air strike

air strikes (plural)
airstrike (alternative)

(military) An attack on a ground or naval target by one or more aircraft or missiles.


misfire

en-verb

misfire (third-person singular simple present misfires, present participle misfiring, simple past and past participle misfired)

misfires (present singular third-person)
misfiring (participle present)
misfired (participle past)
misfired (past)

Either a univerbation of earlier miss fire, or the compound mis- + fire (or possibly a confluence of both).

(firearms) To fail to discharge properly.


sporter

(firearms) A firearm suitable for sporting use.


counterstrike

From counter- + strike. Compare counterstroke.

(military, sports) The tactic of counterattacking


IRINT

(military) Acronym of infrared intelligence (“the gathering and processing of intelligence in the infrared spectrum”).


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ, from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek.
Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.

der

flash in the pan

[…] he pull’d the Trigger, but Providence being pleas’d to preserve me for some other Purpose, the Cock snapp’d, and miss’d Fire. Whether the Prime was wet in the Pan, or by what other Miracle it was I escap’d his Fury, I cannot say […]

1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, pages 95–96:

And he […] glared on the cold pistols that hung before him—ready for anything. And he took down one with a snatch and weighed it in his hand, and fell to thinking again; and, as he did, kept opening and shutting the pan with a snap, […]

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

(firearms) The part of a flintlock that holds the priming.


pan

(fortifications) The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.


PMEE

(military, US, air force) Acronym of prime mission electronic equipment.

(military, US, air force, informal) The people who operate this equipment, such as the crewmembers aboard the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft.


birth control glasses

BCG (alternative)
BCGs (alternative)
birth-control glasses (alternative)

(plural only, US, military slang) The brown-framed prescription eyeglasses issued to new recruits in the U.S. military, or similar glasses issued to inmates at certain state or federal prisons, and perceived as notoriously unattractive.


BCGs

birth control glasses
birth control glasses#English

(military slang) Initialism of birth control glasses.


chief of staff

en-noun

chief of staff (plural chiefs of staff or chiefs of staffs)

chiefs of staff (plural)
chiefs of staffs (plural)

Holonym: general staff

(military) The senior officer of any of several services of the armed forces of several nations.


panjandrum

panjandrum (plural panjandrums or panjandra)

panjandrums (plural)
panjandra (plural)
Panjandrum (alternative)

Coined as a nonce word in the 18th century by Samuel Foote.

The Panjandrum lurched and overturned, the crash dislodging several of the rockets, which flew low over the beach in all directions […].

1967, John Winton, The War At Sea, 1939-1945: An Anthology of Personal Experience, page 304:

The idea was that the Panjandrum, a kind of explosion-driven Ferris wheel, would be set rotating and then released into shallow water to roll up onto enemy beaches.

2003, Neil A. Downie, chapter 14, in Ink Sandwiches, Electric Worms, and 37 Other Experiments for Saturday Science, →ISBN, page 115:

(military) A massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II.


wheellock

(historical, firearms) An early type of firearm, using a spring-driven wheel against a flint to make sparks in the firing pan.


petronel

petronels (plural)
petronell (alternative)
poitrinal (alternative)

From Middle French petrinal, alteration of poitrinal, from poitrinal (“of the chest”) (the weapon is thought to have been braced against a chest-pad when firing), from poitrine (“chest, breast”), from Latin pectorina, feminine of pectorinus (“of the breast”) (from pectus (“chest”) + -inus (“-ine”)).

[…]And putting vp good ſtore of gold and Iewels for that iourney, and taking with him a good horſe, that was browne Bay, with a Petronell hanging at the arſon of his Saddle[…]

1634, Matheo Aleman, “Wherein Guzman de Alfarache relateth the Story of thoſe two Louers, Ozmin and Daraxa”, in Don Diego Puede-Ser, transl., The rogue: or The life of Guzman de Alfarache, volume 1, pages 68–69:

(obsolete, weaponry) A short but large-caliber, heavy 16th- and 17th-century firearm that used a matchlock or wheellock mechanism, intermediate between the arquebuse and pistol.


on guard

en-adj

on guard (comparative more on guard, superlative most on guard)

more on guard (comparative)
most on guard (superlative)
on-guard (alternative)

We fall on guard, and after all it is a friend who comes to meet us.

1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

(fencing) The starting position of a fencing bout; en garde.


sword hand

(fencing) The hand in which one's sword is normally held.


sixte

Borrowed from French sixte, from Middle French sixte, from Old French siste, sixte, modification of sexte (“sixth”) (a borrowing from Latin sextus) after sis (“six”).

(fencing) The sixth defensive position, with the sword hand held at chest height, and the tip of the sword at eye level.


FORACS

The USN originally operated five FORACS ranges at Barking Sands, Hawaii, San Clemente Island, California, Fisher's Island, New York, Andros Island, Bahamas and St Croix, US Virgin Islands.

(US, military, naval) Acronym of Fleet Operational Readiness Accuracy Check Site: a facility for measuring the bearing and range accuracy of sensor systems on ships, submarines, and aircraft.


circular parry

en-noun

circular parry (plural circular parries)

(fencing): a defensive move in fencing; a parry in which the blade moves in a circle to block an opponent's attack from the opposite side from which it started (sometimes called a contra- or counter-parry)


doublé

(fencing) A compound attack that deceives the opponent's attempted circular parry.


rassemblement

(fencing) The bringing together of both feet, with the body upright, in order to outreach an opponent.


high line

(fencing) The target area above the opponent's midriff.


low line

(fencing) The target area below the opponent's midriff.


sound off

en-verb

sound off (third-person singular simple present sounds off, present participle sounding off, simple past and past participle sounded off)

sounds off (present singular third-person)
sounding off (participle present)
sounded off (participle past)
sounded off (past)

Hartman: […] Do you maggots understand that?
Recruits: Sir, yes, sir!
Hartman: Bullshit! I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair.
Recruits: SIR, YES, SIR!

1987, Stanley Kubrick, director, Full Metal Jacket:

(military) Command instructing a person to speak up or acknowledge something.

Cyclops: […] X-men… Sound off …
Man 1: Iceman, sounding off!Man 2: Fireman, sounding off!
Man 3: Clothing-Man, sounding off!
Man 4: Ability-to-Hop-Man, here!

2004, Astonishing X-Men, number 5, Marvel Comics:

Tagon: Sound off! Brad, do you have the Ambassador?
Brad: Check!
Tagon: Schlock, do you have our money?
Schlock: Check!
Tagon: Are we still being pursued?
Creeth Soldiers: Check!

(military) Command instructing a person to confirm that they are present or that some other objective has been met.


glissade

(fencing) A fencing move that may disarm the opponent.


packaged forces

(military) Forces of varying size and composition preselected for specific missions in order to facilitate planning and training


packaged petroleum product

en-noun

packaged petroleum product (plural packaged petroleum products)

(especially US military) A petroleum product (generally a lubricant, oil, grease, or specialty item) other than fuel, which is packaged (normally by a manufacturer).


pack-up kit

helicopter detachment
helicopter detachment

(military) Service-provided maintenance gear including spare parts and consumables most commonly needed by the deployed helicopter detachment. Supplies are sufficient for a short-term deployment but do not include all material needed for every maintenance task. Also called PUK.


sword arm

(fencing) The arm in which one's sword is normally held.


compound attack

compound attack (plural compound attacks)

(fencing) An attack consisting of more than one feint.


smart-money

The reader may remember that Mr Allworthy gave Tom Jones a little horse, as a kind of smart-money for the punishment which he imagined he had suffered innocently.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III:

(military, historical) Alternative form of smart money


sillon

Sillon, is a work raised it up in ropes very hard for an in the middle of a foss

1767, Thomas Simes, The Military Medley:

(military, historical) A work raised in the middle of a wide ditch, to defend it.


postern

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-postern.wav

From Old French posterne, alteration of posterle, from Late Latin posterula (“back door”), from Latin posterus (“later”).

The postern of the enceinte leads through the middle of the curtain, descending from the plane of sight to the ditch

1850, Dennis Hart Mahan, Summary of the Course of Permanent Fortification and of the Attack and Defence of Permanent Works:

(historical, military) A subterranean passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.


chevrette

From French chevrette, diminutive of chèvre (“goat”). Compare chevron.

(military, historical) A machine for raising guns or mortar into their carriages.


tango uniform

From the NATO phonetic alphabet for the letters T and U, from tits up.

I can never fly my fighter again. It is tango uniform.

(military, slang) Broken and unable to be fixed; dead.


parados

Borrowed from French parados; in turn the French derived from Italian para, defence, cognate with English parry, plus French dos cognate with Latin dorsum: the back, i.e. the dorsal aspect. Parados is unrelated to parodos either in etymology or in meaning.

...an elevation of earth which is effected behind fortified places, to secure them from any attack that may be made in reverse. Parapet and parados come from terms signifying in the front or in the rear of anything.

1810, Charles James, A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary, T. Egerton, pages 87–:

Although a parados takes up so much room, yet it may be turned to good account in the formation of blindages.

1853, anonymous author, Aide-mémoire to the Military Sciences: Framed from Contributions of Officers of the Different Services:

In an enclosed work the interior can seldom be sufficiently covered from the enemy’s fire by the parapet, and it becomes necessary to build traverses or parados or both. The parados is only a large traverse built inside the work to cover the defenders who stand on the faces or flanks furthest removed from the enemy’s fire

1888, Charles Booth Brackenbury, Field Works: Their Technical Construction and Tactical Application:

He stood up on the step; and then they both swerved, ducking quickly as something ripped up the air between them, flicked a stone from the parados, and sang, like the vibration of a tense wire, into the air behind them.

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, →ISBN:

The 1940 manual viewed the foxhole too as a hasty position, a simple one-man hole about 3 feet in diameter at the top and 2 feet at the bottom dug suitably deep for crouching, kneeling, or standing. Earth was thrown to the front (parapet) and rear (parados) in crescents. (The term "parados" fell from use in World War II being replaced by "rear parapet".)

2005, Gordon L. Rottman, US World War II and Korean War Field Fortifications 1941–53, →ISBN:

(military) Generally a screen or embankment to protect the rear of a position from enemy attack, from bomb splinters from behind, from enemy fire from a commanding height, or fire from flanking positions. In common English usage since World War II, the term "parados", particularly in trench warfare, has largely been discarded in favour of "rear parapet", which, etymologically speaking, is a contradiction in terms. In some contexts the term "rear traverse" is preferred, but no usage is exclusive.

Generally a screen or embankment to protect the rear of a position from enemy attack, from bomb splinters from behind, from enemy fire from a commanding height, or fire from flanking positions. In common English usage since World War II, the term "parados", particularly in trench warfare, has largely been discarded in favour of "rear parapet", which, etymologically speaking, is a contradiction in terms. In some contexts the term "rear traverse" is preferred, but no usage is exclusive.
In fortifications that were enfiladed by enemy in positions commanding the fort, an internal parados could defilade the enemy, serving as physical protection and blindage. Usages of the term have varied inconsistently according to times and sources. Some sources use parados as a synonym for a traverse; some other sources represent parados as a special class of traverse and not necessarily at the back of any particular position.
In trench warfare parados referred to a bank of earth or similar material behind the rear of the trench, opposite the parapet, affording protection from explosions and fragments when shells or bombs overshot the trench.


épéeist

(fencing) A fencer who competes with an épée sword.


longe

From French allonger (“to lengthen”), or Latin longa (“long”), i.e. the long rope.

LONGE.—The training ground for the instruction of a young horse, to render him quiet, tractable, and supple; to give him free and proper use of his limbs, to form his paces, and to prepare him in all respects for the cavalry service.

1885, Edward S. Farrow, Farrow’s Military Encyclopedia, volume 2, New York, page 230:

(military) The training ground for a horse.


inroad

The noun is derived from in + road (“(obsolete) act of riding on horseback; hostile ride against a particular area, raid”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

compound

[…] That ſince that time he [Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus] was become the ſubject of King Henry [VIII] of England, his Majeſty's [James V of Scotland's] greateſt enemy; and was now the cauſe of all the Inroads made by the English into Scotland: […]

1537, David Scott, “Papers Illustrative of the Trial of Jonet Lady Glammys. I. Narrative Taken from the History of Scotland, by David Scott of the Inner Temple.”, in [Robert Pitcairn, compiler], Criminal Trials and Other Proceedings before the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, part IX (Trials during the Reigns of King James the Fourth and Fifth), [Edinburgh]: Printed at the Bannatyne Club Press by Ballantyne and Co., published 1831, →OCLC, page 192:

[A] child knowing the heate of fire, will as readely iudge of the perrill, as the wiſeſt Senatour, of the inroad of a borderer, or the politick captaine, of the vnequall encoũter with his enimy, […]

1586, T[imothie] Bright, “The Particular Aunswere to the Obiections Made in the II Chapter”, in A Treatise of Melancholie. […], London: […] Thomas Vautrollier, […], →OCLC, page 75:

Whence is it that ſo many corrupt Opinions have made ſuch an Inroad on Proteſtant Religion, and the Profeſſion of it? Is it not from hence, that many have loſt an Experience of the power and efficacy of the Truth, and ſo have parted with it?

1683, Samuel Annesley, “The Chamber of Imagery in the Church of Rome Laid Open; or An Antidote against Popery. […] Sermon X.”, in A Continuation of Morning-Exercise Questions and Cases of Conscience, Practically Resolved by Sundry Ministers, in October, 1682, London: […] J. A. for John Dunton […], →OCLC, page 221:

[T]he Britains, left to ſhift for themſelves, and daily haraſſed by cruel Inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their Defence; […]

1712 March 4 (date written; Gregorian calendar), J[onathan] Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue; […], 2nd edition, London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], published 1712, →OCLC, page 9:

The brave and active Conſtantius delivered Gaul from a very furious inroad of the Alemanni; and his victories of Langres and Vindoniſſa appear to have been actions of conſiderable danger and merit.

1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter XIII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 368:

While from their lovely climate, the poets native to their sweet south, the old ruins hallowed with the memories of other days, the lovely paintings, the still diviner statues, which had been their constant companions—the character had imperceptibly caught a tone of romance, calculated long to resist the inroads of worldliness and deceit.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 181:

[A] certain English colonel passed though the former's country with a body of men-at-arms, on the very day when the O'Mahonys had made an inroad upon our territories, and carried off a frightful plunder of our flocks and herds.

1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “My Pedigree and Family.—Undergo the Influence of the Tender Passion”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC, page 2:

And everywhere the people, or the populace, take their own government upon themselves; and open 'kinglessness,' what we call anarchy, […] is everywhere the order of the day. Such was the history, from Baltic to Mediterranean, in Italy, France, Prussia, Austria, from end to end of Europe, in those March days of 1848. Since the destruction of the old Roman Empire by inroad of the Northern Barbarians, I have known nothing similar.

1850 February 1, Thomas Carlyle, “No. I. The Present Time.”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 5–6:

If clerks do not try to shirk their work, our whole great commercial system breaks down. It is breaking down, under the inroad of women who are adopting the unprecedented and impossible course of taking the system seriously and doing it well.

1910, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “The Modern Slave”, in What’s Wrong with the World, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Feminism: Or the Mistake about Woman), page 177:

On the Great North of Scotland section, always a stronghold of four-coupled engines, a great number of small 4-4-0s, some over fifty years old, were still going strong in 1945, but serious inroads are being made into their numbers now.

1954 May, John W. Grant, “A Railway Requiem”, in Railway Magazine, page 351:

[T]he discourse of ornament was energetically appropriated by those anxious to defend masculinity and protect feminine virtue against the inroads of luxury and its ill effects on morality.

2009, Marcia Pointon, “Fault Lines and Points of Light”, in Brilliant Effects: A Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery, New Haven, Conn., London: […] [F]or the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Stories Touching Stones), page 19, column 1:

[I]n many European states, the whole notion of retirement at pensionable age and consequential entitlement to a pension seems to fall within the domain of social security law rather than forming part of the contract-based system of regulation of termination of employment. There may therefore be significant inroads into the notion of a unified or integrated contract-based system of regulation of termination of employment. However, in most European legal systems it would seem that these inroads do not encroach upon the essential integrity or unity of the contract-based system of regulation of termination of employment.

2011, Mark Freedland, Nicola Kountouris, “The Termination and Transformation of Employment Contracts”, in The Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 224:

(military, also figuratively) An advance into enemy territory, an attempted invasion; an encroachment, an incursion.

מעלתא

advance into enemy territory — see also incursion


Rewson

(US, military) Acronym of Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare, Special Operations, Navy.


koka

en-noun

koka (countable and uncountable, plural kokas)

The referee shall announce "koka" (almost yuko) when in his opinion the technique applied by the contestant merits the score of koka (almost yuko). Should either contestant score two or further kokas, then the referee shall announce them as they are scored but shall not stop the contest for that reason.

1978, AAU Official Rules, Judo, Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, page 15:

As with yukos, kokas are not accumulative, so no amount of kokas are deemed equal to or greater than a yuko.

2008, Roy Inman, The Judo Handbook, page 25:

(judo) The smallest technical score that can be awarded in a judo competition.


WARNO

Information not available for inclusion in the initial WARNO can be included in subsequent warning

2006. Mir Bahmanyar, Shadow Warriors: A History of the US Army, Page 216 http://books.google.com/books?id=SXv32iVfb1kC&pg=PA216&dq=warno&ei=U49LR-HuOqDktQOGgI3wBg&sig=aZzxJSAvgCueY0iyJiVls7f4hZ8

Only address if essential to the WARNO.

2007, U. S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army Ranger Handbook, page 16:

(US, military) Abbreviation of warning order.


billhook

billhooks (plural)
bill-hook (alternative)
bill hook (alternative)

→ Irish: bileog

→ Welsh: bilwg

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

Earliest use in weapon (and later, agricultural) sense, bill (“a bladed pike (obsolete)”) + hook; other senses formed anew from various meanings of bill.

compound

(weaponry) A medieval polearm, fitted to a long handle, sometimes with an L-shaped tine or a spike protruding from the side or the end of the blade for tackling the opponent; a bill.


sinology

From sino- (“China”) + -logy (“study of”).

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

(Cold War, politics, espionage) The study of the internal politics of the high members of the government of the People's Republic of China.


TAF

(military, aviation) Initialism of Turkish Air Force.

Turkish Armed Forces
w:Turkish Armed Forces

(military) Initialism of Turkish Armed Forces.


MSM

Meritorious Service Medal
w:Meritorious Service Medal

(military, US) Initialism of Meritorious Service Medal.


blading

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) The act of cutting oneself open, usually on the forehead, to draw blood and make the fight more spectacular.


beatdown

en-noun

beatdown (countable and uncountable, plural beatdowns)

Deverbal from beat down; influenced by earlier throwdown.

(professional wrestling, slang) A prescribed situation, usually to advance an angle or establish character, where two or more wrestlers severely beat up another wrestler or performer.


gaffle

From Middle English gaffolle, a borrowing from Middle Dutch gaffel, gafel (“fork”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *gabulu (“fork”), related to Old English gafol, ġeafel (“fork”).

(historical, weaponry) A portable fork of iron or wood in which the heavy musket formerly in use was rested that it might be accurately aimed and fired.


groundling

From ground + -ling. Compare Old English grundling (“a groundling fish, grundel”).

cog

The poor plodding groundling, helpless and impotent, is swooped upon at will, day and night, completely wiped out at the whim of the low- flying plane, which soars off leaving complete and utter destruction behind it!

1937, Field Artillery Association (U.S.), The Field Artillery Journal - Volume 27, page 342:

He then enlisted in the air force and served as a groundling in North Africa, Sicily, and England.

2010, Erin Bried, How to Build a Fire: And Other Handy Things Your Grandfather Knew, →ISBN:

Present at the Battle of Jutland, he had been recalled for the duration of this war and, being in the area, he had come to see how his little lad was faring in the sky. I was given permission to fall out and join him, gladly setting aside my groundling's bayonet.

2012, Pat Cunningham, The Fear in the Sky: Vivid Memories of Bomber Aircrew in World War Two, →ISBN:

One who is confined to the ground, especially:

(military, slang) A soldier who fights on the ground or serves as ground crew, as opposed to a seaman, pilot, etc.


ASROC

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of Anti-Submarine Rocket (an antisubmarine missile system)


OP

en-noun

OP (countable and uncountable, plural OPs)

(military, law enforcement) Initialism of observation post.


midnight chow

1917, in United States Marine Corps, The Marines Magazine, C. A. Ketcham (1917), page 27,
After the ball was over and the taxi-cab was underway some one suggested midnight chow, permitted by the censor.

1957, Walter Sullivan, Quest for a Continent, McGraw-Hill, page 217,
Chief Petty Officer Paul Saylor, an electronics technician, and one of his men set out from the Operations Hut for their midnight chow. It was broad daylight, even at that hour, but visibility was literally zero.

2007, Michael C. Hodges, A Doctor Looks at War: My Year in Iraq, Tate Publishing, →ISBN, page 188,
After quick greetings to those who were still awake, some of our group went to eat at the midnight chow, some went to use the phones, some went to shower, and others, like me, just went to sleep.

(US, military, informal) A meal served in the mess hall around midnight or later.


black belt

(martial arts) The highest belt colour in various martial arts.

حِزَام أَسْوَد

highest belt color in various martial arts

Raymond is a black belt in karate.

(martial arts) Someone who has attained the black belt in martial arts.

not used in Finnish (instead say jollakulla on musta vyö "someone has a black belt")


tactical air commander

tactical air commander (plural tactical air commanders)

(military) The shore-based officer (aviator) responsible to the landing force commander for control and coordination of air operations within the landing force commander's area of operations when control of these operations is passed ashore.

(military, countable) One of these officers.


tactical air control center

tactical air control center (plural tactical air control centers)

tactical air operations
tactical air operations

(military) The principal air operations installation (ship-based) from which all aircraft and air warning functions of tactical air operations are controlled. Also called Navy TACC.


thermal energy

thermal energy (plural thermal energies)

(military) The energy released by an explosion


ATA

American Taekwondo Association
w:American Taekwondo Association

(martial arts) Initialism of American Taekwondo Association.


potato masher

potato mashers (plural)
potato-masher (alternative)

‘A hand-grenade. One of those potato-mashers. It just blew the whole side of my foot off.’

1929 May–October, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, 1st British edition, London: Jonathan Cape […], published 1929, →OCLC, book II, page 131:

(military slang) A type of stick hand grenade resembling such a utensil.


skivvy

(military slang, Vietnam War) A prostitute.


colonelcy

[U]nless Lieut Colonel Tyler [John Tyler Sr.] was provided for, The Major, Prentice [Samuel Prentiss II] advanced to a Lieut:Colonelcy in some other Regiment, and his eldest Captain ([James] Chapman) not deprived of his expectation of the Majority; his coming in there would give uneasiness, but nevertheless if it was the pleasure of Congress to make the appointment, he would do every thing in his power to make it palatible.

1776 July 29, George Washington, “To the Board of War and Ordnance”, in John C[lement] Fitzpatrick, editor, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799: […], volumes 5 (May, 1776 – August, 1776), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published April 1932, →OCLC, page 350:

In the campaign of 1760, the general [De Soltikow], who had juſt obtained the colonelcy of the regiment of Wolfenbuttle, aſſembled a body of troops near Konimſthau; as the enemy did not enter Bohemia, as was expected, he repaired to the frontiers of Sileſia, failed in an attempt to ſurpriſe Neuſtadt, but actually cut off the Pruſſian regiment of Mantpeefel.

1800, “Field-Marshall Baron de Loudon, Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Aulic Counsellor of War, &c”, in The Annual Necrology, for 1797–8; […], volume I, London: Printed for R[ichard] Phillips, […] by T[homas] Bensley, […], →OCLC, page 70:

At the close of this year (1776) he [John Chester] was recommended for a colonelcy in the new Continental Army, but on account of the condition of his personal affairs he declined the appointment and retired to private life, to the great regret, particularly, of General [George] Washington.

1903, Franklin Bowditch Dexter, “Sketches, Class of 1766”, in Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History, volumes III (May, 1763 – July, 1778), New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 178:

Did I tell you I've been given a colonelcy in the North Riding Volunteers?

2011, Julian Fellowes, 26:03 from the start, in Downton Abbey, season 2, episode 1:

Meanwhile, he witnessed the mad log-rolling for colonelcies. "I was perfectly sickened at the political wire pulling for all these commissions," he [Ulysses S. Grant] told Jesse [Root Grant]. Of the first six colonels [Governor of Illinois, Richard] Yates appointed, not one had any experience, and only one was a West Pointer.

2014, William C[harles] Davis, “‘What has Become of Gen. Lee?’—‘Who is General Grant?’”, in Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee: The War They Fought, the Peace They Forged, Boston, Mass.: Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 128:

(military) The rank or office of a colonel.


direct action

direct action (usually uncountable, plural direct actions)

(military) Small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage, etc. carried out by the military.


call the ball

en-verb

call the ball (third-person singular simple present calls the ball, present participle calling the ball, simple past and past participle called the ball)

calls the ball (present singular third-person)
calling the ball (participle present)
called the ball (participle past)
called the ball (past)

- Maverick, call the ball.

(US naval aviation) When landing on a US aircraft carrier: to sight the lights from the multi-colored optical landing system that shows a pilot to be on the correct approach path or how to correct the approach path.


flattop

flattops (plural)
flat top (alternative)
flat-top (alternative)

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From flat + top. Sense of “aircraft carrier” attributed to the message, “Scratch one flattop,” radioed during the Battle of the Coral Sea by LCDR Robert E. Dixon to the USS Lexington, whose commanding officer credited the pilot with coining the standard USN slang.

(US, navy, informal) An aircraft carrier.


Shahab

From Persian شهاب (šahâb, literally “meteor”), from Arabic شِهَاب (šihāb).


Bremelo

Bremelos (plural)
Bremerlo (alternative)

Blend of Bremerton + buffalo. The word has been in use since the 1960s in Kitsap County.

(slang, US, derogatory, military) A young overweight woman in the area around Puget Sound Naval Station Bremerton, Washington, a major naval base, particularly one who seeks to partner with Navy personnel.


brigadiership

en-noun

brigadiership (countable and uncountable, plural brigadierships)

(military) The role or position of a brigadier.


fizzer

The soldier was put on a fizzer for being improperly dressed.

(British Army military slang) A disciplinary charge.


flag officer

(military, nautical) A naval officer with the rank of rear admiral or above. Such officers are entitled to fly a personal flag, especially on the flagship.

(US military, informal) In addition to naval officers of Navy and the Coast Guard, a general officer in the Army, Marines, or Air Force with the rank of brigadier general or higher.


pressure point

For this strike, if your thumb is tucked correctly, you should hit the pressure point where their arm meets their shoulder.

(martial arts) A specific small area of the body targeted, due to a cluster of nerves being close to the skin, usually not protected by bone.


FSB

From Russian ФСБ (FSB), initialism of Федеральная Служба Безопасности (Federalʹnaja Služba Bezopasnosti, “Federal Security Service”).

Possible victims included Roman Tsepov, Putin’s bodyguard in 1990s St Petersburg, who died after drinking tea in 2004 at a local FSB office.

2020 August 20, Luke Harding, “Alexei Navalny and the long history of poisoned Kremlin critics”, in The Guardian:

(initialism, Russia, politics, espionage, law enforcement) The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.


lodgment

lodgment (countable and uncountable, plural lodgments)

lodgments (plural)
lodgement (alternative)

From Middle French logement, from loger (“to lodge”) + -ment.

(military, historical) The occupation of a position by a besieging party, and the works thrown up to maintain it.


tabun

(organic chemistry, military) An extremely toxic nerve gas; a clear, tasteless liquid, molecular formula C₅H₁₁N₂O₂P.


pincer attack

(military) An attack in which two or more forces attack from multiple sides at once.

A set of simultaneous attacks against the flanks of an enemy salient in order to cut off and trap the enemy in an encirclement.


Air Force

(military) The military air force of a particular armed forces.

United States Air Force
w:United States Air Force

(US, military, politics) Ellipsis of United States Air Force.


back slap

back slaps (plural)
back-slap (alternative)

(martial arts) A controlled landing, slapping to the mat with one's back.


LH

LH (countable and uncountable, plural LHs)

(US, army, aviation) Initialism of light helicopter.

(military) Initialism of light horse (typically preceded by the regiment number)


relais

Borrowed from French relais. See relay (noun).

if the ground is level, the same person may transport the two cube toises to the distance of 15 toises, which in that case is the length of the relais, which makes him go over 10 leagues per day .

1803, Essays on the Theory and Practice of the Art of War:

(military, historical) A narrow space between the foot of the rampart and the scarp of the ditch, serving to catch any earth that may crumble off or be washed down, and prevent its falling into the ditch.


peashooter

peashooters (plural)
pea-shooter (alternative)

Compared to my forty-five, it's a toy. Christ, Thanet, why did you buy it in the first place? I would have given you one of mine, a real weapon, one with knock down power, compared to that peashooter on your hip.

2012, Wayne Greenough, The Ferguson Murder, page 41:

(weaponry, slang) Any small or ineffective gun or weapon.


blowtorch

blowtorches (plural)
blow torch (alternative)

/ˈbləʊˌtɔːtʃ/

When the firecan jockeys have flown their blowtorches some 100,000 miles, the doctors take over for the ground physical.

1949, Popular Science, volume 155, number 6, page 120:


undercharge

en-verb

undercharge (third-person singular simple present undercharges, present participle undercharging, simple past and past participle undercharged)

undercharges (present singular third-person)
undercharging (participle present)
undercharged (participle past)
undercharged (past)

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to undercharge a gun

(transitive, firearms) To put too small a charge into.


bootie

[…] and buried where he fell, was disinterred by a 'Bootie' who wanted to photograph him for his album.

(UK, military, slang, obsolete) A soldier.


queep

Why in the hell isn’t there someone else to do all this queep?!

It isn't how well you fly, it's who you know and how well you perform your queep ground job.

1997 July 28, Kurt Bjorn, “Re: USAF Low Morale Confirmed!!!”, in alt.aviation.safety,rec.aviation.military,alt.disasters.aviation (Usenet), message-ID <01bc9b7f$570616e0$0100000a@pyroware.flash.net>:

Still, the above is a true reflection of statistical promotion rates in the context of our current queep-biased system.

2001 September 6, Zaprass, “Re: Tiny U.S. planes spy as GIs avoid danger”, in rec.aviation.military (Usenet), message-ID <3B9765DD.MD-1.4.4.Zaprass@nospam.com>:

What fighter pilots do is fly, and that they love, they have little love or tolerance for queep, a term for all paperwork and related jobs that keep a pilot out of the cockpit.

2007, Jonathan Dowty, Christian Fighter Pilot Is Not an Oxymoron, page 20:

Besides, if you're not flying, your whole world is going to consist of nothing but office queep.

2010, David Goldstein, Sharing Orion, AuthorHouse, page 87:

The stigma that surrounds a safety office and its staff is often that of naysayers or un-cool nerds. We’re the crushers of fun or sultans of queep in many squadrons, but there's no place for that kind of culture in the safety world.

2012 January 1, anonymous author, “Safety Culture”, in Wingman, page 32:

(military, slang, US) Non-flying duties, typically paperwork, that are undesirable to pilots.


dumb insolence

(British, military) The offence of refusing to answer the questions of an officer.


priming

(firearms) The powder or other combustible used to communicate fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.


flanker

Audio (US)

From flank + -er. The verb is from the noun (sense 3).

1675, The Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, from The Portable Native American Indian Reader, New York: Penguin Books, 1977, page 312,
About two hours...they had been about the house before they prevailed to fire it (which they did with Flax and Hemp, which they brought out of the Barn, and there being no defence about the House, only two Flankers at two opposite corners and one of them not finished) they fired it once and one ventured out and quenched it, but they quickly fired it again, and that took.

[The planters’ houses] were frequently constructed with flankers and loopholes, for the purpose of firing upon the assailants when they approached so near.

1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 2, p. 27:

It was in vain they threw out flankers, and endeavored to dislodge their assailants; each pause gave time for other pursuers to come within reach, and open attacks from different quarters.

1855, Washington Irving, chapter 37, in The Life of George Washington, volume 1, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, page 278:

(military) A fortification or soldier projecting so as to defend another work or to command the flank of an assailing body.


scrimshanker

“As good a boy as I want,” said Revere, the admiring skipper. “The best of the batch,” said the Adjutant to the Colonel. “Keep back that young skrimshanker Porkiss, sir, and let Revere make him sit up.”

1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 142:

(UK, military, slang) A shirker; one who scrimshanks.


scrimshank

scrimshank (third-person singular simple present scrimshanks, present participle scrimshanking, simple past and past participle scrimshanked)

scrimshanks (present singular third-person)
scrimshanking (participle present)
scrimshanked (participle past)
scrimshanked (past)

Unclear. One hypothesis is that it derives from (the noun scrimshanker, from) scrimp + swanker (old military slang for someone who works hard).


MEB

en-noun

MEB (countable and uncountable, plural MEBs)

marine expeditionary brigade
w:marine expeditionary brigade

(military) Initialism of marine expeditionary brigade.


MR

MR (countable and uncountable, plural MRs)

memorandum for the record
memorandum for the record#English

memorandum for record
memorandum for record#English

memo for the record
memo for the record#English

(US military) Acronym of memorandum for the record, memorandum for record, memo for the record, and memo for record.


encirclement

encirclement (countable and uncountable, plural encirclements)

Not only did it give the Russians an abiding fear of encirclement, whether by nomadic hordes or by nuclear-missile sites, but it also launched them on their relentless drive eastwards and southwards into Asia, and eventually collision with the British in India.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 9:

(military) The isolation of a target by the formation of a blockade around it


milk run

(military, slang) An uneventful mission, especially a military sortie completed without incident


out-of-battery

An out-of-battery discharge can produce a catastrophic failure of the weapon.

(weaponry) In firearms and artillery, having a condition in which a live round is at least partially in the firing chamber and capable of being fired, but is not properly secured by the usual mechanism of that particular weapon.


expeditionary

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an expeditionary force

(military) Intended for military operations abroad.


hausse

(military, historical) A kind of graduated breech sight for a small arm or cannon.


going over

(professional wrestling slang) Of a wrestler or wrestlers: to be scheduled to win a match.


green belt

green belts (plural)
greenbelt (alternative)

From green (adjective) + belt (“band worn around the waist; thing resembling a belt, a strip or stripe”).

compound

When the club is fully developed and has a reasonable spectrum of ranks in it, the training schedule should be stable to encourage the habit of training. […] The advanced (above green belt) class meets for an additional hour, three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

1995, Elmar T. Schmeisser, “The University Dojo: Teaching a Traditional Martial Art in a Nontraditional Setting”, in Carol A. Wiley, editor, Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching (Io Series; 53), Berkeley, Calif.: Frog, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 129:

He estimates it was around 1964 when the Japanese stylists of karate brought in the green belt to bridge the gap between white and brown.

2011, Yvonne Cruz, “Cruz Karate Studios”, in Grandmaster Freddie G. Cruz: Biography of a True Legend in the Martial Arts World, [S.l.]: Bookemon, →ISBN, page 217:

Any green belt martial artist could've done that. Because they were just ordinary goons, hired guns.

2014 October, Sharit Sinha, “The Revelation”, in Blood Rush, 3rd edition, [S.l.]: Sharit Sinha, published December 2017, →ISBN, page 36:

A belt which is green in colour worn by a person who has achieved a certain (usually intermediate) level of skill in a martial art, especially judo or karate; also, the level of skill represented by this belt.

vihreä vyö

belt which is green in colour worn by a person who has achieved a certain (usually intermediate) level of skill in a martial art; the level of skill represented by this belt

After a month I distinctly remember one of the ‘green belts’ giving me a thorough but gentle working over in one of the sparring sessions, I was impressed not just with his ability to defeat me, but with the ease with which he did it.

2012, Noel C., “What Karate Means to Me”, in Tom Hill, editor, Essays for Black Belt, Luton, Bedfordshire: Andrews UK, →ISBN, page 22:

Develop a career progression ladder for black belts and green belts.

[2012, T. M. Kubiak, “Mentoring Black Belts and Green Belts”, in The Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Handbook, Milwaukee, Wis.: ASQ Quality Press, →ISBN, part V (Mentoring Responsibilities), page 306:

A person who has earned the rank of green belt in a martial art.


FLC

(military) Initialism of fighting load carrier.


hot mess

en-noun

hot mess (countable and uncountable, plural hot messes)

hot (“warm”) + mess (“meal; soldiers who eat together”).

"Smallbones," said the lieutenant, after trying the hot mess before him, and finding that he was still in danger of burning his mouth, "bring me the red-herring."

1836 April 29, Frederick Marryat, “Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend”, in Arkansas Advocate, volume vii, number 4, Little Rock, AR, page 1:

1 lb. pemican; ¼ lb. pork; ¾ lb. biscuit; ¼ lb flour or bread dust, to mix with pemican into a hot mess;

1852 January 1, F. L. McClintock, “Lieutenant McClintock to Mr. Fegn, Secretary of the Arctic Committee”, in Morning Post, number 24355, London, page 3:

I heard several of the enlisted men make the statement that Company C had provided hot mess for fully a thousand men of other units during the second day of the recent drive in and around Cheppy and Charpentry.

1919, James Thayer Addison, The Story of the First Gas Regiment, page 150:

He provided for a hot mess and he got the men up off the floor with improvised bunks.

1974, Langdon Sully, No Tears for the General: The Life of Alfred Sully, 1821-1879, page 119:

The men there would have settled for a Coleman stove and a hot-mess line, but the greatest contribution to their spirits, plus or minus, was mail call.

1980, William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, page 260:

(military) A warm meal, usually cooked in a large pot, often similar to a stew or porridge; service of such a heated meal to soldiers.


regimental

en-adj

regimental (comparative more regimental, superlative most regimental)

more regimental (comparative)
most regimental (superlative)


finisher

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A thundering right to the head bent him back over the ropes, and then, just as I was setting myself for the finisher, I felt somebody jerking my pants leg […]

1934 June, Robert E. Howard, “General Ironfist”, in Jack Dempsey's Fight Magazine:

(boxing) The blow that ends a fight; the knock-out blow.

Tie Up Fallaway Slam (Finisher)

1999, BradyGames, Secret Codes for Sega Dreamcast:

Shadow Kick (OO+O) is best used as a punishing move and a combo finisher.

2002, Ben Cureton, Paul Edwards, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance™ Official Strategy Guide:

(video games, informal, professional wrestling) A finishing move.


first-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having at least 100 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 850–875, and weighing approximately 2,500 tons burthen.


first-rate

first-rates (plural)
first rate (alternative)

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A first-rate ship of the line.


land mine

land mines (plural)
landmine (alternative)

With the cessation of hostilities, the military traffic declined considerably, although at least two years will be required to remove the many thousands of tons of explosives still stored at the depot. The supplies of mustard gas have already been despatched to Stranraer to be dumped in the sea, and the disposal of ¾-million land mines has called for the provision of 17 special trains.

1947 January and February, “Wartime Traffic at Tanfield, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 47:

(military) A mine that is placed on land and designed to explode when stepped upon or touched.


flatfoot

From flat + foot. Piecewise doublet of platypus.

(US, informal, military, slang) A sailor.


exploder

(military, nautical) A device to trigger explosions in torpedoes.


LandWarNet

(military, US) The US Army's global computer network, separate from the Internet.


gonk

A proprietary name of arbitrary formation.

I'm going off to have a gonk.

(New Zealand, military, slang) A sleep; a nap.


wet job

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Like the Navy SEALs (who often work in conjunction with the Delta Force), Delta Force can go anywhere, anytime; they just leave the wet jobs to SEAL Team 6-the navy's version of Delta Force.

2003, Robert Young Pelton, Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition (Robert Young Pelton the World's Most Dangerous Places), Collins, →ISBN, page 112:

Being a shocked witness in Lisbon to the Carnivore's last bloody wet job

2004, Gayle Lynds, The Coil: A Novel, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 53:

But as soon as the janitor saw Tice, he would have known he had the wrong man and should have and should have withdrawn or attempted a live capture to find out where Theosopholis was. Instead, everything about his style announced wet job. He was assigned to liquidate Tice, and maybe only Tice.

2006, Gayle Lynds, The Last Spymaster, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 30:

(espionage, euphemistic) A covert assassination performed by government operatives.


RCS

Royal Corps of Signals
w:Royal Corps of Signals

(UK, military) Initialism of Royal Corps of Signals.


concentrator

(firearms) A frame or ring of wire or hard paper fitting into the cartridge case used in some shotguns, and holding the shot together when discharged, to secure close shooting; also, a device for slightly narrowing the bore at the muzzle for the same purpose.


FOD

(military, particularly on an aircraft carrier's deck) Initialism of foreign object debris.


selfbow

selfbows (plural)
self-bow (alternative)
self bow (alternative)

From self (“having its own or a single nature or character throughout without addition or change, unmixed; (archery) of a bow: made from a single piece of wood”, adjective) + bow.

compound

With reſpect to a bow being made round, we muſt recollect, that [Roger] Aſcham ſpeaks of a ſelf'''-bow; which, it ſeems, was made round as well as the back as in the belly: but back'd-bows have almoſt always a flat back, to prevent their caſting.

1801, T[homas] Roberts, “Of the Bow”, in The English Bowman, or Tracts on Archery; […], London: […] [F]or the author, by C. Roworth, […]; [s]old by Mr. [Thomas] Edgerton, […]; [a]lso by Mr. [Thomas] Waring, […], →OCLC, section III (Of Proving the Bow), page 141:

Many Archers use a piece of waxed cloth, which is of great utility, as it not only gives the Bow a polish, but is a preventative against damps penetrating; this precaution however, is not so much required for self Bows, as backed ones. Self Bows are made of one piece of wood only, and that is generally of yew, but the long known difficulty of procuring good English yew, has compelled Bow makers of late years, to resort to various other woods, all containing great spring, but little pliability; the deficiency of the latter is amply supplied by the addition of a slip of ash, or some other tough wood glued to them; the toughness of the one combined to the elasticity of the other, both acting in conjunction, make capital Bows, and these it is that are called back'd Bows.

1820, Thomas Waring, “Attitude in Shooting”, in A Treatise on Archery; or, The Art of Shooting with the Long Bow. […], 2nd edition, London: […] A. Seale [for Thomas Waring], →OCLC, page 21:

[A] backed bow does not exceed a self bow, except that it is thought by some to be pleasanter and easier to draw, especially in the last inch, and of quicker cast.

1831, T[homas] B[urgeland] Johnson, “BOW”, in The Sportsman’s Cyclopedia; […], London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, […], →OCLC, page 78:

I once made a beautiful self-bow from a large branch of yew, which was amputated, after two valuable coach-horses had been poisoned by feeding on its leaves.

1840, George Agar Hansard, “Section VIII. Of Yew Trees, Yew Bows, &c. &c.”, in The Book of Archery, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, footnote *, page 350:

Modern bows are of two kinds, viz. self bows and backed bows. The self bow is composed of only one kind of wood; but the backed bow is composed of two kinds of wood, both the full length of the bow, carefully joined together.

1845, [Jane] Loudon, “Letter XVIII. Archery: Targets; Self Bows and Backed Bows; …”, in The Lady’s Country Companion; or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally, London: […] [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, book V (Country Amusements), page 366:

The self-bow is the real old Engish weapon; the one with which the many mighty deeds that rendered this country renowned in times gone by were performed; […] Of the woods for self-bows, Yew beyond all question carries off the palm; other woods have been, and still are, in use, such as lance, Cocus, Washaba, Rose, Snake, and some others; but they may be summarily dismissed with the remark, that self-bows made of these woods are all, without exception radically bad, being heavy in hand, apt to jar, comparatively dull in cast, and very liable to chrysal and break, and that no archer should use them so long as a self-yew or a good backed-bow is within his reach.

1856, Horace A[lfred] Ford, “Of the Bow”, in Archery: Its Theory and Practice, London: J. Buchanan, […]; Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: H[enry] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 14:

Bows were of several types. Most common was a selfbow (a bow made of a single piece of wood with no laminating materials) of springy wood tapering toward both ends and sometimes narrowed at the grip.

1995, Harvey Markowitz, “Bows, Arrows, and Quivers”, in American Indians (A Magill Book), volumes 1 (A–Hay), Pasadena, Calif.; Hackensack, N.J.: Salem Press, →ISBN; republished in Carole A. Barrett, Harvey J. Markowitz, editors, American Indian Culture (Magill’s Choice), volumes 1 (Acorns–Headdresses), Pasadena, Calif.; Hackensack, N.J.: Salem Press, 2004, →ISBN, page 148:

If the design of the weapon is moderate enough to be successful as an all wood selfbow then the addition of sinew and horn will probably result in a net loss of arrow performance.

2001, Hari Heath, “Wood under Stress”, in David Wescott, editor, Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills […], Salt Lake City, Ut.: Gibbs Smith, →ISBN, section 4 (Projectiles—Bows and Arrows), page 106, column 1:

The recurved bow design originated in antiquity when the longbow, or self[-]bow, made entirely from wood, was reinforced with animal sinew to produce adequate energy in a shorter bow suitable for mounted archers.

2005, Tom Airhart, “Personal Gear”, in Elk Hunting Guide: Skills, Gear, and Insight, Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 259:

(archery) A bow made from a single piece of wood (often referred to as a bow stave).


SV

en-noun

SV (countable and uncountable, plural SVs)

SVs (plural)
S.V. (alternative)
S. V. (alternative)
S.V. (alternative)
S. V. (alternative)
S/V (alternative)
Sv (alternative)
Sv. (alternative)
SV. (alternative)

(military) Initialism of selective volunteer.


NDP

National Defense Panel
w:National Defense Panel

(US, military, historical) Initialism of National Defense Panel.


oakleaf

oakleaves (plural)
oak-leaf (alternative)
oak leaf (alternative)

(military) A device, badge or emblem shaped like the leaf of an oak, and indicating an award. (see Oak leaves)


smoke wagon

smoke wagons (plural)
smoke-wagon (alternative)

From smoke + wagon, probably a humorous reference to a conveyance or implement which “carries” or generates smoke.

[…] Bourcey, the blacksmith, who was fitting on a mule's shoe, returned with the shoe at the end of the tongs, and, thrusting it into the fire, began blowing the bellows. It was laughable to see the stampede among the redskins when they saw this ominous maneuver—they thought he was going to fire the "smoke wagon."

1858 (date written), William P. Seville, “[June 27, 1858]”, in John W. N. Schulz, editor, Narrative of the March of Co. A, Engineers from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Return: May 6 to October 3, 1858 […] (Occasional Papers, Engineer School, United States Army; number 48), Washington Barracks, D.C.: Press of the Engineer School, published 1912, →OCLC, page 18:

The boss of construction across the river is a little sawed off individual named Nelson, and to see him standing like Napoleon, on the huge fill which issues above the river, with a great big smoke wagon, pointed forward, strapped to his leg and pulling him over sideways from its weight; is a picture which would surely make angels weep.

1909 January 17 (date written), Galbraith, “An Irishman’s View of Mexico”, in W. B. Marquis [et al.], editors, The Stentor, volume XXIII, number 17, Lake Forest, Ill.: The Lake Forester Press [for Lake Forest College], published 18 February 1909, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 199, column 1:

But come morning, we agreed to forgive and forget. Bain he says he was sure glad to hear that, but he'd take our guns away with him any how. Bain says we could have our smoke wagons after a week, by which time he figured we got this worm out of our brains.

1911 February, Herbert Corey, “Lonesomeness”, in Pearson’s Magazine, American edition, volume 25, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Pearson Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 182, column 2:

[page 650] The following list of hobo words, presented in glossary form, was collected by me during twenty years of experience with hobo cases in my profession of attorney-at-law. I have consulted no books or records in compiling it but made it directly from experience. […] [page 653] Smoke wagon—pistol.

[1926 September, Nicholas Klein, “Hobo Lingo”, in American Speech, volume I, number 12, Baltimore, Md.: The Williams & Wilkins Company, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 653, column 1:

Go ahead. Skin it. Skin that smoke wagon and see what happens. […] I'm getting tired of your gas. Jerk that pistol and go to work.

1993 December 25, Kevin Jarre, Tombstone, spoken by Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Burbank, Calif.: Hollywood Pictures, →OCLC:

I soon heard two smoke-wagons [pistols] banging. […] There they lay both shot and dying.

1997, Mike Cox, quoting John P. “Slim” Jones, “The Battle of Borger”, in Texas Ranger Tales: Stories that Need Telling, Lanham, Md.: Republic of Texas Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 201:

Culhane turned up his palms in a vague gesture of surrender that brought both hands an inch closer to the smoke wagons slung in his holsters.

2018 August, Eric Red, chapter 37, in Noose (A Joe Noose Western), New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, pages 236–237:

(weaponry) A handgun, especially a revolver.


stripper clip

(military) A pressed metal (or plastic) clip, holding a set number of cartridges for a firearm, and used for rapid reloading of the weapon or its magazine, and which is then removed or ejected from the weapon or magazine before firing.


cunette

From French cunette (possibly also lacunette), from Italian cunetta (“cunette”), said to be from lacunetta, diminutive of lacuna (“ditch; lagoon; gap”), from Latin lacūna (“hole, pit; cavity, cleft, hollow, opening; gap, void”), from lacus (“lake”), from Proto-Italic *lakus, from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“lake, pool”).

der

Ford's Ravelin.—Completed in its ditch, ſluices, cunette, aqueducts, ſcarp, and counterſcarp walls; […]

1773, “Progress and State of the Works beyond the Great Ditch”, in Further Report (being the Eighth) from the Committee of Secrecy Appointed by the House of Commons, Assembled in Westminster in the Sixth Session of the Thirteenth Parliament of Great Britain, to Enquire into the State of the East India Company, London: Sold by T[homas] Evans, at No. 54, in Pater-noster Row; and W. Davis, the corner of Sackville-Street, Piccadilly, →OCLC, page 234:

Nor was anything done at San Pablo except the cutting of two cunettes necessary for working with heavy machinery, and the projection of a plane for a passage under the Panama Railway, by which the excavations made at K. 35.700 could be carried to the banks of the Chagres.

1889, Charles Rogers, Intelligence Report of the Panama Canal (50th Congress, 1st session, 1887–1888; House; Miscellaneous Document), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 11:

In principle, cunettes are carried out with a view to substituting poor load bearing and highly compressible strata with sand with a view to a) reducing residual settlements and b) improving stability.

1996, Centre for Civil Engineering Research and Codes, “Construction Methods”, in Building on Soft Soils: Design and Construction of Earthstructures both on and into Highly Compressible Subsoils of Low Bearing Capacity, Rotterdam, Brookfield, Vt.: A[ugust] A[imé] Balkema, →ISBN, page 164:

(military) A trench dug in a moat to allow for drainage, or as an extra obstacle for attackers.


speed loader

speed loaders (plural)
speedloader (alternative)

With a speed loader, a practiced user can dump and reload their revolver's cylinder surprisingly fast — even, in some cases, no slower than someone can swap magazines in a semiauto.

(firearms) A pressed metal (or plastic) clip, holding a set number of cartridges for a firearm, and used for rapid reloading of the weapon or its magazine.


button up

en-verb

button up (third-person singular simple present buttons up, present participle buttoning up, simple past and past participle buttoned up)

buttons up (present singular third-person)
buttoning up (participle present)
buttoned up (participle past)
buttoned up (past)

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Once buttoned up, NORAD's operation center can survive for more than 30 days without aid from the outside world.

We fired at the tanks and caused them to "button up" and then we started shooting the infantry.

1997, “Statement of S/Sgt. Alfred Sueflow, Company E, 253rd Infantry”, in Battle Between the Jagst and Kocher Rivers, 4-12 April 1945, page 136:

He turned a key. NORAD buttoned up. The outside lights, flashing for half an hour now in warning of a simulated attack, stopped. Whoever was inside would stay inside. Whoever was outside would not be able to get in […]

2000, Bonnie Ramthun, Ground Zero, page 6:

(US, military, slang, transitive, ergative) To seal off (a military vehicle or facility).


decouple

decouple (third-person singular simple present decouples, present participle decoupling, simple past and past participle decoupled)

decouples (present singular third-person)
decoupling (participle present)
decoupled (participle past)
decoupled (past)

Smaller explosions and decoupled tests would be permitted. Further, the United States proposed that the three powers should start intensive research on the improvement of methods for detection and identification of underground explosions […]

1961, Hans Albrecht Bethe, Edward Teller, The Future of Nuclear Tests, page 18:

Decoupled tests would be nuclear explosions set off in massive underground caverns, a site that would greatly reduce the seismic waves caused by the explosion.

1993, Sam Marullo, Ending the Cold War at Home, page 55:

(transitive, military) To muffle the seismic waves of (a nuclear explosion) by performing it underground.


alférez

/ʔɐl.fɛˈɾɛz/

Borrowed from Spanish alférez, from Andalusian Arabic, from Arabic فَارِس (fāris).

(military) In some Spanish-speaking countries, a junior-ranking officer in the military.


TKO

/ˈtiː ˈkeɪ ˈəʊ/

technical knockout
technical knockout#English

(martial arts) Initialism of technical knockout.


LSA

en-noun

LSA (countable and uncountable, plural LSAs)

logistics support aircraft
logistics support aircraft#English

(aviation, military) Initialism of logistics support aircraft.


interoperable

From interoperate + -able; alternatively inter- + operable.

(military) (of armed forces) Operationally compatible with other armed forces.


industrial espionage

The American Consul at Leipzig requested the Chamber of Commerce of that city to furnish him with certain information concerning the preparation of rabbit’s skin for the hat trade. The Chamber replied that, although it was desirous of promoting the trade of Germany with foreign countries, it must, as a matter of principle, decline to furnish technical reports on German manufactures that would be likely to assist foreign competitors. The Leipziger Faerber Zeitung published the following, headed “Unfair Competition & Industrial Espionage" by the Consuls of the United States.”

1899 April 29, “What Our Consuls are Doing for American Trade”, in Scientific American, page 261:

(espionage) The use of clandestine methods to acquire secret information for commercial advantage.


ground pounder

Suggesting the pounding of a marching soldier's boots on the ground.

(military, slang) A military soldier whose primary role is infantry or the use of ground-based materiel.


Krav Maga

/kɹɑːv məˈɡɑː/

From Hebrew קרב מגע (krav magá), literally “contact combat”.

krav maga (alternative)
Krav maga (alternative)

(martial arts) A hand-to-hand combat system developed by the Israel Defense Forces that consists of a wide combination of martial arts techniques along with realistic fight training.


drillmaster

(military) A person who instructs in marching drill.


saucisse

Borrowed from French saucisse (“sausage”). Doublet of sausage.

(mining, firearms) A long and slender pipe or bag, made of cloth well pitched, or of leather, filled with powder, and used to communicate fire to mines, caissons, bomb chests, etc.

(fortification) A fascine of more than ordinary length.


fire step

fire steps (plural)
firestep (alternative)

We stood on the fire step with our heads over the top, peering out into No Man's Land.

‘One o' the men on the firestep was 'urt too, but they said it was only a nice blighty one.’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 101:

They spread the lime together, sprinkling it thickly along the firestep, throwing shovelfuls at a bad patch of wall.

1991, Pat Barker, Regeneration (The Regeneration Trilogy), Penguin, published 2014, page 140:

(military, chiefly historical) A step or platform dug into the front side of a military trench - allowing soldiers to stand on it in order to fire over the parapet.


prison chaser

A "prison chaser" is a soldier assigned to the task of guarding military prisoners who have been assigned and are performing fatigue detail.

1943, John Riley Craf, Army Selectee's Handbook for Those Men who Will be Called for Duty Under the Selective Training ..., page 50:

When that training was complete, I was given temporary assignment as a prison chaser (guard in a Brig).

2003, Frank Murphy, Wia, Corpsman Up, page 154:

My first experience as a prison chaser wasn't all that pleasant. One burly, bald headed prisoner had given me a hard time.

2004, Joseph Quitman Johnson, Baby of Bataan: Memoir of a 14 Year Old Soldier in World War II, page 107:

According to Ronal Branson's website, he joined the U.S. military in 1963 and was assigned to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he became a "prison chaser", an individual who oversaw prison work detail.

2006, Issue Brief - A Public Policy Paper of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies March 2006:

(military) A prison guard; particularly one who guards military prisoners on fatigue duty.


Czech hedgehog

Omaha Beach was shielded by about 3,700 obstacles, including 450 ramps, 2,000 stakes, 1,050 Czech hedgehogs, and 200 Belgian Gates. These followed a standard pattern.

2013, Steven Zaloga, The Devil's Garden: Rommel's Desperate Defense of Omaha Beach on D-Day, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 123:

(military) A static antitank and anti–landing craft obstacle, widely used during World War II, constructed from three mutually perpendicular steel rails connected in the form of a tripod.


entrenching tool

entrenching tool (plural entrenching tools)

Coordinate term: trencher (machine)

In between rounds, he dug a scrape for himself with his entrenching tool.

(military) A short shovel, usually with collapsible handle, used by soldiers for digging trenches, foxholes, etc., and as a weapon in hand-to-hand combat.


take by storm

en-verb

take by storm (third-person singular simple present takes by storm, present participle taking by storm, simple past took by storm, past participle taken by storm)

takes by storm (present singular third-person)
taking by storm (participle present)
took by storm (past)
taken by storm (participle past)

The soldiers took the castle by storm.

(transitive, military) To capture by means of a sudden, overwhelming attack.


plinking

en-noun

plinking (countable and uncountable, plural plinkings)

(firearms) Informal target shooting done at non-traditional targets such as tin cans, glass bottles and wood blocks.


dixie

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From Hindi देगची (degcī, “a kettle, a metallic cooking pot”), from Classical Persian دیگچه (degča, “a pot, small cauldron”), from دیگ (deg, “pot”) + ـچه (-ča).

der

four men generally like to mess together, and one cooking pot among them takes the place of a mess-tin or "dixie"

1903, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Royal Commission on the War in South Africa, H.M. Stationery Office:

Then from the communication trenches came dixies or iron pots, filled with steaming tea, which had two wooden stakes through their handles, and were carried by two men.

And what those ‘dixies’ of hot tea signified no one knows who wasn't there to wait for them.

1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin 2013, page 261:

Army rum is potent stuff, especially when the supplies of tea and water have run out, and one drinks it neat out of a dixie.

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage 2014, page 39:

(military) A large iron pot, used in the army.


AN

Derived from the first letters of army and navy.

(military, US) A set of sizes for screw threads agreed upon and jointly used by the United States Army and Navy.


CIWS

close-in weapon system
close-in weapon system#English

(military) Acronym of close-in weapon system, such as Phalanx.


fighter bomber

(military, aircraft) Alternative spelling of fighter-bomber


carabine

From French carabine. Doublet of carbine.


tambour

en-noun

tambour (countable and uncountable, plural tambours)

Borrowed from French tambour (“drum”), from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr), from the Middle Persian ancestor of Classical Persian تنبور (tanbūr). Doublet of tabor. Compare Armenian տաւիղ (tawiġ), and tabla.

(military) A work usually in the form of a redan, to enclose a space before a door or staircase, or at the gorge of a larger work. It is arranged like a stockade.


stative

1805 On the Situation, Manners and Inhabitants of Germany; and the Life Of Agricola; by Cornelius Tacitus: Translated into English by John Aikin.
The camp also was weak, being no more than a common one, such as the Romans flung up on their march. It has no appearance of ever having been stative.

1831 James Knox: The topography of the basin of the Tay
It is evident, that a Roman station has existed at Bertha; and one of the objects of its construction here, seems to have been the command of the ford across the Tay. Derder's Ford, being the first above the tide-way, the importance of the position, in a military point of view, is obvious. From the ramparts that remain, it appears to have been of considerably larger dimensions than the celebrated stative camp at Ardoch.

(military, obsolete, rare) Of or relating to a fixed camp, or military posts or quarters.


acey-deucey

acey-deucey (countable and uncountable, plural acey-deuceys)

acey-deuceys (plural)
acey-deucy (alternative)

(military, slang) An AC2: an RCAF Aircraftman 2nd Class.


cheval de frise

cheval de frise (plural chevaux de frise)

chevaux de frise (plural)
cheval-de-frise (alternative)

/ʃəˈvɑːl də ˈfɹiːz/

/ʃəˈvɑːl də ˈfɹiːs/

Borrowed from French cheval de frise (“Frisian horse”), so named because it was employed by the Dutch (who lacked cavalry) against the Spanish cavalry in their war for independence.

bor

The mountains of Colorado were, till a comparatively recent date, richly clothed with forest; but owing partly to natural causes, and still more to the lavish consumption and reckless destruction of the early settlers, the quantity of growing timber in the State is exceedingly small, and before long, if restorative measures are not adopted, the Colorado demand for wood will require to be supplied from without. Whole mountain sides often present the appearance of monstrous cheavaux-de-frise, the dead trunks of the wind-thrown pines being tossed about in all directions.

1878, "Colorado", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. VI, p. 162

Round the crucified animal long, sharp bamboo stakes are placed, which form chevaux de frise round about it. These commemorate the days when such defences surrounded the villages on all sides to keep off human enemies.

1909, Major A. Playfair, The Garos, page 92:

(military) An obstacle made of wood with spikes, for use against attacking cavalry.


kingsman

(military) The lowest enlisted rank in the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment of the British Army, equivalent to private in the rest of the British Army.


on the ropes

The champ had his opponent on the ropes at the end of the third round and knocked him out in the fourth.

(boxing, professional wrestling) Leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse.

köysissä

leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse


master sergeant

en-noun

master sergeant (plural master sergeants)

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

sergeant first class
sergeant first class

(military, US) A non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, ranking above sergeant first class and below sergeant major; equal in grade and pay to a first sergeant.

master gunnery sergeant
master gunnery sergeant

(military, US) A non-commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, ranking above gunnery sergeant and below master gunnery sergeant or sergeant major.

senior master sergeant
senior master sergeant

(military, US) A non-commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, ranking above technical sergeant and below senior master sergeant.


astragal

From Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos). Doublet of astragalus.

(weaponry) A circular molding near the mouth of a cannon.


truck driver

truck drivers (plural)
truckdriver (alternative)
truck-driver (alternative)

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(military slang, World War I– World War II) A bomber pilot.


OCONUS

(chiefly military) Acronym of outside [the] contiguous United States; i.e. Alaska, Hawaii, the US territories, and all other countries.


gunnery sergeant

gunnery sergeant (plural gunnery sergeants)

(military, US) A non-commissioned officer of rank E-7 in the United States Marine Corps, ranking above a staff sergeant and below a master sergeant or first sergeant.


Handlanger

Borrowed from German Handlanger (“handyman; henchman”), from Hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over, to give; to reach for something”) + -er (in the sense of someone who puts things into another person's hands, that is, someone whose task it is to help another person succeed). The word was loaned into Dutch and might have entered English through the Dutch form.

bor

Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, by His Majeſty's Command, preſented to the Houſe, Copy of a Convention between the King of Great Britain and the States General, on the one Part; and the Empreſs Queen of Hungary and Bohemia on the other— […] Artillery. […] 12 Gunners, or Handlangers. […] 2 Drummers, at the Pay of Handlangers. […] 4 Aſſiſtants, at the Pay of Handlangers.

1746 January 22, “Jovis, 22° die Januarii; Anno 20° Georgii II Regis, 1746”, in Journals of the House of Commons. From October the 17th, 1745, in the Nineteenth Year of the Reign of King George the Second, to November the 22nd, 1750, in the Twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of King George the Second. Re-printed by Order of the House of Commons, volume 25, London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, published 1803, →OCLC, pages 247 and 250–251:

The Handlanger soldier was not a gunner or a bombardier, since he merely acted as labour on gun-sites […]

1973, Albert Seaton, The Austro-Hungarian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (Men-at-arms Series), Reading, Oxon.: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN:

After the defeat of 1809, the four artillery regiments were kept in existence, but the Handlanger-Corps was reduced to a cadre.

1990, Philip J. Haythornthwaite, Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars (Men-at-arms Series; 223), London: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 11:

The artillerymen concentrated on directing, loading and firing the guns, the remaining simpler functions being performed by the Handlanger. The No. 1 gunner inserted the charge and shot into the muzzle, No. 2 (a Handlanger) rammed it home and cleared the barrel with the sponge after firing. The chief gunner was No. 3, the Vormeister (gun commander) who was often a Bombardier, as were many Korporals. […] [H]e would also direct No. 5; the Handlanger holding the traversing spar and the Handlanger moving the gun.

2003, David Hollins, Austrian Napoleonic Artillery 1792–1815 (New Vanguard; 72), Oxford: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 14:

(military, historical) A low-ranking artillery soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army.


casemate

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From French casemate, from Italian casamatta. Further origin unclear, could be a compound casa (“house”) + matta (“mat (of straw), roof made of such material”), or borrowed from Greek χάσματα (chásmata) the plural of χάσμα (chásma, “gap”), presumably referring to the loopholes for shooting from.

compound

(military) A bombproof chamber, usually of masonry, in which cannon may be placed, to be fired through embrasures; or one capable of being used as a magazine, or for quartering troops.

каземат

bombproof chamber as part of fortification


Oozlefinch

(US, military) The mascot of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery branch, a mythical featherless, flightless bird that flies backwards to keep dust, trivia, and other inconsequentia out of his eyes.


pillbox

pillboxes (plural)
pill-box (alternative)

It was reported that the Germans had established trench works in front of the pillboxes. The enemy was said to have taken refuge from American fire in the pillboxes, later emerging to take up the trench positions.

1944 December 19, “Germans Stiff in Southern Reich”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page 4:

Beneath the wide steppe sky women in white kerchiefs were digging trenches and building small pillboxes, looking up now and again in case 'those vermin' were on the wing.

2019, Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Yury Bit-Yunan, Stalingrad, page 226:

"For the first time in 125 years a powerful enemy was now established across the narrow waters of the English Channel. ... Many people must have been bewildered by the innumerable activities all around them. They could understand the necessity for wiring and mining the beaches, the anti-tank obstacles at the defiles, the concrete pillboxes at the cross-roads, the intrusions into their houses to fill an attic with sandbags, on to their golf-courses or most fertile fields and gardens to burrow out some wide anti-tank ditch." So wrote Winston Churchill in Their Finest Hour, published in 1949.

2023 November 15, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A crucial part of our nation's defences”, in RAIL, number 996, page 60:

(military) A flat, concrete gun emplacement.


Jedburgh

/ˈd͡ʒɛdbərə/

The town was randomly chosen as the namesake for Operation Jedburgh, the Second World War operation to deploy the parachute teams.

(military, historical) Code name for teams of three parachuted into Occupied Europe (primarily France, but also Holland and Belgium) beginning on D-Day (June 6, 1944) to aid local Resistance groups. The men consisted of a British or American officer, a native of the country, and a non-commissioned radio operator.


counterpunch

en-verb

counterpunch (third-person singular simple present counterpunches, present participle counterpunching, simple past and past participle counterpunched)

counterpunches (present singular third-person)
counterpunching (participle present)
counterpunched (participle past)
counterpunched (past)
counter-punch (alternative)

(boxing) To deliver a punch designed to exploit an opponent's momentary defensive weakness caused by a punch thrown by the opponent.


counterforce

(military) Targeting an opponent's military assets, such as missile silos, rather than other valuable assets such as cities and civilian populations.


puggled

en-adj

puggled (comparative more puggled, superlative most puggled)

more puggled (comparative)
most puggled (superlative)

[…] there had been plenty to drink and plenty of trouble. Never have I known men who could get so puggled in a twinkling yet, somehow, still keep going.

1977, James Aikman Cochrane, Charlie Company:


redlined

[Female pilots] were forbidden to ferry aircraft overseas and, in the Civilian Air Patrol, on coastal patrols in the name of protecting our women, but were allowed to fly red lined aircraft that the men wouldn't fly.

1979 April 28, Mary A. Lowry, “Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines (review)”, in Gay Community News, page 10:

(military, of an aircraft) Marked with a red line to denote that it is unfit or unsafe for flight.


noneffective

After his injury, he was declared noneffective and given a medical discharge.

(military) Not able to assume active duty.


WIA

W.I.A. (alternative)
W. I. A. (alternative)

(military fiction) Initialism of wounded in action.


ACA

(military) Initialism of airspace control authority.

(military) Initialism of airspace coordination area.


mechanized

mechanized (comparative more mechanized, superlative most mechanized)

more mechanized (comparative)
most mechanized (superlative)
mechanised (alternative)

(military) Equipped with armoured motor vehicles; compare motorized (“equipped with unarmoured vehicles”).


DEP

en-noun

DEP (countable and uncountable, plural DEPs)

A DEP allows a recruit to complete education before joining the military.

(US, military, countable) Initialism of delayed entry program.


oiler

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From Middle English oyler, equivalent to oil + -er.

(firearms) A small (typically thumb-sized) metal container of oil, often containing an integral brush.


comrade in arms

comrade in arms (plural comrades in arms)

(military) A fellow combatant or soldier.


self-seeking

en-adj

self-seeking (comparative more self-seeking, superlative most self-seeking)

more self-seeking (comparative)
most self-seeking (superlative)

(military, of a missile, not comparable) That searches for a target automatically.

maaliin hakeutuva

military: searching automatically for target


say again

Bravo Six, say again, over.

Bravo Actual, I say again: Eight foot mobiles moving east, over.

(procedure word, military) To repeat part of or entire message transmitted over the radio, used instead of "repeat" which is an artillery procedure word.


most Rikki-Tik

Probably derived from the Rudyard Kipling character Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a fast-moving and quick-witted mongoose in the story of the same name.

Get that done most rikki-tik.

(slang, US, chiefly military) Quickly, immediately.


most Rikki-Tik

(slang, US, chiefly military) Quick, immediate.


boyau

Borrowed from French boyau. Doublet of bowel.

(military) A small trench or ditch, typically built in a zigzag pattern, serving to connect or provide communication between two trenches, particularly the rear and front lines.


cuirassier

Borrowed from French cuirassier, see below.

His vision was secular: the high priests 'will wear impressive robes'; the Herzl army would boast cuirassiers with silver breastplates;

2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 449:

(historical, military) A cavalry soldier equipped with a cuirass (armor).


woolly bear

woolly bears (plural)
wooly bear (alternative)

As Bourne came out, he could see shells exploding by the dump, with some shrapnel bursting, woolly-bears they called them, overhead.

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 236:

‘A Woolly Bear was used for demolition, and could be compared with our 5.9's. It burst on impact, made a big hole and left a tremendous cloud of black smoke.’

2000, Harold A Skaarup, Whiz Bangs and Woolly Bears, page 12:

(military slang, historical) An explosive shell that gives out dense smoke when it bursts.


scopie

I always thought we were paid more BECAUSE of the boredom factor. Certainly the air traffic sections worked just the same shifts, and stood their turn at ground defence like us scopies so no cause for a scopie premium there !

1999 February 24, Roger Gilmartin, “Leaving the RAF”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

I don't regret joining as a scopie even though I wanted to be a Telecomms techie!

1999 March 1, Gordon Clark (author), “Re:Leaving the RAF”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

Yup - Buchan scopie 75 - 77. What a good radar that was.

1999 August 19, Roger G, “Type 80 Radar”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

Perhaps this site is something to do with the Scopies at Boulmer?

2000 February 23, Steve McNamara, “RAF Brownside”, in uk.rec.subterranea (Usenet):

(UK, military, slang) An aerospace systems operator (ASOp) or fighter controller (FC) in the Royal Air Force.


Mossie

Form of mossie (“diminutive of mosquito”).

He leaned into the electric gunsight, aiming the Mossie at the left wingroot between engine and fuselage, where he knew there were fuel tanks — his right thumb mashed the control-column firing button.

1983, John Kelly, The Wooden Wolf, page 142:

The Mossies were still able to land before the bombers were over the Channel.

1993, Air League of the British Empire, Air Pictorial: Journal of the Air League, volume 55, page 8:

Almost 8,000 Mossies were built in Great Britain, Canada and Australia.

2003, Harold A. Skaarup, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Warbird Survivors 2003: A Handbook on Where to Find Them, page 97:

(dated or historical, UK, military, informal, colloquial) A de Havilland Mosquito.


SPLA

Sudan People's Liberation Army
w:Sudan People's Liberation Army

(South Sudan, military) Initialism of Sudan People's Liberation Army.


doss down

en-verb

doss down (third-person singular simple present dosses down, present participle dossing down, simple past and past participle dossed down)

dosses down (present singular third-person)
dossing down (participle present)
dossed down (participle past)
dossed down (past)


appui

appui (third-person singular simple present appuis, present participle appuiing, simple past and past participle appuied)

appuis (present singular third-person)
appuiing (participle present)
appuied (participle past)
appuied (past)
appuy (alternative)

From French appui, from Latin ad + podium (“foothold”).

(transitive, military) To prop or support, e.g. by posting troops.


TRB

(military, firearms) Initialism of tap, rack, bang.


WPA

(Australia, military) Initialism of Woomera Prohibited Area.


IBA

en-noun

IBA (countable and uncountable, plural IBAs)

(military, US) Initialism of Interceptor Body Armor.


furball

[…]But, as with the furball that had broken out around San Francisco, things escalated once again, as Teruzuki rolled better on her perception check, ambushing Sterett and blowing enough holes in her to force the U.S. destroyer to withdraw.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 22:21 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:

(military, aviation, nautical, slang) A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships.


AEB

AEB (countable and uncountable, plural AEBs)

(US, military, countable) Abbreviation of airborne engineer battalion (a battalion of combat engineers trained to parachute into their deployment zone)


helo

en-verb

helo (third-person singular simple present helos, present participle heloing, simple past and past participle heloed)

helos (present singular third-person)
heloing (participle present)
heloed (participle past)
heloed (past)

As soon as it's flyable, I've got a squad of air policemen heloing in from Mountain Home to set up a defensive perimeter, and park rangers and Idaho State Policemen ready to go into the mountains after this guy.

1998, Stephen Hunter, Time to Hunt, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 380:

(military, slang, rare) To travel via helicopter.


hand grenade

hand grenades (plural)
hand-grenade (alternative)

It began with a verbal hand grenade lobbed by Mr. Trump Monday, decrying the staggered release of hostages under the painstakingly crafted Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement brokered by his own envoy along with Qatar, Egypt, and the outgoing Biden administration.

2025 February 11, Taylor Luck, “Jordan in a bind: What to offer Trump instead of taking in Gaza refugees?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(military) A small hand-held explosive device designed to be thrown at an enemy.

грана́та

ручна́я (ručnája)


attrit

attrit (third-person singular simple present attrits, present participle attritting, simple past and past participle attritted)

attrits (present singular third-person)
attritting (participle present)
attritted (participle past)
attritted (past)

From Latin attrītus, past participle of atterō. Said by multiple dictionaries to be a back-formation from attrition, but it is not a recent one, being centuries old.

The primary objective is to attrit the units sufficiently so that they cannot close with the units in contact.

2001, John Matsumura, Lightning Over Water: Sharpening America's Light Forces for Rapid Missions, →ISBN, page 124:

(military) To lose, or to kill, troops by attrition due to sustained firepower.


sell out

sell out (third-person singular simple present sells out, present participle selling out, simple past and past participle sold out)

sells out (present singular third-person)
selling out (participle present)
sold out (participle past)
sold out (past)

After the peace of Versailles he resided in England; but, about three years before the breaking out of the Revolution, he sold out his commission in the army and emigrated to New York.

1857, Washington Irving, Life of George Washington, volume 2, page 267:

(historical, military) To sell one's commission.


centenar

(historical, military) During the Hundred Years' War, a commander of one hundred infantry.


weather gauge

(obsolete, naval) An advantageous position of one sailing vessel with respect to another, because of the direction of the prevailing wind, that allows it to maneuver for an attack etc.


angular mil

(military) A unit of angular measurement equal to 1/6400 of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (~0,98 m). Also 1/6000 and 1/6300 are used in other countries.


CBN

(military) Initialism of chemical, biological, nuclear. Alternative form of NBC


debouche

debouche (third-person singular simple present debouches, present participle debouching, simple past and past participle debouched)

debouches (present singular third-person)
debouching (participle present)
debouched (participle past)
debouched (past)

From French déboucher (“to unblock, uncork; to finish; to culminate”), from dé- (“un-”) + boucher (“to block, stop”).

uder

he debouched by the great high road through the forest, in the rear of the Austrian and Bavarian armies, while General Moreau attacked in front.

1839, Mathieu Dumas, Memoirs of His Own Time, volume 2, page 192:

(military, of a body of soldiers) To enter into battle.


COMUSNAVCENT

US Naval Forces Central Command
w:U.S. Naval Forces Central Command

(US, military) Abbreviation of US Naval Forces Central Command.


retrench

en-verb

retrench (third-person singular simple present retrenches, present participle retrenching, simple past and past participle retrenched)

retrenches (present singular third-person)
retrenching (participle present)
retrenched (participle past)
retrenched (past)

/ɹɪˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɹəˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

From Old French retranchier (“to get rid of, remove”) (modern French retrancher (“to cut out, take away; to cut off; to cut down”)), from re- (“again”) + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”) (modern French trancher (“to slice”)); further etymology uncertain, but possibly either from Vulgar Latin *trinicāre (“cut in three parts”) (from the root trini from trēs (“three”), based on the model of duplicāre (“to double by dividing, split in two, tear”)), or from an alteration of Latin truncāre (“to maim by cutting off pieces; to truncate”), also possibly influenced by Gaulish *trincare (“to cut (the head)”). Compare English trench.

der

to retrench bastions

The Half-Moon is a Work always raiſed before the Baſtion's Point, being ſo named from the Lowneſs of its Gorges Cavity, &c. and is to ſecure the Two Faces of the Baſtion; but when the Faces have but a weak Defence from the Ravelin, theſe Works are ſoon made uſeleſs or ruined, and give the Beſieged an opportunity of Lodgment, and may ſerve for Batteries and Flanks againſt the oppoſing Baſtions; however they may be retrenched by Traverſes, yet they will not fail to attack entirely in the Face, or where you have your laſt Retrenchment, alſo that called the Counterguard runs the like Hazard.

1712, H[enry] Curzon, “Of Fortification”, in The Universal Library: Or, Compleat Summary of Science. Containing above Sixty Select Treatises. In Two Volumes. …, volume II, London: Printed for George Sawbridge, at the Three Flower-de-Lys in Little Britain, →OCLC, page 243:

[I]f there is one Retrenchment in a Work, it is generally thought ſufficient; but it happens much oftener than there is none at all; ſo that one might be apt to think, a Defence like that we have been explaining is only chimerical, if the Sieges of Vienna and Candy, both by the Turks, were not inſtances of the contrary, where there was hardly an inch of Ground either within or without thoſe two Towns, as far as the Extremities of the Glacis, and even beyond them, but what was retrenched and countermined.

1747, John Muller [i.e., John Müller], “Part II. Of the Defence.”, in The Attack and Defence of Fortify’d Places. In Three Parts. …, London: Printed for J. Millan, near Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 186:

Captain Allaud did not doubt that the principal attack would be directed towards the left bastion; he had the gorge of this bastion therefore retrenched during the night.

1876, E[ugène] Viollet-le-Duc, “The Seventh Siege”, in Benjamin Bucknall, transl., Annals of a Fortress, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 335:

(transitive, military) To furnish with a retrenchment (a defensive work within a fortification).


RUC

(military, US) Initialism of reporting unit code.


muzzle velocity

en-noun

muzzle velocity (plural muzzle velocities)

The decision about ammunition turned on the detailed specifications, known as the “technical data package,” that the Army drew up when it converted the rifle into the M-16. The data package included the requirements that the muzzle velocity of the rifle must average 3,250 feet per second (fps), plus or minus 40, and that the pressure within the firing chamber must not exceed 52,000 pounds per square inch.

1981 June, James Fallows, “M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:

Perhaps stunned by what Steve Bannon, the MAGA strategist, calls the “muzzle velocity” of action and orders, Democrats have had a difficult time addressing the disconnect between what Mr. Trump talks about and what they see as workers get fired, tariffs put upward pressure on prices and hold times for tax assistance stretch into hours.

2025 March 5, David E. Sanger, quoting Steve Bannon, “Trump Celebrates His Disruption but Slides Over Its Costs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(firearms) The velocity of a discharged projectile at the muzzle of a firearm.


free float

en-verb

free float (third-person singular simple present free floats, present participle free floating, simple past and past participle free floated)

free floats (present singular third-person)
free floating (participle present)
free floated (participle past)
free floated (past)

(firearms) to alter a firearm so that no part of the barrel touches the stock.


barrelled

a barrelled action

a double-barrelled shotgun

(firearms) Having a barrel or specified number of barrels.


ETS

en-noun

ETS (countable and uncountable, plural ETSes)

(military, US) Initialism of end of term of service or expiration of term of service.

(military, US) Initialism of estimated time of separation.


shake and bake

shake and bakes (plural)
shake-and-bake (alternative)
shake 'n bake (alternative)
shake 'n' bake (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shake and bake.wav

From the brand name Shake 'n Bake, a powdered seasoning, so called because one could put it in a plastic bag with meat, then easily season the meat by shaking.

(US, military, slang, historical) A non-commissioned officer with little experience, qualified through a special course.


retrenchment

Probably either from:
* Middle French retranchement (“defensive work”) (modern French retranchement (“entrenchment”)), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again, once more’) + tranche (“trench”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns usually of an action or a state resulting from an action); or
* retrench (“to construct one or more retrenchments; to protect using retrenchments; to fortify”) + -ment. Retrench is probably derived from Middle French retrancher, retranchier (“to fortify with trenches and banks”), from Old French re- + tranchier, trenchier (“to cut”); see further at etymology 1.

suffix

1712, H[enry] Curzon, “Of Fortification”, in The Universal Library: Or, Compleat Summary of Science. […] , volume II, London: […] George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 243:

1747, John Muller [i.e., John Müller], “Part II. Of the Defence.”, in The Attack and Defence of Fortify’d Places. […], London: […] J. Millan, […], →OCLC, page 186:

The gate-way of the north ſide, from whence the garriſon got their water, was near the n. w. angle, and about 80 yards from the river; on the ſide of which, oppoſite to the gate, they threw up a retrenchment, in which they kept a guard to protect the water-carriers.

1778, [Robert Orme], “Book VIII. [The War of Coromandel.]”, in A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, from the Year MDCCXLV. […], volume II, 1st section, London: […] John Nourse, […], →OCLC:

(military, dated) A defensive work constructed within a fortification to make it more defensible by allowing defenders to retreat into and fight from it even after the enemy has taken the outer work.