making the spear easier to hold and wield; it could have been used as an improvised spear point, or for making downward attacks on the enemy's exposed feet; or it might even have been embedded in the ground to keep the spear in place.

2011 (republished 2014 as an e-book), Chris McNab, A History of the World in 100 Weapons, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, page 37

Sadly, the Greeks' weapons have succumbed to erosion; yet all are single-handed and one figure is striking overhead with left leg forward consistent with the use of a dory.

2012, Fred Eugene Ray, Jr., Greek and Macedonian Land Battles of the 4th Century B.C.: A History and Analysis of 187 Engagements, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 90:

A wooden pike or spear about three metres (ten feet) in length with a flat, leaf-shaped iron spearhead and a bronze butt-spike (called a sauroter), which was the main weapon of hoplites in Ancient Greece. It was usually not thrown but rather thrust at opponents with one hand.


harquebus

en-noun

harquebus (plural harquebuses or harquebusses)

harquebuses (plural)
harquebusses (plural)

From French harquebuse, borrowed from Middle Low German hakebusse or Middle Dutch hakebus, hagebus (modern Dutch haakbus), from hôk (“hook”) + busse (“box; firelock”), from Old Saxon hōk + *buhsa, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz + *buhsā.

A portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket. When used in the field it was supported upon a tripod or trestle.


Taser

en-verb

Taser (third-person singular simple present Tasers, present participle Tasering, simple past and past participle Tasered)

Tasers (present singular third-person)
Tasering (participle present)
Tasered (participle past)
Tasered (past)

"In one incident, a large, vicious dog was coming at an officer and he was able to Taser the dog rather than shoot it," Llewellyn said.

2008 April 2, Jenny May, “Mentor police will purchase”, in Cleveland News-Herald, archived from the original on 2009-03-27:


helepolis

en-noun

helepolis (plural helepolises or helepoleis)

helepolises (plural)
helepoleis (plural)

From Ancient Greek ἑλέπολις (helépolis, “taker of cities”).

uder

an ancient Greek siege engine consisting of a wheeled tower containing machines for throwing stones and spears


insertion

en-noun

insertion (countable and uncountable, plural insertions)

(atomic weapons) The process of going from subcritical to prompt critical.


crossbowman

Why did Richard I die at the hands of a crossbowman, clutching a frying pan, on the outskirts of Limoges?

2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 73:

Someone (usually a soldier) equipped with a crossbow.


cudgel

From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cyċġel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuggil, from Proto-Germanic *kuggilaz (“knobbed instrument”), derivative of Proto-Germanic *kuggǭ (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewgʰ- (“swelling, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), equivalent to cog + -el (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele (“stick with a rounded end”).

cog

As above said, legibility depends also much on the design of the letter; and again I take up the cudgels against compressed type, and that especially in Roman letters: […]

1893, William Morris, The Ideal Book, published 1908:

Mrs. Clinton’s Senate tenure, however, also demonstrated the risks of overcompensation: Not wanting to give Republicans fodder to portray her as soft on defense, she authorized President Bush to use force in Iraq and handed Mr. Obama a political cudgel to use against her.

2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, It’s Not Hard to Be Humble in an Effort to Regain Power”, in The New York Times:

[Minnesota Senator Steve] Daines isn’t the only example of right-wing politicians who wish to wield anti-Semitism as a convenient cudgel against their political enemies, with scant if any evidence. But Montana’s vanishingly small Jewish population makes it particularly clear that this strategy has little to do with flesh-and-blood Jews at all.

2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ:

Mr. Cruz has been able to use his pseudo-intellectualism and his Ivy League pedigree as a cudgel.

2021 January 11, Mimi Swartz, “Never Forget What Ted Cruz Did”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(figurative) Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.

ase

anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will


fusillade

From French fusillade, from fusiller (“shoot with a firearm”), from fusil (“rifle, gun”).

The simultaneous firing of a number of firearms.

залп

the simultaneous firing of a number of firearms


firebomb

A Molotov cocktail is a simple firebomb.

The firebombs were small, and burst into flames when they hit the ground.

2005, Jennifer Worth, Shadows of the Workhouse, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2009), page 269:

A weapon that causes fire; an incendiary weapon.


hibakusha

en-noun

hibakusha (plural hibakushas or hibakusha)

/ˈhɪbəˌkuːʃə/

/hɪˈbɑːkʊʃə/

Attested in the mid-20th century, borrowed from Japanese 被爆者 (hibakusha, literally “bomb-affected person”).

bor

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons took effect in January after years of civil effort joined by atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha.

2021 August 6, Mari Yamaguchi, “Hiroshima marks 76th anniversary of US atomic bombing”, in AP News:

A survivor of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

হিবাকুশা

survivor of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki


fission

en-verb

fission (third-person singular simple present fissions, present participle fissioning, simple past and past participle fissioned)

fissions (present singular third-person)
fissioning (participle present)
fissioned (participle past)
fissioned (past)

Borrowed from Latin fissiōnem, accusative singular of fissiō (“the act of breaking up”), from findō (“split, divide”).

(transitive) To cause to undergo fission.


containment

en-noun

containment (countable and uncountable, plural containments)

Mr. Putin has reinvigorated an alliance that spent years confused about its purpose once it lost the adversary it was formed to contain, the Soviet Union. Now, containment is back.

2022 February 18, David E. Sanger, “The United States’ Message to Russia: Prove Us Wrong”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(uncountable, countable) A policy of checking the expansion of a hostile foreign power by creating alliances with other states; especially the foreign policy strategy of the United States in the early years of the Cold War.


poniard

en-verb

poniard (third-person singular simple present poniards, present participle poniarding, simple past and past participle poniarded)

poniards (present singular third-person)
poniarding (participle present)
poniarded (participle past)
poniarded (past)

Borrowed from Middle French poignard, from poing (“fist”), from Old French poing, from Latin pugnus (“fist”).

Manfred […] would have poignarded the peasant in their arms.

1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section I:


popinjay

/ˈpɑpənˌd͡ʒeɪ/

From Middle English popinjay, popyngeay, popingay, popejay, from Anglo-Norman papegai, papejoie et al., (northern) Old French papejai (“parrot”), probably from Old Occitan papagay (compare Occitan papagai, Catalan papagai), ultimately from Arabic بَبْغَاء (babḡāʔ, “parrot”), of imitative origin.

(archery) A target to shoot at, typically stuffed with feathers or plumage.


nuclear winter

Coined by Richard P. Turco et al. in a 1983 paper.

Coordinate term: volcanic winter

Scientists from the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries will meet in the Vatican Monday to discuss “nuclear winter,” the chilling climatic effect a nuclear war could have on the earth.

1984 January 23, “Parley on ‘Nuclear Winter’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The global temperature declines predicted in the original (1983) nuclear winter scientific paper were 15-20°C; current estimates are 10-15°C. The two values are in good agreement considering the irreducible uncertainties in the calculations. Both temperature declines are much greater than the difference between current global temperatures and those of the last Ice Age. The long-term consequences of global thermonuclear war have been estimated by an international team of 200 scientists, who concluded that through nuclear winter the global civilization and most of the people on Earth— including those far from the northern mid-latitude target zone—would be at risk, mainly from starvation.

1995, Carl Sagan, “When Scientists Know Sin”, in The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1st edition, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 286:

When the salarians discovered them, the krogan were a brutal, primitive species struggling to survive a self-inflicted nuclear winter. The salarians culturally uplifted them, teaching them to use and build modern technology so they could serve as soldiers in the Rachni War.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan Codex entry:

A predicted drop in global temperature following a nuclear war due to dust in the upper atmosphere reducing sunlight reaching the ground.


cat-o'-nine-tails

From cat + of + nine + tails; attested since 1695.

But I do tell you one thing, if you ſhould give ſuch Language at Sea, you'd have a Cat o' Nine-tails laid croſs your Shoulders.

1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene vii, page 44:

(nautical) A scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.

A similarly constructed leather nine-tail whip, as used in British penal colonies and certain armies.


nuclear war

en-noun

nuclear war (countable and uncountable, plural nuclear wars)

IF JULY 1, 1968, figures in the history books of the future, it will be because of what happened that morning in the East Room of the White House. A few minutes after 11:30 A.M., in that gold-draped room, before hundreds of witnesses and in the glare of television floodlights, representatives of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more than fifty other nations signed the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Under that treaty, nations without nuclear weapons promised not to make them or receive them from others; the treaty assured those nations that they would have access to the full benefits of the peaceful uses of nuclear power. Nations with nuclear weapons pledged to work toward effective arms control and disarmament.
This was the most significant step we had yet taken to reduce the possibility of nuclear war. In my remarks following the signing ceremony, I called the treaty "the most important international agreement since the beginning of the nuclear age."

1971, Lyndon Johnson, “Thawing the Cold War”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 462:

Vladimir Putin has told Nato countries that they risk provoking a nuclear war if they send troops to fight in Ukraine, in an annual state of the nation speech ramping up his threats against Europe and the US.

2024 February 29, Pjotr Sauer, “Sending troops to Ukraine would risk provoking nuclear war, Putin tells Nato”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A war fought using nuclear (fission and/or fusion) weapons.


kisser

(archery) A button on a bowstring that indicates consistent height when drawing a bow, for example by being placed against the archer's mouth .


flamethrower

/ˈfleɪmˌθɹəʊ.ə/

From flame + thrower, calque of German Flammenwerfer.

"We allowed him to kind of orchestrate the whole offense, and he got comfortable early," George said. "He's a flamethrower. Once he gets hot, it's over."

2017 April 11, “Mike Conley Rewards Grizzlies’ Faith With a Career Season”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-01-27:

So when we see guys like that open, we gotta give them the ball. Especially Bryn [Forbes], he's a flamethrower. The guy is one of the best shooters I've been around, so to have him going in the game, it's much needed for us. We need him to get going. We need him to hit shots.

2021 June 15, Eric Nehm, quoting Khris Middleton, “How Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton manipulated the Nets' defense in Game 4”, in The Athletic, archived from the original on 2023-07-04:

Unlike steroids, these supposedly illegal substances were not used in secret. There was an understanding that it was in everyone's best interest — pitchers and hitters alike — for today's flamethrowers to have a good grip on the ball.

2021 June 15, Jesse Campigotto, “Baseball has a sticky situation on its hands”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2023-07-04:

(basketball, baseball, slang) Someone who is extremely good at throwing or shooting balls.


silver bullet

(literally, folklore) A bullet made of silver, usually with reference to the folkloric belief that such bullets are the only weapons which can kill a werewolf, vampire, or other monster.


bascule

A device for coupling and releasing the trigger mechanism in a bascule of a gun

1997, Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

(firearms) The portion of a breech-loading firearm that pivots open in order to allow access to the chamber.


bourrelet

The bourrelet is a slightly raised surface on the rocket designed to maintain a light contact with the inside of the launching tube to center the rocket when fired.

2019, Thomas Gersbeck, Practical Military Ordnance Identification, 2nd edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 111:

(firearms, weaponry) An accurately machined portion around the diameter of a shell of a gun, which acts to increase accuracy of projectile fit to the barrel.


fallout

fallout (countable and uncountable, plural fallouts)

Psychological fallout in the shadow of terrorism (title of an article by Dr. Abraham Twerski, M.D.)http://www.jewishworldreview.com

A negative side effect; an undesirable or unexpected consequence.


charger

/ˈt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒɚ/

-ɑː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)

From Middle English chargere, equivalent to charge + -er.

dækketallerken

a large platter under the dinner plate in a formal dinner setting

(firearms) A speed loader that holds several cartridges together in a single unit for easier loading of a firearm's magazine.


repeating

repeating (countable and uncountable, plural repeatings)

What the moderns could mean by their suppression of the final couplet's repeatings, cannot be conceiv'd […]

1779, Edward Capell, John Collins, Notes and various readings to Shakespeare:


assegai

From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).

der

اَلزَّغَايَة

But now the Moormen, stalking o'er the strand / to guard the wat'ery stores the strangers need; / this, targe on arm and assegai in hand, / that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed[.]

1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume I, page 33:

My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Native mats covered the clay walls; a collection of spears, assegais, shields, knives was hung up in trophies.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:

A birdchief, bluestreaked and feathered in war panoply with his assegai, striding through a crackling canebrake over beechmast and acorns.

Without a word, he took my foreskin, pulled it forward, and then, in a single motion, brought down his assegai.

1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 32:

A slim hardwood spear or javelin with an iron tip, especially those used by Bantu peoples of Southern Africa.


culverin

From Middle English culveryne, from Old French coulevrine, from couleuvre (“snake”) (or from Latin colubrīnus), ultimately from Latin colubra, coluber (“snake”). Doublet of colubrine.

Let Sacars, Culuerings, and Cannons ſound / In honour of their bones, and rock the ground / With all your deafning terrors: for behold / The Balſum for your wounds, are rich mens gold, / Powder the world with wonder, and thus crie, / The Camel now may paſſe the needles eie.

1616, M. Robert Anton, “The Philosophers fovrth Satyr of Mars”, in The Philosophers Satyrs, London: Printed by T[homas] C[reede] and B[ernard] A[lsop] for Roger Iackſon, page 36:

This had been discharged from a culverin on the opposite side of the valley.

1895, R. D. Blackmore, Slain By The Doones, Dodd, Mead and Company, page 6:


languet

From Old French languete (modern French languette), diminutive of langue (“tongue”), from Latin lingua.

A tongue-shaped implement, specifically:

A piece of metal on a sword hilt which overhangs the scabbard.


glair

en-noun

glair (countable and uncountable, plural glairs)

From Middle English glaire, from Old French glaire, from Vulgar Latin *clāria, a substantive use of Latin clārus (“clear”).

A broadsword fixed on a pike; a kind of halberd.


time bomb

Even so, they managed to morph the recent European parliamentary elections into a time bomb and plant it under their country’s own future.

2014 June 6, Françoise Fressoz, “France’s Ticking Time Bomb”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Someone must explain to Sunak about the time bomb ticking beneath his £1,000 loafers.

2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3:

The pandemic preparation timebomb detonated to devastating effect; a number of other timebombs are on the shortest of fuses. The government has now reached a state of perfect vicious cycle, when the only thing worse than the things it does are all the things it didn’t get round to doing.

2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian:

(figuratively) A situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time.


roadside bomb

An explosive device placed at the side of a road and detonated when the target passes.


improvised explosive device

improvised explosive device (plural improvised explosive devices)

As a descriptive term, appearing in the early 20th century. In the narrower sense describing weapons of irregulars and terrorists, popularized in the British Army during the Troubles and in the US during the Iraq War.

An unconventional or amateur explosive weapon made from nonmilitary components, especially one used by guerillas, commandos or terrorists.

unkonventionelle Spreng- und Brandvorrichtung


Thompson submachine gun

Thompson submachine gun (plural Thompson submachine guns)

From Thompson + submachine gun. Named after John Taliaferro Thompson, an American army officer.

A .45-caliber American submachine gun, having a wooden stock and a drum, stick, or box magazine.

en:John Taliaferro Thompson
en:Thompson submachine gun


Thompson

Variant of Thomson, from Tom + -son, originally meaning "son of Thomas".
* Calque of Scottish Gaelic MacTamhais (“McTavish”); also an anglicisation of the Gaelic name MacTamhais, meaning "son of Thomas".

calque

Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun#English

(firearms) Ellipsis of Thompson submachine gun (“Tommy gun”).


ricasso

Borrowed from Italian ricasso. Further etymology unknown.

The blunt area of a sword just above the hilt, used for grip and maneuverability.


knobkierie

Borrowed from Afrikaans knopkierie, from knop (“knob”) + kierie (“stick”).

(South Africa) A fighting stick, usually with a knob on the end.


forearm

From fore- + arm. Compare Dutch voorarm (“forearm”), Danish forarm (“forearm”), German Vorderarm (“forearm”).

(firearms) A section of the weapon between the receiver and the muzzle, used to hold the firearm steady.


tschinke

(firearms) A light wheellock hunting rifle once used for shooting wildfowl.


megaton

The sins of all our fathers, being dumped on us — the sons
The only choice we're given is: How many megatons?
And I eschew you!
And I say: Screw you!
And I hope you're blue, too.

1986, Kirk Thatcher, 44:05 from the start, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Paramount Pictures, →OCLC:

Integrating data from all continents and major biomes, we conservatively estimate 20 × 1015 (20 quadrillion) ants on Earth, with a total biomass of 12 megatons of dry carbon.

2022 September 19, Schultheiss et al., “The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, page 1, column 2:

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


kiloton

That's a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead.

Halifax in Canada was devastated by a ship exploding in 1917. SS Mont Blanc, a French vessel loaded with 2.9 kilotons of explosives, collided with the Imo.

2022 August 24, Bruce Healey, “Wartime tunnel crash: a miraculous escape”, in RAIL, number 964, page 53:

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


full house

American Handgunner, Heavyweight Bullets In The .357 Magnum
An occasional pig, and not so occasional ram, would quiver and then settle back down without toppling, even when hit dead center with a full-house load with a 158-gr. jacketed .357 Magnum bullet.

(firearms) Having ammunition loaded to full allowable power, usually in reference to magnum handgun cartridges and shotgun shells.


circumcise

en-verb

circumcise (third-person singular simple present circumcises, present participle circumcising, simple past and past participle circumcised)

circumcises (present singular third-person)
circumcising (participle present)
circumcised (participle past)
circumcised (past)

From Old French circoncisier, from Latin circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

(military, nautical, slang) To trim off the portion of the barrel liner of a large-caliber naval gun that protrudes from the end of the barrel as a result of the liner slowly stretching from prolonged fire.


quarterstaff

en-noun

quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves)

quarterstaffs (plural)
quarterstaves (plural)

From quarter + staff, attested since about 1550. Probably originally referred to a staff cut from the heartwood of a certain size of tree which was cleft into four parts, per the OED.

Name my accuſer ſaith he, or I defye thee Kemp at the quart ſtaffe.

1600, William Kempe, Kemps nine daies vvonder:

[F]ew country people there are who do not love to see two sturdy fellows thwack and belabour each other with quarter-staff, single-stick, or fists.

1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Kitty First Saw the Doctor”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part I (Within the Rules), page 82:

A wooden staff with an approximate length between 2 and 2.5 meters, sometimes tipped with iron, used as a weapon in rural England during the Early Modern period.


zero deflection

(firearms) The adjustment of a sight, exactly parallel to the axis of the bore of the gun to which it is attached.


deflection change

deflection change (plural deflection changes)

deflection difference
deflection difference

(weaponry) A change in azimuth setting applying to all guns in a battery when the target moves, or when a shift is made from one target to another. A deflection change does not include the deflection difference which allows for the difference in positions of the various guns firing at the same target.


cannelure

(firearms) A ringlike groove, such as that around the cylinder of an elongated bullet for small arms to contain a lubricant, or around the rotating band of a gun projectile to lessen the resistance offered to the rifling.


horsewhip

en-verb

horsewhip (third-person singular simple present horsewhips, present participle horsewhipping, simple past and past participle horsewhipped)

horsewhips (present singular third-person)
horsewhipping (participle present)
horsewhipped (participle past)
horsewhipped (past)

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

"Dangerous things, sir—dangerous things!" exclaimed Mr. Lintot, drawing a deep breath of air from the open window: "do you know, sir, Curl published a lampoon on Lord Hervey the other day, who said that he would have horsewhipped him if he could have found his way into the city. Only think, sir, of horsewhipping a publisher!" and Mr. Lintot grew pale with excess of horror.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Alteration”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 22:

He had told his wife that he would ask Fletcher to give up the borough, and that he would make that request with a horsewhip in his hand […] But there were difficulties. A man is not horsewhipped simply because you wish to horsewhip him.

1876, Anthony Trollope, The Prime Minister:

"It was when he horsewhipped Sam Brewer, the well-known Curzon Street moneylender, on Newmarket Heath. He nearly killed the man."

1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, London: John Murray, […], published June 1927 (May 1952 printing), →OCLC, page 277:

Ten years ago, with the secret out, they and South African judge James Harkess arrived back in London, with the husband/father saying he wanted to have Mr Clark horsewhipped.

2004 June 12, Vikram Dodd, “Coven's footnote to Clark diaries”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(transitive) To flog or lash with a horsewhip.


biathlon

en-noun

biathlon (countable and uncountable, plural biathlons)

/baɪˈæθˌlɑn/

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From bi- (prefix meaning ‘two; both’) + -athlon (suffix meaning ‘contest’), modelled after pentathlon.

confix

cross-country skiing
cross-country skiing

(winter sports, uncountable) Racing combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting; (countable) a particular instance of such a race.

biatlón

racing combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting; a particular instance of such a race

duathlon · triathlon · quadrathlon · tetrathlon · pentathlon · hexathlon · heptathlon · octathlon · decathlon · pentadecathlon


buckshot

en-noun

buckshot (countable and uncountable, plural buckshots)

Our men were all well armed with Colt's revolvers and Mississippi yagers, which last, carried a bullet, and two buckshots.

1879, Buffalo Bill, The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill, page 58:

(chiefly US) Lead shot used in shotgun cartridges, made of larger pellets than birdshot and suitable for hunting larger game. [from 18th c.]


carronade

The fight is not all one-sided. Lion is taking a savage beating as the two flagships trade body blows almost independent of the furious carronade going on behind them.

2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 14:13 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04:

An exchange of artillery fire; a cannonade; a fusillade.


Stalin

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

Borrowed from Russian Ста́лин (Stálin), from сталь (stalʹ, “steel”) + -ин (-in, possessive suffix), from German Stahl (“steel”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stahlą (“steel”).

suf

A surname from Russian; usually referring to the Russian [empire, republic] revolutionary and Soviet Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) Joseph Stalin.


bridge mount

(firearms) A sight mount with a strong metal frame between the rings, used on large-caliber rifles to negate the effects of recoil on accuracy.


sagittary

/ˈsæd͡ʒɪtəɹi/

From Latin sagittarius, from sagitta (“arrow”). Doublet of Sagittarius.

Born till Crassus perished by them, at which time a Sagittary was blazoned in their Royal Standard: [...] Darius being stamped on the one side and a Sagittary (his coat-armour) on the other; memorized by Plutarch in the life of Agesilaus, who complained that his design of conquering Asia was prevented by thirty thousand Sagittaries; meaning a Bribe of so many[…]

1677, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Years Travels Into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great, page 301:

(archaic) An archer; by extension, a coin used in ancient Persia and Greece featuring an archer.


cocked

(firearms) Of a firearm or crossbow; to have the cock lifted or prepared to be fired.

viritetty

firearms: having the cock lifted or prepared to be fired


athame

From French arthame in a 1929 passage from É.-J. Grillot de Givry (see 1931 citation below), apparently from Medieval Latin artavus (“quill-sharpening knife”). Artavus was also mistranslated into artauo in an Italian manuscript. The arthame was conflated with the cortel nero ("black knife") by Grillot de Givry, and that conflation was passed on to Gerald Gardner (whose 1954 book Witchcraft Today introduced Wicca to the public).

der

She is moving with a regal gait, grasping the arthame, or magic knife.

1931, Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry, chapter 7, in JC Locke, transl., Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy:

Agia was quicker, making a cut at my neck with an athame before his weapon was free of the scabbard.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 60:

The athame is a black-handled ritual knife—one of the most common distinguishing marks of the Neopagan Witch.

1999, James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions, page 22:

Tradition says an athame should never have drawn blood.

2023, Skye Alexander, The Kitchen Witch, Simon & Schuster (Adams Media), page 60:

A ceremonial pointed knife or dagger, used especially in Wicca and other neopagan traditions and typically having a black handle with magical symbols on it.

Gerald Gardner
Witchcraft Today
athame
Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry


sandbag

A sturdy sack filled with sand, generally used in large numbers to make defensive walls against flooding, bullets, or shrapnel.

A small bag filled with sand and used as a cudgel.


sandbag

en-verb

sandbag (third-person singular simple present sandbags, present participle sandbagging, simple past and past participle sandbagged)

sandbags (present singular third-person)
sandbagging (participle present)
sandbagged (participle past)
sandbagged (past)

We sandbagged the basement windows against the floodwaters.

The height “49 feet” became a mantra, as volunteers worked for weeks sandbagging and building to match that height.

2007, Sheri O'Meara, Storms 2: Tales of Extreme Weather Events in Minnesota, D Media, →ISBN, page 69:

(transitive, intransitive) To construct a barrier of sandbags (around).

muurata hiekkasäkeillä

To construct a barrier of sandbags around

under the table
drink someone under the table

To pretend to drink early on so that, as the night draws on, one can drink everybody else "under the table".


repeater

(firearms, dated) A gun that has a store of cartridges and does not need reloading after each shot.

автоматична пушка

a gun that has a store of cartridges and does not need reloading after each shot


Strategic Defense Initiative

the Strategic Defense Initiative (canonical)

(historical) A system proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983, to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.


plunger

(firearms) The firing pin of a breechloader.


(physics) The radioactive isotope of strontium, ⁹⁰₃₈Sr, that is present in the fallout from nuclear explosions and, being chemically similar to calcium, accumulates in the bones

стронций-90

стронций-девяносто


dotty

Never bummy but I'm scummy fam, I used to burgle houses
Then some OGs was consignin me them ounces
Wet man round me had me feeling like I’m drownin
Fam we really went there with a brownin
Me and next man really went there with a dotty
05 murder squad nicked me for a [censored]

2013, “Mad Years”, in Potter Payper (lyrics), Training Day, performed by Potter Payper:

They dont know what I’ve been through
Red dot on his head like a hindu
Scrams, Face just stack for the Wesson
Ca’ be the gunplay that we’re into
It’s like them man chill with the singer
Two dot dots there in the dinger
Yard man’s got a dotty in the rave
But he’s still tryna do the La Linga
We’ve had guns and shanks without awareness
We’ve had guns and shanks we’re so fearless

2017, “Mad About Bars”, TMula (lyrics), performed by 86 (TMula x Scrams):

Bro I’m booky, I’ll take your food if my belly starts rumblin
They rap about bootings, they ain’t blammed nobody
Hold that properly when I bang that dotty
I put sniff in a rex, and I slang that bobby

2017, “Next Up?”, Digga D (lyrics), performed by 1011 (Digga D x Sav'O x T.Y):

I’m out here from the night till dawn
The dotty’s out but I like it sawn

2020, “Respawn”, Cillian (lyrics), chorus:


plink

plink (third-person singular simple present plinks, present participle plinking, simple past and past participle plinked)

plinks (present singular third-person)
plinking (participle present)
plinked (participle past)
plinked (past)

We plinked all week long in the slow-moving days between hunting seasons. Life Savers or Necco Wafers at 25 yards offhand, or 50 yards prone, and vanilla wafers offhand at 50 yards or prone at 100, were challenging targets.

1992, Ken Warner, Gun Digest, 1993, page 19:

(firearms) To take part in the sport of plinking.


parang

en-noun

parang (countable and uncountable, plural parangs)

Spanish parranda (“merry-making or a group of serenaders”).

uder

A style of music originating from Trinidad and Tobago, strongly influenced by Venezuelan music.


cestus

With pasture slopes, and flocks just visible;
Then, further still, soft wavy wastes of forest,
In all the varied tints of sylvan verdure,
Descending to the plain; then, wide and boundless,
The plain itself, with towns and cultured tracts,
And its fair river gleaming in the light,
With all its sweepy windings, seen and lost,
And seen again, till through the pale grey tint
Of distant space, it seem'd a loosen'd cestus
From virgin's tunic blown; and still beyond,
The earth's extended vastness from the sight
Wore like the boundless ocean.

1826, Joanna Baillie, The Martyr, act 2:

(obsolete) A girdle, especially that of Aphrodite (or Venus) which gave the wearer the power to excite love.


silencer

An attachment to a gun or an exhaust pipe that reduces the sound it emits


chemical weapon

en-noun

chemical weapon (plural chemical weapons)

A noxious substance contained in some form of delivery system such as a shell or missile.


battle axe

Another battle-ax, in the same collection.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page x:

An ancient military weapon, an axe designed for combat, including (in heraldry) when borne on arms as a mark of prowess.


rainout

rainout (countable and uncountable, plural rainouts)

(uncountable) Nuclear fallout deposited by means of rain.


bow and arrow

/ˈbəʊ ən(d)ˈæɹəʊ/

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

A weapon consisting of a bow and a supply of arrows, often kept in a quiver.


toxophilite

From Toxophilus, the title of a 1545 book by Roger Ascham intended to mean ‘lover of the bow’, from Ancient Greek τόξον (tóxon, “bow”) + φίλος (phílos, “love”) + -ite.

What causes them to labour at pianoforte sonatas, and to learn four songs from a fashionable master at a guinea a lesson, and to play the harp if they have handsome arms and neat elbows, and to wear Lincoln Green toxophilite hats and feathers, but that they may bring down some "desirable" young man with those killing bows and arrows of theirs?

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:


toxophilite

Here the gardens of the place encroached with a somewhat wide sweep upon the paddock, and gave ample room for the doings of the toxophilites. Miss Thorne got together such daughters of Diana as could bend a bow, and marshalled them to the targets.

1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, →ISBN, page 100:

Someone keen on or an expert at archery; a lover or practitioner of archery.


cutlass

From Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -as (augmentative suffix).


plastique

plastique (countable and uncountable, plural plastiques)

From French plastique. Doublet of plastic.

(dated, uncountable) A plastic explosive.


falx

From Latin falx (“sickle”). Doublet of dalk.

(historical) A short Dacian sword resembling a sickle.

(anatomy) A curved fold or process of the dura mater or the peritoneum, especially one of the partition-like folds of the dura mater which extend into the great fissures of the brain.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
(anatomy, dated) A chelicera.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A chelicera.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
(anatomy) A snake's poison fang.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A snake's poison fang.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
(anatomy) A rotula of a sea urchin.

Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A rotula of a sea urchin.


nuclear age

The age in which nuclear energy and nuclear weapons were developed.

ydinaikakausi

age when nuclear technology was developed


nuclear airburst

nuclear airburst (plural nuclear airbursts)

the explosion of a nuclear weapon at such an altitude that the fireball remains above the ground


nuclear artillery

A limited-yield nuclear weapon delivered using an artillery shell.


Atomic Age

→ Dutch: atoomtijdperk (calque)

/əˈtɒmɪk ˌeɪd͡ʒ/

/əˈtɑːmɪk ˌeɪd͡ʒ/

The era, starting in the mid-1940s, during which nuclear energy was developed, and in which it was thought that all energy would be provided by such sources.

عصر الذرة

era during which nuclear energy was developed


flyswatter

A hand-held device for swatting flies or other insects, to kill or shoo them.


waddy

I should have told you that many of the Amity Paint tribe, which is more numerous than the other two settlement tribes, were deficient of spears and shields, having nothing but waddies and boomerangs.

1839, William Mann, Six Years' Residence in the Australian Provinces, page 156:

1840 May—August, Robert Montgomery Martin (editor), Van Diemen's Land, The Colonial Magazine and Commercial-maritime Journal, Volume 2, page 76,
In the mean while women, children, and remote stock-keepers fell under the unerring spears or death-dealing waddies of an enemy, the first indication of whose appearance was consectaneous with the stroke that reft his victim of life.

And in a free fight, the waddy, like an Irishman's shillaly, figures very prominently.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 71:

As I ran I glanced over my shoulder & saw the blackfellas beating Capois Death hard with their waddies, & they seemed to be trying to break the bones in each of his limbs.

2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 365:

The kids would copy the men to make their own cricket stumps, but no-one was allowed to touch Grandfather's special wood for making waddies.

2008, Doreen Kartinyeri, Sue Anderson, Doreen Kartinyeri: My Ngarrindjeri Calling, page 20:

(Australia) A war club used by Aboriginal Australians; a nulla nulla.


disintegrating link

disintegrating link (plural disintegrating links)

(firearms) A pressed metal or plastic link, used to join cartridges for a machine gun, which is expelled when the cartridge is removed during loading.


blowpipe

(chemistry) A narrow tube through which a jet of air is directed onto a flame; used in the analysis of minerals etc and in jewelry manufacture.

puhalluspilli

chemistry: narrow tube to blow air onto flame

A weapon through which darts may be shot by blowing; a blowgun.

(glassblowing) A long narrow pipe, rotated in the hands, upon which glassware is blown.


blowpipe

en-verb

blowpipe (third-person singular simple present blowpipes, present participle blowpiping, simple past and past participle blowpiped)

blowpipes (present singular third-person)
blowpiping (participle present)
blowpiped (participle past)
blowpiped (past)

(chemistry) To direct air through a blowpipe.


Sten gun

An acronym, derived from the initials of the surnames of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and Enfield, the location of the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) in London.

A family of British 9 mm submachine guns used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and numerous other conflicts.


poleaxe

Originally pollax, from poll (“head”) + axe.

(historical) A long-handled battle axe, being a combination of ax, hammer and pike.


hydrogen warhead

en-noun

hydrogen warhead (plural hydrogen warheads)

a small thermonuclear device in the warhead of a missile


hellfire

hellfire (countable and uncountable, plural hellfires)

/ˈhɛlˌfaɪəɹ/

From Middle English helle fire, helever, from Old English hellefȳr, equivalent to hell + fire. Cognate with West Frisian helfjoer (“hellfire”), Dutch hellevuur (“hellfire”), German Höllenfeuer (“hellfire”).

(uncountable) Fire produced by the Devil, or a similar supernatural creature connected to Hell.


headless

From Middle English heedles, hevedles, from Old English hēafodlēas (“headless”), equivalent to head + -less. Cognate with Dutch hoofdloos (“headless”), Danish hovedløs (“headless”), Swedish huvudlös (“headless”), Icelandic höfuðlaus (“headless”).

A headless shell doesn't have a flange.

(obsolete, firearms) Rimless, not having a cartridge case rim (flange).


preponderance

preponderance (countable and uncountable, plural preponderances)

(specifically, weaponry, historical) The excess of weight of that part of a cannon behind the trunnions over that in front of them.


ack-ack

ack-ack (countable and uncountable, plural ack-acks)

From ack (“A”) + ack (“A”), RAF WWI signalese for AA (“anti-aircraft”). (In modern signalese it would be called alpha-alpha.)

The army fired upon us with ack-ack.

Ack-acks were set up in the square.

He had thought how down there on the ground, on enemy soil, there were probably hundreds of Ivys, nice Fräuleins with buck teeth and fiancés on U-boats, manning the German ack-ack, all united in an effort to kill him.

2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 140:

(military slang) Antiaircraft artillery.


chakram

From Sanskrit चक्रम् (cakram), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos. Doublet of chakra, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and wheel.


chakram

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From Malayalam ചക്രം (cakraṁ, “wheel”), from Sanskrit चक्र (cakra).

(historical) A former currency of Travancore in present-day India.


nock

From Middle English nokke, attested since the 14th century, probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic language (compare Swedish nock (“notch”), but compare Dutch nok, from Middle Dutch nocke (“tip, point”). Both could be related to nook (“corner, recess”).

He took his arrow by the nock.

[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

(archery) The notch at the rear of an arrow that fits on the bowstring.


nock

(archery) fit the arrow to your bowstring


floorgrip

(firearms) A device used to steady firing and counter the effects of recoil, resulting in far more accurate fire when shooting in full auto mode. It can be incorporated in some rifles as part of the Rail Integration System.


overbore

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(firearms) Such that the capacity of the burning cartridge powder is greater than the volume within the barrel.


overbore

en-verb

overbore (third-person singular simple present overbores, present participle overboring, simple past and past participle overbored)

overbores (present singular third-person)
overboring (participle present)
overbored (participle past)
overbored (past)

(firearms, transitive) To modify so that the capacity of the burning cartridge powder is greater than the volume within the barrel.


bowstring

(historical) The string of an archer's bow, as used by the Turks for strangling offenders.


omnicide

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How extraordinary that Curtis LeMay believed for the rest of his life that the United States “lost” the Cuban missile crisis and the Cold War. If John Kennedy had followed LeMay's advice [to bomb Cuba and take out the missile sites], history would have forgotten the Nazis and their terrible Holocaust. Ours would have been the historic omnicide.

1995, Richard Rhodes, chapter 27, in Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb:

The total extinction of the human species as a result of human action. Most commonly it refers to human extinction through nuclear warfare, but it can also refer to such extinction through other means such as global anthropogenic ecological catastrophe.


ranged weapon

Any projectile, or weapon that fires a projectile, whose range can be adjusted


lithium deuteride

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon

(inorganic chemistry) a form of lithium hydride in which the normal hydrogen is replaced with deuterium; used in thermonuclear weapons


fissionable

Capable of undergoing nuclear fission; fissile.

spaltbar

capable of undergoing nuclear fission; fissile


ammonal

Our greatest trial was the German canister. It was a two-gallon drum with a cylinder containing about two pounds of an explosive called ammonal that looked like salmon paste, smelled like marzipan, and when it went off sounded like the Day of judgment.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XVIII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 246:

An explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene, and aluminium powder.


en-noun

M1 (countable and uncountable, plural M1s)

(firearms) A semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War.


bullseye

→ German: Bullauge (calque)

→ Esperanto: bovokulo (calque)

From bull's + eye. May have come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The connection to philately comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.

(military, firearms) The centre of a target, inside the inner and magpie.

འབེན་མིག ('ben mig, literally “target-eye”)


weapons-grade

For 75 years, it has fulfilled a wide range of roles: producing weapons-grade plutonium for early atomic weapons in the aftermath of the Second World War; the world's first commercial nuclear power station supplying electricity to the National Grid; reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel; and the processing of lower grades of radioactive waste for off-site storage.

2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 20:

(of a radioactive or other substance) Of a purity suitable for the manufacture of weapons.


blowgun

A hollow tube through which a dart or similar missile may be blown.


knuckle duster

“People like you will always be inferior to people like me ... Get fucking used to it,” the American soldier of fortune tells Leng during one of the film’s final blood-soaked battle scenes, as he prepares to puncture the Chinese hero’s throat with a razor-sharp knuckleduster.

2017 September 23, Tom Phillips, “China finds its own Top Gun and Rambo in wave of patriotic movies”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(British, Australia) A weapon made of metal worn around the knuckles that strengthens the impact of a punch.


nightstick

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(US, law enforcement) A long, narrow, polelike club carried by police and security personnel, for use in self-defense.


thunderbox

Probably a calque of German Donnerbüchse (“(archaic) blunderbuss; cannon”) (from Donner (“thunder”) + Büchse (“box; can; rifle”)), or its etymon Dutch donderbus (“blunderbuss”) (from donder (“thunder”) + bus (“box; container; (chiefly historical) type of early modern firearm”)).

nb...

With Illustrations of the Scenes of Remarkable Events, and of Popular Traditions. By Baron J. J. von Gerning. Embellished with Twenty-four Highly Finished and Coloured Engravings, from the Drawings of M. Schuetz; and Accompanied by a Map. Translated from the German by John Black.

101, Strand; and sold by the principal booksellers in the United Kingdom.

In the year 1346, at the battle of Crecy, the engliſh uſed a ſort of cannons, which were then called thunder-boxes.

1800, Gerhard Ulrich Anthony Vieth, “Gunpowder”, in [anonymous], transl., The Pleasing Preceptor; or Familiar Instructions in Natural History and Physics, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or G. G. and J. Robinson, […] by George Woodfall, […], →OCLC, page 58:

[…] I saw Arnoldi at Dettelbach, standing unhurt amongst the lances and swords, which flashed and glittered around him like lightning; the thunder-boxes peppering away all the while as if it snowed lead; and when the pastime (for it was nothing else to him) was over, there he stood leaning on his halbert, coolly shaking out the bullets, which rattled like peas from his breeches and doublet.

1848, H. J. Whitling, “The Old Man and His Guests”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XXIII, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 203:

(military, obsolete) A blunderbuss; also, a cannon.


dry fire

en-verb

dry fire (third-person singular simple present dry fires, present participle dry firing, simple past and past participle dry fired)

dry fires (present singular third-person)
dry firing (participle present)
dry fired (participle past)
dry fired (past)

Rob finished cleaning his empty gun then pointed it at an imaginary target and dry fired.

2009, Debra Parmley, A Desperate Journey, →ISBN, page 32:

(firearms) To discharge a weapon without ammunition in the chamber.

(archery) To draw and release a bow without an arrow loaded.


radioactive fallout

en-noun

radioactive fallout (countable and uncountable, plural radioactive fallouts)


halberd

(1495) Middle French hallebarde, from Italian alabarda, from Middle High German helmbarte (“broad-axe with handle”), from halm, from Proto-Germanic *helmô (“handle”) + barte (“hatchet”), from *bardaz (“broadax”), literally "beard."

der

A two-handed pole weapon, consisting of a long pole with an axe-like blade mounted on it (at a right angle like an axe, not on the tip like a spear), and (opposite the blade) typically a spike or hook.


breechloader

A variety of firearm in which the weapon is loaded from the breech (the end opposite that which discharges the projectile).

orúžije, zarjažájuščejesja s kazjónnoj části

ору́жие, заряжа́ющееся с казённой ча́сти


muzzleloader

A variety of firearm in which the weapon is loaded from the end that discharges the projectile (the muzzle).


khanjar

From Arabic خَنْجَر (ḵanjar). Doublet of kindjal.

The small khanjar is a curved dagger, and it was with this very one Nuri had killed in single combat a minor chieftain of the Muntefiq.

2003, Carl S Raswan, Black Tents of Arabia, Xlibris, page 6:

A kind of dagger used in certain Arabian countries.


a Soviet rocket modelled on the V-2; the Scunner


lagobolon

en-noun

lagobolon (plural lagobolons or lagobola)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λᾰγωβόλον (lagōbólon), from λαγώς (lagṓs, “hare”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).

(Ancient Greece) A hunter's stick for striking hares.


touch hole

A small hole through which the propellant charge of a cannon or muzzleloading gun is ignited.


rover

From Middle English roven (“to wander, to shoot an arrow randomly”) + -er.

inh

"By my hilt! no. There was little Robby Withstaff, and Andrew Salblaster, and Wat Alspaye, who broke the neck of the German. Mon Dieu! what men they were! Take them how you would, at long butts or short, hoyles, rounds, or rovers, better bowmen never twirled a shaft over their thumb-nails.

1890, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 22, in The White Company:

(archery, usually in the plural) A randomly selected target.


East Germany

German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic#English

(historical, 1949–1990) A former Communist country of Central Europe, existing between 1949 and 1990. Official name: German Democratic Republic. Capital: East Berlin.


lapping

en-noun

lapping (countable and uncountable, plural lappings)

From Middle English lapping, lappyng, lappinge, equivalent to lap + -ing.

(firearms) The process of rubbing away the lands, or metal between the grooves of a rifled gun, to increase the bore.


pepperbox

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She had her knees up, resting her wrists on them; the pepperbox muzzle of a flechette pistol emerged from her hands.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 21:

(firearms) A repeating firearm with three or more barrels grouped around a central axis.


brass knuckles

Jacob always carried a set of brass knuckles, just in case he ever got caught up in a bar fight.

A weapon consisting of a metal reinforcement for the clenched fist, with finger holes molded in.


spiculum

From Latin spīculum (“a little sharp point”), from spīcum, alternative form of spīca (“point, spike”).

A thrusting javelin used by Romans that replaced the pilum in the late 3rd century.

A sharp, pointed crystal, especially of ice.

(zoology) A sharp, needle-like structure, especially those making up the skeleton of a sponge.

(astronomy) A small radial emission of gas seen in the chromosphere and corona of the sun.