shock and awe

en-verb

shock and awe (third-person singular simple present shocks and awes, present participle shocking and awing or shocking and aweing, simple past and past participle shocked and awed)

shocks and awes (present singular third-person)
shocking and awing (participle present)
shocking and aweing (participle present)
shocked and awed (participle past)
shocked and awed (past)

/ˈʃɒk(ə)nd ˈɔː/

He was a young soldier still in the great battle of life, not used to see his fellow-combatants drop down by his side; and he felt shocked and awed.

[1877, Julia Kavanagh, chapter XXVII, in Two Lilies. A Novel, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, 549 & 551 Broadway, →OCLC, page 261:

That's why good strategists know when to stop shocking and awing: when to begin consolidating the benefits these strategies have provided. The classic example is Otto von Bismarck, who set new standards for shock and awe by provoking three wars—against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and France in 1870—all with a view to clearing the way for the unification of Germany.

2004, John Lewis Gaddis, “The Twenty-first Century”, in Surprise, Security, and the American Experience (Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lecture on American Civilization and Government), Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, pages 101–102:

It was one thing to hear talk of protests and war resistance back home, but when I saw it first hand, just a few feet from my bed, I was shocked and awed by the seriousness of some of the guys who had decided not to participate in this war anymore.

2004 March, Tony Lawless, “‘Underground’ Bunker”, in Lawless in Vietnam: A Personal Accounting of My War, Haverford, Pa.: Infinity Publishing, →ISBN, page 239:

[H]e descends into ferrying drugs carefully planted in carcasses from an abattoir, and is eventually trained to be a killer. The violence, when it comes, shocks and awes because the beauty of the preceding scenes has had a hypnotic hold on the viewer.

2005, Lloyd Hughes, The Rough Guide to Gangster Movies (Rough Guides Reference), London: Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 93:

The wars in Afghanistan and Iran are both fought in defense of the manliness of "America." […] President [George W.] Bush is reelected on a platform of never changing his mind, never reconsidering a decision once taken, and never worrying about what others might think or feel in relation to U.S. actions globally. Since this model of national sovereignty in the face of a foreign threat leaves little room for worrying about individual lives at home, victims of national disasters are subjected to an unimaginably callous carelessness. And the events in nature that shock and awe the senses are used as excuses for doing away with those minimal environmental protections that still constrain the fossil fuel industry.

2006, Bonnie Mann, “Conclusion”, in Women’s Liberation and the Sublime: Feminism, Postmodernism, Environment, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 176:

[M]ost weapon sounds (gun reports, rockets in flight, detonations, etc.) are not just big but absolutely vast, commanding attention, intimidating, shocking and aweing large populations dispersed over large areas.

2015, J. Martin Daughtry, “Sonic Campaigns”, in Listening to War: Sound, Music, Trauma, and Survival in Wartime Iraq, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, section II (Structures of Listening, Sounding, and Emplacement), page 161:

(military, also figuratively) To use the "shock and awe" doctrine in an actual or potential conflict, or to otherwise use a spectacular display of force or authority.


tamboo

We live in tamboos – a sort of cross between a cowshed and an outdoor privy.

1995, Pat Barker, The Ghost Road (The Regeneration Trilogy), Penguin, published 2014, page 804:

My servant & I ate the chocolate in the cold middle of last night, crouched under a draughty Tamboo, roofed with planks.

1918 October 31, Wilfred Owen, Letter to his mother, Susan Owen:

(military slang, now historical) A temporary shelter used by soldiers during the First World War.


gaining twist

(firearms) In rifled firearms, a twist of the grooves, which increases regularly from the breech to the muzzle.


chancre mechanic

en-noun

chancre mechanic (plural chancre mechanics)


hang upon

en-verb

hang upon (third-person singular simple present hangs upon, present participle hanging upon, simple past and past participle hung upon)

hangs upon (present singular third-person)
hanging upon (participle present)
hung upon (participle past)
hung upon (past)

to hang upon the flanks of a retreating enemy


smart bomb

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

(military aviation) A guided air-dropped bomb.


brass hat

brass hats (plural)
brasshat (alternative)

From the military brass insignia on a service hat.

"American brass hats make no secret that they regard outer space as a potential theater of military operations," it said.

1982, Countdown begins for Space Shuttle, The New York Times

He raised his first storm in January 1967 when, as leader of the "Save the Argylls" campaign, he claimed the brass hats had driven the regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Colin "Mad Mitch" Mitchell, into resignation.

2006, Andrew Roth, Obituary: Lord Monro of Langholm, The Guardian

This being Libya, there were conflicting signals yesterday – an army brass hat captured here, a counter-attack by Gaddafi forces there […]

2011, Andrew Roth, Gaddafi faces endgame as he bribes civilians to fight for him, The Independent

[…] with particularly young Thais—including 3.3 million first-time voters—backing the upstart party’s bold pledges to weaken the political role of brass hats and amend the nation’s strict royal defamation law […]

2023 May 15, Charlie Campbell, “The Voting in Thailand’s Election Is Finished, But the Politicking Is Just Beginning”, in Time:

(military, slang, metonymic) A high-ranking officer. Commander.


antidesertion

en-adj

antidesertion (comparative more antidesertion, superlative most antidesertion)

more antidesertion (comparative)
most antidesertion (superlative)


hyah

(martial arts) a vocalisation used when performing a technique or striking a blow


TERF

en-noun

TERF (countable and uncountable, plural TERFs)

A MAWTS qualified TERF instructor is required for all TERF instructional sorties.

1980, United States Marine Corps, Aviation training and readiness manual:

[…] Typical TERF altitudes for Navy and Marine Corps helicopters include low level (approximately 100 ft AGL), contour (50 ft AGL), and nap of the earth (NOE) (less than 50 ft AGL). A depiction of typical TERF modes in presented in Figure 3.

2003 October 12-16, The 22nd Digital Avionics Systems Conference : Proceedings : Indianapolis, IN, volume 2

(US military) Abbreviation of terrain flight (“flight close to the ground, to avoid enemy detection or fire”).


smokeball

(military) A ball or case containing a substance that produces thick smoke when it burns.


IOF

PCHR, monitoring with utmost concern the developments of this offensive, calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and United Nations, to immediately intervene to force IOF to stop this offensive and lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

2006 September 11, shergald, “Palestine: Weekly Report of Human Rights Violations”, in Daily Kos:

Israel Occupation Forces
Israel Occupation Forces#English

(military, derogatory) Initialism of Israel Occupation Forces.


soman

(chemistry, military) The nerve gas O-pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate, used as a chemical weapon.


Mighty Mouse

en-proper noun

Mighty Mouse (plural Mighty Mouses or Mighty Mice)

Mighty Mouses (plural)
Mighty Mice (plural)

(military, informal) A small U.S. military rocket from the 1950s.


flying army

a plain demonstration of cowardice in their opposing his late measure of entering England, and pursuing the flying army of the English

1749, William Duff, A New and Full, Critical, Biographical, and Geographical History of Scotland:

(archaic, military) A body of cavalry and infantry, kept in motion, to cover its own garrisons and to keep the enemy in continual alarm.


globe of compression

en-noun

globe of compression (plural globes of compression)

(military, historical) A kind of mine producing a wide crater.


forearm smash

(wrestling) A charge at the opponent followed by a strike in the chest or face with a forearm to force them back and down to the mat.


ammo humper

(military, slang) A soldier responsible for carrying the ammunition.


syntagmatarchy

First attested in 1670–1 and then once per century since; from the Latin syntagmatarchia, from the Ancient Greek συνταγματαρχία (suntagmatarkhía), from σύνταγμα (súntagma), whence the English syntagma.

uder

συνταγματαρχία

Two Taxiarchies, which were ſixteen Files, made a Syntagmatarchy of two hundred fifty ſix men; its Commander Syntagmatarcha was our private Captain. This Company was a ſquare of men, ſixteen in Rank and ſixteen in File, and whatever way you turn’d it, ſtill ſixteen. […¶] Two Syntagmatarchies compos’d a Pentecoſiarchy conſiſting of five hundred and twelve men[.…] By this account we find in every Phalange two Diphalangarchies, four Phalangarchies, eight Myriarchies, ſixteen Chiliarchies, two and thirty Pentecoſiarchies, ſixty four Syntagmatarchies; in all one thouſand twenty four Files, which conſiſted of ſixteen thouſand three hundred eighty four men, at ſixteen in every File. [¶] Here you are to obſerve, that every Syntagmatarchy or private Company, conſiſting of two hundred fifty ſix men, had beſide the Captain and others already ſpoken of, five other Officers, whom Ælian calls ſupernumerary or extraordinary.

1670–1, Sir James Turner, Pallas Armata (1968), chapter v, page 13

Sixteen of theſe files compoſed what was called a ſyntagmatarchy or a ſquare body of 256 men.

1787, Sketch of a Plan for Reducing the Expence of the Army, page 5:

In the phalanx,…were 64 syntagmatarchies; and it evidently appears that the number of cavalry…assigned to act with the phalanx, was 4096 men; now this number being divided by 64, will exactly furnish a troop consisting of a like number to each syntagmatarchy.

1814, Henry Augustus Visc. Dillon xiii, The Tactics of Ælian, chapter xx, page 94, endnote 2

Two diphalangarchies are a tetraphalangarchy, 1,024 files, 16,384 men, so that in the phalanx as a whole there will be 2 wings, 4 phalangarchies, 8 merarchies, 16 chiliarchies, 32 pentakosiarchies, 64 syntagmatarchies, 128 taxiarchies, 256 tetrarchies, 512 dilochiai, 1,024 files (lochoi).

1989, The Ancient World, XIX-XX, pages 47-48, § 9.10:

(Ancient Greek military history, very rare) A square formation of 256 soldiers arranged into sixteen files, sixteen ranks deep, led by a syntagmatarch; a syntagma.


NBC suit

Short for nuclear/biological/chemical suit.

(military) A protective suit used in the military to avoid contact with and contamination by radioactive, biological or chemical substances.


Noddy suit

Named after a character who wore a pointed hat in children's books by Enid Blyton.

(UK, military, informal) A kind of NBC suit with a pointed hood.


osotogari

(judo) A throw in which (right-handed version) tori steps next to uke with his left leg and reaps uke's right leg (at the back of the thigh) with his right leg.


other rank

He knew that Sergeant-Major Cowley wanted to get the Other Ranks out of the hut with that captain carrying on like that, and he did not see why the old N.C.O. should not have what he wanted.

1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 301:

There were to be these raiders – Amon, myself and thirty ‘other ranks’ […]

1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 125:

Originating as an officers' style, this one was quickly embraced by Other Ranks as well.

1975, Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory:

As I was wearing no badges of rank I was mistaken for an other rank.

1992, AJ Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, page 42:

commissioned officer
commissioned officer

(military, chiefly in the plural) A soldier who is not a commissioned officer.


pisscutter

From piss + cutter. As side cap tends to easily fall off the head when bowing down, it cuts off the stream of urine when one looks down while urinating.

(US, military, slang, vulgar) A side cap.


thousand-yard stare

en-noun

thousand-yard stare (plural thousand-yard stares)

thousand-yard stares (plural)
thousand yard stare (alternative)

Such terms are usually said to have originated in the usage of soldiers and the physicians who treated them for combat wounds and combat stress. A search of a large corpus finds thousand-yard stare attested during World War II (citations from 1943 to 1945), naming a symptom of social isolation in far-flung posts or of combat stress; the absence of attestations of *-yard stare and *-year stare from before 1943 suggests that perhaps this symptom (from any mentally traumatic cause) was not called by these names until the 1940s. In contrast, the thematically related term shell shock was in use during World War I.

(informal, military) A blank, unfocused glance given by a traumatized person, especially a soldier who has seen combat.


JG

JGs (plural)
J.G. (alternative)
J. G. (alternative)
jg (alternative)
j.g. (alternative)
j. g. (alternative)

lieutenant junior grade
lieutenant junior grade


randori

(Japanese martial arts) Freestyle practice, such as one-on-one sparring.


Wagnerite

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(military) A mercenary from the Wagner Group PMC.


Thach weave

From Thach + weave. Named after WWII U.S. naval aviator John S. Thach, who invented the manoeuvre.

(historical, military, aviation) A tactic in aerial combat of the World War II era, where two aircraft on patrol fly a parallel course, and if attacked, overlap their flight paths repeatedly, enabling each to protect the other.


MRL

multiple rocket launcher
multiple rocket launcher#English

(military) Initialism of multiple rocket launcher.


multiple rocket launcher

multiple rocket launcher (plural multiple rocket launchers)

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


ordie

Helmets nodded approval almost in unison as the ordies began to perform their jobs. The ordnance men checked the MK-84 practice bombs, ensuring they would drop when the pilot pressed the pickle switch in the cockpit […]

2009, Randy Arrington, Kerosene Cowboys:


molehunt

(espionage) An investigation attempting to identify moles (agents who have infiltrated an organisation).


AUMF

And that is why I intend to engage Congress about the existing Authorization to Use Military Force, or AUMF, to determine how we can continue to fight terrorism without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing.

2013 May 23, Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at the National Defense University:

(US politics, military) Initialism of authorization for use of military force.


pucker factor

Referring to the tightening of the buttocks caused by fear.

(military, slang) The level of stress and/or adrenaline in a dangerous situation.


boxlock

(firearms) A style of double-barrelled shotgun with concealed, self-cocking hammers that use a break-open action.


lockwork

(firearms) The assembly forming the firing mechanism of a gun.


lockplate

(firearms) The plate that covers the lockwork of a gun.


BOR

BOR (countable and uncountable, plural BORs)

Coordinate term: IOR

(countable, military, historical) Initialism of (member of) British other ranks.


pecker checker

In reference to medical tests for sexually-transmitted diseases. See pecker (“penis”).

(US, military, slang, humorous, derogatory) A medical doctor, especially a urologist.


construction soldier

construction soldier (plural construction soldiers)

Possibly translated from German Bausoldat.

(military, historical) In the German Democratic Republic, a person who did not bear arms but instead did construction work.


ribauldequin

/ɹɪˈbəʊdɪkɪn/

ribauldequin

synonym of organ gun — see also organ gun


FDE

Coordinate term: OD (“olive drab”)

(especially military) Initialism of flat dark earth: a brownish color used for clothing, uniforms, tools, and equipment.


mag book

From the shape and opening method of the container, similar to a codex (colloquially referred to as books), and being used to store and carry "mags".

(weaponry) A container used to store and carry ammunition clips.


aim-crier

(archery) One who encouraged an archer by crying "Aim!" when he was about to shoot.


VLS

(military) Initialism of vertical launching system.


firing point

(military) A prepared fighting position from which infantry can defend territory with minimal exposure to return fire.


squabbling bleeder

squabbling bleeder (plural squabbling bleeders)

(military, slang, humorous) squadron leader


mahogany Spitfire

mahogany Spitfire (plural mahogany Spitfires)

(military, slang, humorous, derogatory) The desk of an air force employee who does not fly.


chain of command

chain of command (plural chains of command)

(military) The command hierarchy or structure in which one rank obeys the one above it, which obeys the one above it, and so forth.

ланцуг камандавання

hierarchy in which one rank obeys the one above it


JKD

(informal, martial arts) Initialism of Jeet Kune Do.


Iraqibacter

From Iraqi + -bacter. From Blend of Iraqi + translingual Acinetobacter due to the instances of infection of US military service personnel serving in Iraq by this bacteria.

blend

Iraqi bacter (alternative)
Iraqi Bacter (alternative)

Acinetobacter baumannii
Acinetobacter baumannii#English

(slang, pathology, military, US) Synonym of Acinetobacter baumannii


BAP

(nautical, military, initialism) The ship prefix for a ship from the navy of Peru.


ONI

Office of Naval Intelligence
w:Office of Naval Intelligence

(US military) Initialism of Office of Naval Intelligence.


tankman

tankmen (plural)
tank-man (alternative)
tank man (alternative)

From tank + -man (suffix denoting someone (possibly implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area).

affix

(military) The (male) operator of a military tank.


AIP

air independent propulsion
air independent propulsion#English

(navy, submarines) Abbreviation of air independent propulsion. (a method of propelling submarines without access to the Earth's atmosphere while using combustion engines (internal or external combustion engines))


molehunter

In the late 1960s here, in a room booked for the occasion, molehunter Peter Wright made 'one more try' at breaking Alister Watson, the defence scientist believed to have given secrets to the Soviets for decades.

1994, Roy Berkeley, A Spy's London, page 306:

(espionage) One who investigates and attempts to identify a mole (agent who has infiltrated an organisation).


sumotori

sumotoris (plural)
sumotori (plural)
sumōtori (alternative)

His past was evident in his small office, crowded with his wrestling trophies and certificates, but most intriguing to Hiroshi were the photos of sumotori that lined the wall—their bulky, imposing bodies filling the space around them.

2007, Gail Tsukiyama, The Street of a Thousand Blossoms: A Novel, page 47:


light cavalry

(military) A military unit consisting of lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses.


heavy cavalry

en-noun

heavy cavalry (countable and uncountable, plural heavy cavalries)

(military) A military unit consisting of troops mounted on large powerful horses, and often equipped with armor as well as either swords, maces, lances, or battle axes.


Johnson hole

Johnson holes (plural)
Jack Johnson hole (alternative)

Named, for its size, after Jack Johnson (1878-1946), the world heavyweight boxing champion until 1915.

And to his immediate front, below the shelving ramp, a circular calm water graced the deep of a Johnson hole […]

1937, David Jones, In Parenthesis, Part 3

A running joke is the supposed general who has fallen into a Johnson hole, and Bert's anxiety about whether he should ‘let him drift or fish 'im out’.

2005, Gordon Williams, British Theatre in the Great War, page 196:

(military slang, now historical) A large shell crater during the First World War.


battery acid

battery acid (countable and uncountable, plural battery acids)

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


Charlie Papa

Initialism CP as expressed in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Head over to the Charlie Papa and fetch me the latest timetable.


Snider

The rifle is named from the surname of its inventor.

(military, historical) A breech-loading rifle formerly used in the British service.


gedunk

The word was used by U.S. Marines stationed in China in the 20s and 30s to denote candy or sweets the Marines would give to their girlfriends.

(US, military, slang) A snack; a junk food item.

(US, military, slang) A canteen or snack bar.


BOG

boots on the ground
boots on the ground#English

(military) Initialism of boots on the ground.


hammer fist

hammer fists (plural)
hammer-fist (alternative)
hammerfist (alternative)

(martial arts) A blow with a clenched fist, usually using the side of the hand or wrist


MLSE

military local service engagement#English

(military) Abbreviation of Military Local Service Engagement.


sagari

(sumo) The stiffened silk fronds inserted in the front of a mawashi.


pissaphone

Blend of piss + megaphone, from its shape.

(military, slang, vulgar) A urinal consisting of a funnel set into the ground.


WOFTAM

waste of fucking time
waste of time#English

(military, slang) Initialism of waste of fucking time and money.


Willy Pete

White phosphorus
white phosphorus#English


pop smoke

en-verb

pop smoke (third-person singular simple present pops smoke, present participle popping smoke, simple past and past participle popped smoke)

pops smoke (present singular third-person)
popping smoke (participle present)
popped smoke (participle past)
popped smoke (past)

(military slang) To call for air extract with a smoke grenade.

(military slang) To throw smoke grenades as a means of cover or escape during battle.


Barney-style

After the dinosaur character in the children's educational TV show Barney & Friends.

(military slang) In extremely simplified language.


recoil pad

(firearms) A soft rubber (or similar) attachment added to the butt of a long firearm to absorb some of the recoil.


loaded march

(military) A movement on foot by soldiers who must, in order to satisfy a the requirement of the drill, march long distances at full speed while carrying a full load of supplies.


Amcit

In the last seven weeks, seven Amcits were arrested for national security concerns and violations of immigration laws (Ref A-E), compared to only six in the entire four months prior.

2011, Alexander Star, Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy:


PVS

(US, military) Abbreviation of personal viewing sight.: a night-vision device


ARCIC

w:United States Army Capabilities Integration Center

(US, military) Initialism of United States Army Capabilities Integration Center.


AGI

en-noun

AGI (countable and uncountable, plural AGIs)

AGIs (plural)
A.G.I. (alternative)
A. G. I. (alternative)

(espionage) Initialism of auxiliary gathering intelligence.


speed bag

speed bags (plural)
speedbag (alternative)
speed-bag (alternative)

(boxing) A small air-filled punching bag anchored at the top to a rebound platform parallel to the ground.

(military, aviation) An improvised airdropped resupply pack, composed of food and water, ammunition, and other supplies, stuffed into a duffle bag or bodybag.


hybrid war

Neologism derived from hybrid warfare; usage increased during the 2014-present Ukrainian war.

(military) A war that comprises the use of conventional and nonconventional means by at least one side, which officially denies involvement.


armed conflict

armed conflict (countable and uncountable, plural armed conflicts)

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


POG

POG (countable and uncountable, plural POGs)

(US, military, slang, countable) Acronym of person other than grunt: a member of military staff other than infantry.


bladejob

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) An act of blading, or intentionally cutting to provoke bleeding.


cup discharger

(firearms) A cup-shaped bracket, mounted on the end of a rifle barrel, used to propel hand grenades.


safetied

He looked at his guys; nervous and fingering their safetied weapons. One of them hunched over and vomited

2014, The Twilight of Liberty, page 205:

Others had unloaded and permanently safetied weapons on their arms. Thanks to nanobot enhancements, others were now extraordinarily powerful

(firearms) On which the safety mechanism is engaged.


isodrome

(naval) A method of moving a fleet from one formation to another, the direction usually being changed eight points, by means of paths of equal length for each ship.


toc emma

toc emmas (plural)
toch emma (alternative)
tock emma (alternative)

After dark the toch-emmas are going to break the Boche wire and we'll cut a passage in ours.

'Field artillery?' 'No. Toc-emmas.' He was referring to trench-mortars.

2010, Rebecca Wilby, In Different Skies, page 180:

(military slang, now historical) Trench mortar.


tin hat

They could live on jerked goat, the strong black coffee they called 'boiler compound,' and hash cooked in a tin hat.

2007, Winston Groom, 1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls:

(military, slang, historical) The steel helmet worn by soldiers during World War I.


file closer

(military) An officer posted at the rear of a line, or on the flank of a column, of soldiers, to rectify mistakes and ensure steadiness and promptness in the ranks.


hip lock

(wrestling) A lock in which a close grip is obtained and a fall attempted by a heave over the hip.


infight

en-verb

infight (third-person singular simple present infights, present participle infighting, simple past and past participle infought)

infights (present singular third-person)
infighting (participle present)
infought (participle past)
infought (past)

Apparently a back-formation from infighting, perhaps continuing Middle English infighten (“to attack”), from Old English infiht, infeoht (“an attack made upon a person by another in the same house or between members of a household”), equivalent to in- + fight.

Be prepared to slip and duck his jab to infight or to counter with a quick punch to the head or body.

2004, Mark Hatmaker, Doug Werner, Boxing Mastery: Advanced Technique, Tactics, and Strategies from the Sweet Science, →ISBN, page 213:

Even if you're giving up reach in order to infight, standing at the end of your opponent's punch (impact position) isn't the way to do it.

2007, Alan Lachica, Doug Werner, Boxing's Ten Commandments, →ISBN, page 29:

Walker tried hard to close with his opponent, and infight, but by using both hands to good advantage Fus. Scott held his own.

2003, Peter B. Kyne, Captain Scraggs; Or, the Green-Pea Pirates, →ISBN, page 252:

"In a minute," said the commodore faintly. "He's so good I hate to hurt him. But I'll infight him to a finish."

1929, St. George's Gazette - Volume 47, page 247:

(boxing) To box while extremely close to an opponent


disappearing carriage

en-noun

disappearing carriage (plural disappearing carriages)

(military, historical) A carriage for heavy coast guns on which the gun is raised above the parapet for firing and upon discharge is lowered behind the parapet for protection.


water tender

(US, naval, historical) A first-class petty officer in charge in a fireroom, who supplies the boilers with water, sees that fires are properly cleaned and stoked, etc.


keikogi

(clothing, martial arts) A set of uniform worn while training in some Japanese martial arts


collateral damage

collateral damage (usually uncountable, plural collateral damages)

A certain amount of collateral damage and destruction to the surrounding environment has always been viewed as a necessary but generally undesirable by-product of military conflict.

1999, Dennis L. Soden, The Environmental Presidency, →ISBN, page 237:

But the most critical tension concerns the need to balance minimal own-casualties and low collateral damage with operational effectiveness.

2004, Alice Hills, Future War in Cities: Rethinking a Liberal Dilemma, →ISBN, page 197:

And, most importantly, there may come a point when, by taking measures to improve the security of the attacking force, the increase in the expected collateral damage outweighs the anticipated military advantage.

2009, Ian Henderson, The Contemporary Law of Targeting, →ISBN, pages 205–206:

(military, euphemistic) Damage to civilian property or civilian casualties that is the unintended result of military operations.

you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs


mustahfiz

(military, historical) A member of the territorial militia of the Ottoman Empire.


dog robber

There are many conjectures about the origin of this term, ranging from the peacetime occupation of the title character in The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, to the use of the term dog for enlisted men, hence someone who took the best of everything away from the dogs to give to the officers. The most likely conjecture is that it comes from a 19th-century term for a contemptible person who stole scraps of leftover food that would otherwise be fed to dogs.

He had detailed from his company a jovial Irish lad as orderly — the regular army name for the position is dog-robber.

1892, Stanton P. Allen, Down in Dixie: Life in a Cavalry Regiment in the War Days, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, page 488:

He had a pretty good assignment as the dog-robber, or orderly, for Lieutenant Friel.

2001, Clint Lamm, Tales From the Picket Line, →ISBN, page 103:

I'll call my dog robber and have him meet you there—I don't want either of these messages destroyed.

2011, R.D. Bullard, Civil War III, →ISBN, page 13:

(military, slang) An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer.

Trading "enemy flags" for weapons proved to be an effective way of fulfilling some of the requirements, but the dog robber was still using his talents to obtain the more difficult to find items.

1999, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson, The ghosts of the highlands: 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67, →ISBN, page 73:

Harbert was our dog robber (scrounger), had been since he joined the outfit in Guadalcanal.

2003, G Holcomb, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, →ISBN, page 80:

He not only was very good at his job, he also was an old soldier and an accomplished dog robber, which.meant that his crew never lacked for any necessary equipment.

2011, Arthur Hood, The Ghost Cabin Mission, →ISBN, page 15:

(military, slang) One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law.

My friend led the way, clad in his jodhpurs, on his trusty black stallion, and I followed, wearing 'dog-robbers' — both of us with haversacks containing our gear for a Spanish weekend.

1959, Naval Review (London), volume 47, page 335:

Then he got up with a sigh, changed into dog robbers and went into the town to get drunk.

(military, slang, in the plural) Civilian clothing; mufti.


trench art

(art, military) Any decorative item made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians, where the manufacture is directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences.


service cap

(military) A cap or hat worn by officers or enlisted men when full dress uniform, or dress uniform, is not worn.


déculassement

déculassement (countable and uncountable, plural déculassements)

(firearms) An accidental blowing off of, or other serious damage to, the breechblock of a gun.

(firearms) The removal of the breechblock for the purpose of disabling the gun.


OODA

(Observe, Orient, Decide, Act): Coined by USAF instructor John Boyd

(military) Initialism of Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (a decision cycle for military combat operations and other processes)

Observe

OODA (Observer, Orienter, Décider, Agir)


tac-au-tac

From French riposter du tac au tac (“to parry”), where tac imitates the sound made by the steel.

bor

(fencing) The parry which is connected with a riposte.

(fencing) A rapid series of attacks and parries in which neither fencer gains a point.


torpedo catcher

en-noun

torpedo catcher (plural torpedo catchers)

(military, nautical) A small, fast gunboat for pursuing and destroying torpedo boats.


forecharge

forecharges (plural)
fore-charge (alternative)

The fore-charges were individually packed in thin metal containers and loaded in the gun that way;

2014, Arthur J Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow:

(weaponry) The shot in the forward part of a firearm cartridge.


mad minute

Then the Major got into the game and launched rockets at them, and we all had a few mad minutes having target practice on the Lionel train set.

(UK, military) A test of marksmanship with fifteen aimed shots at a twelve-inch target at 200 yards within one minute.


gunbird

"A gunbird's passing right above us!" warned an edgy Pellip.

2010, Patrick Wageman, Crossing the Rubicon:

The landing went unopposed, with no VC/NVA fire. The gunbirds ran around the local area looking for suitable targets and generally shot up every tree line and bushy area.

(military, slang) A military helicopter.


unbrigaded

(military) That does not form part of a brigade.


unass

en-verb

unass (third-person singular simple present unasses, present participle unassing, simple past and past participle unassed)

unasses (present singular third-person)
unassing (participle present)
unassed (participle past)
unassed (past)

We “unassed” the barracks and slept outside on the lawn the remainder of the night.

2005, Herman Flora, Miz Suzie's Boy, page 248:

(US military slang, transitive) To get out of (a vehicle or building).


commerce destroyer

en-noun

commerce destroyer (plural commerce destroyers)

(military, nautical, dated or historical) A fast, unarmoured, lightly armed naval vessel designed to capture or destroy the enemy's merchant ships.


Cossack post

(military) An outpost consisting of four men, forming one of a single line of posts substituted for the more formal line of sentinels and line of pickets.


artillery wheel

artillery wheel (plural artillery wheels)

(military) A kind of heavily built dished wheel with a long axle box, used on gun carriages, usually having 14 spokes and 7 felloes


cross-buttock

(wrestling) A throw in which the wrestler turns his left side to his opponent, places his left leg across both legs of his opponent, and pulls him forward over his hip.


neuroballistic

(military, of a weapon such as a catapult, ballista etc) Powered by a spring or a stretched or twisted cord


lighthanded

en-adj

lighthanded (comparative more lighthanded, superlative most lighthanded)

more lighthanded (comparative)
most lighthanded (superlative)

Being so lighthanded the vessel could not be properly managed and could carry but little sail, consequently her progress was but slow.

1887, The Contributor: Representing the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations of the Latter-day Saints, Volume 8, page 168:

“We will hold on to the last, while he must begin to take in soon, or the squall will come upon him too fast for a light-handed vessel.”

1836, James Fenimore Cooper, The Water Witch:

(nautical or military) Not having a full complement of workers.


underhammer

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

(firearms) A firing mechanism where the hammer is mounted under the frame, behind the barrels, and forward of the trigger.


iron bomb

(military aviation) A dumb bomb, a type of gravity bomb, an unguided bomb dropped from an aircraft.


jaygee

Phonetic respelling of the letters JG, for "junior grade".

(US, military, slang) lieutenant junior grade


Zippo

Trade name for lighters, established in the 1930s.

(military, slang) A boat, tank, etc. equipped with flamethrowers.


heelish

heelish (comparative more heelish, superlative most heelish)

more heelish (comparative)
most heelish (superlative)

The heelish pair plotted to make everyone believe that their partnership was on its way out.

2002, Robert Picarello, Monsters of the Mat:

Grant argues that many takers are good at hiding their unpleasant side from potential benefactors... But that isn’t the entire story. It turns out that undisguised heelish behavior can often help you get ahead.

2015 June 27, “Why It Pays to Be a Jerk”, in The Atlantic:

(professional wrestling) Exhibiting the characteristics of a heel.


no quarter

(military) No mercy; no sparing the life of a captured opponent.

geen kwartier

no mercy for the life of a captured opponent


Gibson Girl

Introduced in the satirical works of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson in the 1890s.
(radio transmitter): So called from its hourglass shape (allowing it to be held between one's legs while the generator handle was turned), supposed to resemble a womanly figure.

(US, military, slang, historical) A survival radio transmitter carried by aircraft on over-water operations.


order arms

(military) A position in which the gun is held at the right side, with its butt on the ground.


order arms

en-verb

order arms (third-person singular simple present orders arms, present participle ordering arms, simple past and past participle ordered arms)

orders arms (present singular third-person)
ordering arms (participle present)
ordered arms (participle past)
ordered arms (past)


hand salute

(military) a gesture of respect to someone or something by raising the right hand to the side of one's head.


full-spectrum superiority

(military) Dominance of the battlespace to permit conduct of joint operations with neither effective counterattack nor resistance.


SAA

Syrian Arab Army
Syrian Arab Army#English

(military, historical) Initialism of Syrian Arab Army.


hellbox

(military, slang) A blasting machine producing an electrical charge for a detonation.


combined arms

(military) The amalgamation and implementation of the armed forces for joint operations.


TACAN

ultra high frequency
ultra high frequency

(military, aviation) Acronym of tactical air navigation beacon, an ultra high frequency electronic radionavigation system able to provide aircraft with continuous bearing and slant range information to a selected station.


strike one's flag

strike one's flag (third-person singular simple present strikes one's flag, present participle striking one's flag, simple past struck one's flag, past participle struck one's flag or stricken one's flag)

strikes one's flag (present singular third-person)
striking one's flag (participle present)
struck one's flag (past)
struck one's flag (participle past)
stricken one's flag (participle past)
strike one's colors (alternative)
strike the colors (alternative)
strike the flag (alternative)

At length, having lost her fore and main-top-masts, and her mizzen-mast having been shot away to the deck, . . . the English frigate was reduced to the last extremity. Captain Cardan ordered his signal quarter-master to strike the flag.

1850, Herman Melville, chapter 74, in White Jacket:

An Austro-Prussian army of 120.000 men . . . is of itself so imposing a spectacle that one is tempted to believe the little Kingdom of Denmark will strike its flag without firing a shot.

1864 February 7, “Very Latest Per Edinburgh”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-07-02:

The enemy having yielded to our mercy and struck their flag, we ceased our fire, and thinking the worst over and done, I watched where Belvedere conned the ship with voice and gesture.

1921, Jeffery Farnol, chapter 12, in Martin Conisby's Vengeance:

(military, especially naval) To take down one's national or other representative flag in order to indicate surrender.

baisser pavillon

to take down one's flag to indicate surrender


go dark

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

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

“But this third cell,” Butler said, “they went dark. No one had heard from them in months. That is, until the bombs started going off last week.”

2009, Vince Flynn, Pursuit of Honor: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, page 204:

More systems have gone dark as their comm buoys were destroyed, and millions more batarians, trapped on their planets, sit waiting for the Reapers.

2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: The Fall of Khar'shan Codex entry:


DAS

en-noun

DAS (countable and uncountable, plural DASs)

defensive aids system
w:defensive aids system

(military, aviation) Acronym of defensive aids system


dutyman

dutymen (plural)
duty-man (alternative)
duty man (alternative)

The recruit eventually graduates to become a trained soldier and dutyman, with his place in a troop.

1985, Donald John Smith, Horses at Work, page 30:

It has often been claimed that the Household Cavalry's mounted dutymen have a busier routine than any other soldiers in the Army.

1997, J. N. P. Watson, Through Fifteen Reigns, page 165:

(UK, military) A fully trained soldier who has a specific role.


under-sergeant

Because of his cadet experience he was immediately made an under-sergeant, and was responsible for the discipline of the thirty or so students on the course, and was answerable to the Commanding Officer.

1994, Fiona Darcy, “SAM CALDER OBE, DFC”, in Journal of Northern Territory History, number 5:

The three most important minor characters are Ensign von Krixlow, who serves in the same battalion, and the poet Weiler and under-sergeant Frôbel, who serve in the same platoon as Gadsky.

2010, K Eckhard Kuhn-Osius, “Germany's Lessons From the Lost "Great War": Pacifist Andreas Latzko and Bellicist Walter Flex”, in Peace Research, volume 42, numbers 1-2:

One Saudi soldier, an under-sergeant, was killed in Bahrain on Tuesday, a Saudi official said.

2011 March 16, “Bahrain fires at protesters; 2 dead, 150 injured”, in CNN:

(military) A non-commissioned officer army rank immediately below a sergeant; corporal.


second line

(military) The second battle line used to support the front line.


QMC

Quartermaster Corps
w:Quartermaster Corps

(military, US) Initialism of Quartermaster Corps.


glip

en-verb

glip (third-person singular simple present glips, present participle glipping, simple past and past participle glipped)

glips (present singular third-person)
glipping (participle present)
glipped (participle past)
glipped (past)

Received a DUC for developing and using a special (glip) bombing technique against enemy bridges in French Indochina.

1961, Office of Air Force History, Air Force Combat Units of World War II, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 220

To successfully 'glip' a bridge, a deliberate passage through the concentration of small arms, machine gun and automatic weapons fire, and often blossoming, white puffs of time-fused mortar shells, was essential.

2000, James Vesely, Unlike Any Land You Know: The 490th Bomb Squadron in China-Burma-India, iUniverse, page 102:

(military, transitive) To bomb a bridge, particularly with a technique developed by the 490th Missile Squadron during World War II.


yuko

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 score for a throw that lands the opponent on his or her side.


nipcheese

nipcheeses (plural)
nip-cheese (alternative)

(military jargon, derogatory) Synonym of purser.


SOG

en-noun

SOG (countable and uncountable, plural SOGs)

special operations group
special operations group#English

(military, countable) Acronym of special operations group.


battle taxi

armored personnel carrier
armored personnel carrier

(military, slang) armored personnel carrier


Regulation Charlie

Regulation Charlie (plural Regulation Charlies)

(military, slang) A person who strictly enforces all rules, without exception.


gunshield

Junge and his two petty officers had been blown to pieces: the high-explosive shell had come right through the iron gunshield supposed to protect them.

2005, Giles Foden, Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika, Penguin UK:

(military) A shield fitted to the front of a gun to protect its operator.


NPSC

(US, military) Initialism of Navy Personnel Separation Center.


anti-submarine

(military) Intended to attack submarines.


hot shot

After being struck by three hot shots from the coastal fort, the attacking ship of the line burned uncontrollably until the flames reached her powder magazine and she blew up.

(historical, military, nautical) Round shot that has been heated to a glow before firing in order to set wooden enemy ships afire.


bombs away

Launch the torpedo on three! 1... 2... 3! Bombs away!

(usually military) Said after a projectile is unleashed.


body press

(wrestling) A splash; a move where the wrestler jumps forward from a raised platform such as the top turnbuckle, landing stomach first across an opponent lying on the ground below.


downtrace

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

Shouldn't each CAPSTONE general officer command (GOCOM) be made a miniArmy Reserve command (ARCOM), with direct responsibility for training its USAR and active component downtrace (contingency chain of command)?

The 228th Signal Brigade (HHC), South Carolina National Guard, part of the 335th's command downtrace, was also not mobilized or deployed, despite its mission to provide area signal support to Third Army/ARCENT.

1992, JP Bird, Crossed Signals on the Battlefield:

It is a six-phase, joint command post exercise for theater agencies, theater army units, a theater army area command and corps support command and their downtraces, corps troops, and other services equivalents.

With the better understaing of the Iraqi Brigade Commander's approach to battle-planning, the Irish MiTT worked at getting a general concept of the Commander's plan early in the planning process to share with the downtrace units so the Battalions would have greater opportunity to plan, rehearse, and resource their battle plans.

2010, Voris Weldon McBurnette, The 108th Training Command, →ISBN:

(military) The set of subordinate units lower in the chain of command from a specified unit.


unsweepable

We have begun each of our last two wars with the enemy laying unsweepable mines. I shall not dwell on the unsweepable mine of 1914.

1997, Eric Grove, The Defeat of the enemy attack upon shipping, 1939-1945, page xxxiv:

(military) Of a mine: incapable of being located by minesweeping.


kisbet

From Turkish kispet, from Arabic كِسْوَة (kiswa).

(fashion, wrestling) A pair of loose-fitting leather trousers worn by wrestlers in Turkish oil wrestling competitions.


steel pot helmet

steel pot helmet (plural steel pot helmets)

From the helmet's steel construction and pot-like appearance.

(military, slang) A style of soldier's helmet resembling the helmet used by U.S. soldiery from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.


washbasin helmet

washbasin helmet (plural washbasin helmets)

From the helmet's appearance, similar to a washbasin of the early 20th century.

(military, slang) A style of soldier's helmet that is almost identical to or resembles the helmet used by the British Empire, Commonwealth and U.S. soldiery during World War I.


coal scuttle helmet

coal scuttle helmet (plural coal scuttle helmets)

From the helmet's appearance similar to a coal scuttle (coal bucket) of the early 20th century.

(military, slang) A style of soldier's helmet that is almost identical to resembles the helmet used by current Chilean soldiery, German soldiery at the end of World War I and during World War II, and Chinese soldiery during the Second Sino-Japanese War.


APFSDS

(military) Initialism of armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot round.


APDS

(military) Initialism of armor-piercing discarding-sabot round.


pogey bait

Related to pogue (“soldier assigned administrative rather than combat duties”).

(US, military, slang) Snacks, candy, and similar food items that are not generally available to soldiers in the field.


gun furniture

(firearms, obsolete) The trigger, trigger plate, its guard, and (when present) the heel plate to the stock.


OPSEC

(US, military) Abbreviation of operations security.


IRGC

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
w:Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

(military) Initialism of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.


ELINT

ELINT (countable and uncountable, plural ELINTs)

(a) Intelligence.—This includes SIGINT, ELINT and their Electronic countermeasures (ECM, ECCM, ECCCM and so on).

2002, Indian Journal of Strategic Studies, volume 23, page 163:

electronic intelligence
electronic intelligence#English

(espionage) Abbreviation of electronic intelligence.


CCIP

(military) Initialism of Common Configuration Implementation Program.


in anger

"fire in anger"

These craft [flying boats] were never perfected, never flown in anger and destroyed at war's end.

2009 December 22, Gaetano V. Cavallaro, Futility Ending in Disaster: Diplomatic, Military, Aviation and Social Events in the First World War on the Austro-Italian Front, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 519:

Over the years, B52s have been deployed in anger by the US Air Force in two conflicts, Vietnam and the Gulf. Despite the outcome of the former, the B52 acquitted itself with success both as a tactical bomber and in the strategic role […]

2010 June 19, Ian Watson, The Royal Air Force at Home: The History of RAF Air Displays from 1920, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:

And what actinic, mind-wrenching form could the countermeme take? How could human hands assemble something so devastatingly powerful and hold it steady; what human mind could wield it without exploding from the inside out? What would deploying that concept in anger do to human ideatic space? How far out from the solution is modern memetic science, a year, a century? What insane impossibility has Hughes just committed himself to?

2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192:

The Napier of Magdala Battery never fired a shot in anger: it never engaged in combat.

(especially military) With the intent of causing damage or harm to an opponent; in combat, rather than in peacetime training.


RIS

RISs (plural)
R.I.S. (alternative)
R. I. S. (alternative)

rail interface system
w:rail interface system

rail integration system
w:rail integration system

(firearms) Initialism of rail interface system or initialism of rail integration system.


isomer bomb

isomer bombs (plural)
isomeric bomb (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


jdfr

(military, US) Abbreviation of joined from.


HqBn

(military, US) Abbreviation of headquarters battalion.


MARFOR

(military, US) Acronym of Marine forces.


jds/RS

(military, US) Abbreviation of joined by staff returns.


S/RS

(military, US) Abbreviation of staff returns.


counterspace

In order to understand why a counterspace capability will be critical in 2025, it is only necessary to look at recent developments which point to the explosive growth in usage of space assets worldwide. As both commercial needs and military missions are increasingly met via space systems, the ability to protect the sovereignty of US and friendly satellites will grow in importance.

1996 August, Lt. Col. Robert H. Zielinski with Lt. Col. Robert M. Worley II, Maj. Douglas S. Black, Maj. Scott A. Henderson, and Maj. David C. Johnson, “Star Tek — Exploiting the Final Frontier: Counterspace Operations in 2025 [volume 3, chapter 9, page 8]”, in Air Force 2025, volume 3, Air University, United States Air Force, archived from the original on 2010-04-15, page 8:

AFDD 2-2.1 highlights the linkage between the concepts of space situational awareness (SSA) and counterspace operations, explaining that SSA "is the result of sufficient knowledge about space-related conditions, constraints, capabilities, and activities ... in, from, toward, or through space" (2). SSA accomplished by space surveillance, reconnaissance, the monitoring of the space environment, and collection/processing of space-systems intelligence provides the planner, commander, and executor the ability to develop counterspace courses of action.

2004 December 1, Lt. Col. Paula B. Flavell, “AFDD 2-2.1, Counterspace Operations”, in Air & Space Power Journal, Air University, United States Air Force, archived from the original on 2011-06-09:

Haney acknowledged that the July 2014 test (which China described as an "anti-missile technology experiment") did not actually hit a satellite, perhaps by design. "But just seeing the nature of these types of activities show how committed they are to a counter-space campaign," he explained.

2015 March 26, Shannon Tiezzi, “US admiral: China counter-space threat is 'real'”, in The Diplomat, archived from the original on 2015-10-17:

(military) Pertaining to antispace access or assets, and countering space access or assets.


underkill

(military) The situation where a weapon does too little destruction, or less than it potentially could.


crash dive

crash dives (plural)
crash-dive (alternative)

As the crash dive began at 1:50 p.m., the overboard ventilation valve had not been closed, which resulted in tons of water flooding the submarine.

2000 March 19, Charles M. Cooke, “Letters: Loose Lips, Sinking Ships”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2015-10-25:

(idiomatic, military) An emergency maneuver by a submarine in which it suddenly descends, especially to considerable depth, usually in order to escape an attack or avoid a collision.


debouchment

debouchment (countable and uncountable, plural debouchments)

(military) The act, or the result of debouching


Susie Rottencrotch

Suzy Rottencrotch (alternative)
Suzie Rottencrotch (alternative)

(US, military, slang, vulgar) Any woman or girlfriend.


Pinkville

(US, military, slang, historical) A Vietcong stronghold said to be located in the region of Sơn Mỹ village in Quảng Ngãi Province during the Vietnam War.


(military, US) Initialism of torpedoman's mate second class.


antirunway

Some of the specialized weapons may be antirunway munitions or fuel-air explosives. The antirunway munitions are specifically designed to cause maximum destruction to airfield pavements.


blast pen

(aviation, military) A specially constructed E-shaped double bay to protect aircraft against bomb blasts and splinters during enemy attacks.


ridgehand

a ridgehand strike

(martial arts, chiefly attributive) A striking surface formed by tucking the thumb of the hand into the palm.


powerslam

(wrestling) A bodyslam move in which the wrestler falls face-down on top of the opponent.


powerslam

en-verb

powerslam (third-person singular simple present powerslams, present participle powerslamming, simple past and past participle powerslammed)

powerslams (present singular third-person)
powerslamming (participle present)
powerslammed (participle past)
powerslammed (past)

(wrestling, transitive) To perform such a move upon.


atomweight

en-noun

atomweight (countable and uncountable, plural atomweights)

(uncountable, martial arts, combat sports) The weight class below strawweight of less than 105 lbs.


exfil

exfil (countable and uncountable, plural exfils)

Coordinate term: infil

After all this information has been gained, the troops and teams start conducting rehearsals on hitting the target. What this means is that they will conduct Full Mission Profiles (FMP). This covers every aspect of the operation — the infil to the target, actions on the objective, and then exfil from the target location back to the staging area.

2019 November 22, Brian Gilly, “Gilly: When Army Special Operations gets ‘the call’ for battle”, in Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

(chiefly military) Clipping of exfiltration (“the act of going out of a place”).


NRS

(military, US) Initialism of naval receiving station.


USNH

(military, US) Initialism of United States naval hospital.


USNTS

(military, US) Initialism of United States naval training school.


operational exhaustion

(military, psychiatry) The acute psychological trauma experienced in combat environments which can lead to combat fatigue.


limp-wrist

en-verb

limp-wrist (third-person singular simple present limp-wrists, present participle limp-wristing, simple past and past participle limp-wristed)

limp-wrists (present singular third-person)
limp-wristing (participle present)
limp-wristed (participle past)
limp-wristed (past)
limpwrist (alternative)

(firearms) To hold a handgun with an insufficiently-firm-and-stiff grip while firing, allowing recoil to move the frame of the gun too far rearward and causing the recoil spring to absorb too little energy from the slide for the action to cycle properly.


ETO

European Theater of Operations
w:European Theater of Operations

(US military, historical) Initialism of European Theater of Operations.


marshal together

marshal together (third-person singular simple present marshals together, present participle marshalling together or marshaling together, simple past and past participle marshalled together or marshaled together)

marshals together (present singular third-person)
marshalling together (participle present)
marshaling together (participle present)
marshalled together (participle past)
marshalled together (past)
marshaled together (participle past)
marshaled together (past)

(usually military) To gather together in an organized manner.


Skysweeper

(military, historical) A kind of anti-aircraft gun used in the mid-20th century.


GIUK

(military) Initialism of Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom: the boundaries of a naval chokepoint in the northern Atlantic Ocean.


empanoply

empanoply (third-person singular simple present empanoplies, present participle empanoplying, simple past and past participle empanoplied)

empanoplies (present singular third-person)
empanoplying (participle present)
empanoplied (participle past)
empanoplied (past)

From em- (prefix meaning ‘on, onto; covered’) + panoply (“complete set of armour”); panoply is derived from Ancient Greek πᾰνοπλῐ́ᾱ (pănoplĭ́ā, “suit of armour”), from πάνοπλος (pánoplos, “in full armour”) (from παν- (pan-, prefix meaning ‘all, every’) + ὅπλον (hóplon, “armour; arms, weapons”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).

der

I see, I see, empanoply'd in arms, / (Rapt with prophetic fire, sage Chiron cried), / O'er Phrygian plains wide hurling war's alarms, / Thy son, O Thetis, rise, his country's pride.

1784, William R[obert] Spencer, “Chorus from the Iphigenia in Aulis of Euripides. Written at Harrow School, in the Year 1784.”, in Poems by the Late Hon. William R. Spencer; […], new edition, London: James Cochrane and Co., […], published 1835, →OCLC, strophe III, page 139:

The grand conglomerate hills of Araby, / That stand empanoplied in utmost thought, / With dazzling ramparts front the Indian sea, / Down there in Hadramaut.

1876, “Night the Sixth. [Hadramaut.]”, in The Echo Club, and Other Literary Diversions, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 126:

High hope / Empanoplies the soul. Bright faith / Meets and o'ercomes the victor death, / And trusts the future's grander scope.

1886 May, Robert Brown, Jun., “To Miss Mildred Hope Courtney McDougall”, in A Trilogy of the Life-to-come and Other Poems, London: David Nutt, […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 92:

It didn't appear to Herbert, however, that Mrs. Brooks exhibited any extravagant joy over the occurrence, and she almost instantly retired with her daughter into the sitting-room, linking her arm in Cherry's, and, as it were, empanoplying her with own invulnerable shawl.

1889, Bret Harte, “A Secret of Telegraph Hill”, in The Heritage of Dedlow Marsh and Other Tales, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 171:

Do not interrupt; a truce to your raillery! It will fall blunted, besides, on the cuirass of an invulnerable will, in which henceforth I am empanoplied.

1901, Henry Murger [i.e., Henri Murger], “Floods of Pactolus”, in Ellen Marriage, John Selwyn, transl., The Latin Quarter: (“Scènes de la Vie de Bohème”), New York, N.Y.: Doubleday Page and Company, →OCLC, page 101:

Oh, lovely are her [Paddington Station's] lean lines, and lovely her poise, / Empanoplying the long, dim frenzy of noise.

1912, Thomas Burke, “Paddington”, in Pavements and Pastures: A Book of Songs, London: Printed by the London and Norwich Press, →OCLC; republished in London Lamps: A Book of Songs, New York, N.Y.: Robert M[edill] McBride & Co.; London: Grant Richards, 1919, →OCLC, page 15:

He was marvelling anew, no doubt, as he was presently to express it to the tribunal, that Satan should be permitted so admirably and deceptively to empanoply his servants.

1928, Rafael Sabatini, “The Holy Office”, in The Hounds of God: A Romance, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 222:

(transitive, British, military, historical, also figuratively) To dress in a full suit of armour; to panoply.


squipper

A third significant omission is due to the fact that large numbers of Chinook, Puma and Hercules aircrews [...] together with all the 'loadies', 'sooties', 'squippers' and ground crews that support them, continue, at the time of writing, to be heavily involved in Operation Safe Haven along the northern borders of Iraq.

1991, Charles Allen, Thunder & Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf : Personal Experiences of War, Stationery Office/Tso:

After stripping off all my other kit, I held my rubber- gloved hands behind me, the last bits still in the dirty zone, and the squipper peeled the gloves off.

1995, John Peters, John Nichol, Neil Hanson, Team Tornado: Life on a Front-Line Squadron, →ISBN:

Giving evidence to the inquest in Lincoln Cpl Morris, a Survival Equipment Fitter or “squipper” with the RAF, said he was not far from Flt Lt Cunningham’s jet at the time of the tragedy as the team prepared to fly to RAF Valley in Wales.

2014 January 20, “Red Arrows pilot inquest: Colleague tells how he watched tragedy unfold”, in Coventry Telegraph:

(UK, military, slang) A survival equipment fitter.


sniperscope

(military) A night vision device used to assist snipers in locating their targets in the dark.


munitioner

(military) A manufacturer of munitions; someone who manufactures munitions; a munitioneer


DISCOM

(US, military) Acronym of division support command.


uchi mata

(judo) A judo throw that uses the thigh to unbalance the opponent.


DUSTWUN

(military) Acronym of duty status, whereabouts unknown.


CDI factor

You don't buy a LaRue because you want lightweight. You buy it for the durability (And the CDI factor)

2007, Patrick Sweeney, The Gun Digest Book of the AR-15, Volume 2, Gun Digest Books, page 109:

Instead of donning their equipment for the right reasons, with the understanding that it takes thousands of hours to attain a basic skill level, some Special Operations soldiers wear their gear for the CDI (chicks dig it) factor and forget the reality that this is hard work.

2011, Paul R. Howe, Leadership and Training for the Fight: Using Special Operations Principles to Succeed in Law Enforcement, Business, and War, Skyhorse Publishing, page 12:

'Never decide Pattern A just looks cooler than Pattern B. The Marine Corps call that a "CDI factor" – chicks dig it,' said Timothy O'Neill, a former professor of engineering psychology at West Point who has spent 37 years concocting and analyzing the latest in military camouflage

2012 July 17, “Uncloaked: How Army is testing new camo to replace flawed design”, in NBC News:

[…] SWAT is a highly-specialized skill that takes recurrent (and expensive) training to maintain. Simply kitting out police officers in high-CDI-factor equipment is not enough.

2015, David G. Bolgiano, L. Morgan Banks, III, James M. Patterson, Virtuous Policing: Bridging America's Gulf Between Police and Populace, CRC Press, page 89:

(US military or law enforcement slang) An intangible quality of certain items of professional equipment that is believed to stir inordinate interest in obtaining the item because it makes the possessor feel confident, cool and thus desirable to women.


embrace the suck

en-verb

embrace the suck (third-person singular simple present embraces the suck, present participle embracing the suck, simple past and past participle embraced the suck)

embraces the suck (present singular third-person)
embracing the suck (participle present)
embraced the suck (participle past)
embraced the suck (past)

So go ahead and embrace the suck of the first mile or so, you'll be through it soon enough.

2013, Brett Stewart, 7 Weeks to a 10K, →ISBN:

But I embraced the suck and shelled out three thousand dollars for something I didn't want and something that would give me nothing to show for.

2014, Hailey Dollar, A Girl Lost to the World and Found in the Art of War, →ISBN:

If you can embrace the suck, you can overcome almost any obstacle or difficulty.

2015, Rob Roy, Chris Lawson, The Navy SEAL Art of War, →ISBN:

"I'm sorry, girl. I don't know what to say. Just: embrace the suck.” Lorrie Ann understood that this was soldier slang and that it meant something along the lines of “The world is shitty, but we've got to deal with it.”

2015, Rufi Thorpe, The Girls from Corona Del Mar, →ISBN, page 71:

Nancy Pelosi used some colorful language to cajole her fellow House Democrats into accepting the compromise budget deal. As first reported by Politico, she told them to "embrace the suck." ... [W]hen did military types start talking about embracing the suck? Capt. Benjamin Tupper, who contibuted to Slate 's military blog The Sandbox, remembers first hearing "embrace the suck" in 2001, soon after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. "The spirits of the American infantrymen were undeterred," Tupper wrote in his book Greetings from Afghanistan. "Their Zen-like approach was to ' embrace the suck,' a strategy of treating the hardships as friends, not enemies, and driving on."

2013 December 13, Ben Zimmer, “Nancy Pelosi Told House Democrats to "Embrace the Suck." Where Did That Phrase Come From?”, in Slate:

(military, slang) To consciously accept or appreciate something that is extremely unpleasant but unavoidable.


LAM

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of light antiarmor/antiarmour missile.

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of land attack missile.

(military, weaponry) Abbreviation of loitering attack missile.


Lieutenant Colonel

en-noun

Lieutenant Colonel (plural Lieutenant Colonels)

Lieutenant Colonels (plural)
Lieutenant-Colonel (alternative)

Lieutenant Colonels Smith and Gildea were awarded the Order of the Fatherland, Second Class.

1955, Carl R[aymond] Gray, Jr., “Operations in Iran, 1942-1945”, in Railroading in Eighteen Countries: The Story of American Railroad Men serving in the Military Railway Service, 1862 to 1953, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 268:

(military) An army officer title for the rank of lieutenant colonel, found in many countries.

(military) A military officer title used in English for ranks that are treated as the equivalent to the rank of lieutenant colonel, in which the equivalent ranks are found in most countries.


Army General

(military) A title used in many countries to denote the rank of general nominally commanding an army in the field.


premodular

(US, military) Before the reorganization of the United States Army into modular brigades.


barrel bomb

(military aviation) A barrel filled with explosives, used as an improvised unguided bomb and dropped from a helicopter or airplane.


unsight

en-verb

unsight (third-person singular simple present unsights, present participle unsighting, simple past and past participle unsighted)

unsights (present singular third-person)
unsighting (participle present)
unsighted (participle past)
unsighted (past)

Just jeep as the Sten magazine emptied there came a single shot from the far end of the lane and in the same instant a bullet cracked over Butler's head.The jeep swung sharply to the right, unsighting him.


semula

Unadapted borrowing from Malay semula, a drill command, meaning "all over again".

(Singapore, Singlish, chiefly military, slang) To redo or restart (something) from the beginning.


foreparty

foreparties (plural)
fore-party (alternative)

From Middle English forepartye, equivalent to fore- + party.

(military) A group or party which advances in front of the contingent; a scout.


antisniping

(military) Countering or opposing sniping.


Parthian shot

The military tactic was made famous in Rome by the Parthians, an empire on their eastern border.

(historical, military) A military maneuver where archers on horseback turned their bodies back in full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy.


silk elevator

(aviation, military, slang) A parachute.


kiyi

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

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

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

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

пахава́льная

an official letter informing of a person killed in action


bucket of sunshine

en-noun

bucket of sunshine (plural buckets of sunshine)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bucket of sunshine.wav

(military slang, euphemistic) A nuclear weapon.


LHA

Abbreviation
* (data compression): Short for Lempel-Ziv Huffman archiver, after the mathematicians on whose work it was based.

Coordinate term: LHD

amphibious assault ship
amphibious assault ship#English

(nautical, military, aviation) Initialism of landing, helicopter, assault.: A type of amphibious assault ship, a warship.


WAAC

(US, military, historical) Initialism of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.


WAAC

(US, military, historical) A member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.


deass

en-verb

deass (third-person singular simple present deasses, present participle deassing, simple past and past participle deassed)

deasses (present singular third-person)
deassing (participle present)
deassed (participle past)
deassed (past)
de-ass (alternative)

(transitive, US, military, law enforcement, slang) To exit or depart from (an area) rapidly.


triple A

Tower One approach has active Triple-A!

2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Hocus (Debra Wilson Skelton), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: The Covenant:

(military) Abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery.


technical submission

en-noun

technical submission (plural technical submissions)

(martial arts) A submission declared by a referee in cases when a participant has sustained an injury or becomes unconscious


funkhole

From funk + hole; see funk (“cowardice”).


yomper

(military, slang) A soldier who participates in a yomp, or long-distance march.


rangekeeper

(military, historical) An early electromechanical computer used to direct gunfire.


rangekeeping

(military, historical) The calculation of how to direct gunfire at a target, involving range, bearing, and other factors.


GAR

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

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

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


dogfall

dogfalls (plural)
dog-fall (alternative)

Lucky Ned Pepper said, “What is your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfall?”

(wrestling) A fall in which both wrestlers touch the ground at the same time; hence, in extended use, any tie or stalemate.


red box

gray-box testing
red box
white box (software engineering)

(US, military) A safe located at a nuclear installation containing launch codes.


cold weapon

From cold + weapon, possibly a calque of Russian холо́дное ору́жие (xolódnoje orúžije, “cold weapon”), from холо́дное (xolódnoje) (the nominative neuter form of холо́дный (xolódnyj, “cold”)) + ору́жие (orúžije, “arm, weapon; weaponry”): see the 1876 quotation.

calque

холо́дное ору́жие

A fencing-room in which twenty or thirty couples of men are practising, is a fair illustration of a mélée with cold weapons.

1863 January 17, “How to Make Soldiers”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume VIII, number 195, London: […] C. Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 446, column 1:

The most effective weapons in the hands of the Caucasians was the sword, or as the Russians call it "the cold weapon" ["khalodnoye orúdiye," as opposed to firearms "agniovoye orúdiye"], the use of which, in hand-to-hand fight, was their special forte.

1876, Hugo Stumm, “The Field of Operations and the Russian Resources of Operations in General”, in F. Henvey, P. Mosa, transl., The Russian Campaign against Khiva in 1873. […], part I, Calcutta, West Bengal: Foreign Department Press, →OCLC, section II (The Russian Bases of Operations in Central Asia), page 157:

Pistols, carbines and musketoons were the firearms of the cavalry; a sword or sabre the cold weapon.

1890, Theodore Ayrault Dodge, “Army Organization and Tactics. Early Seventeenth to Early Eighteenth Century.”, in Gustavus Adolphus: A History of the Art of War from Its Revival after the Middle Ages to the End of the Spanish Succession War, […] (Great Captains), volume II, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 571:

There are perhaps more variations of the dao than there are of any other cold weapon.

2009, Zhang Yun, “The History and Features of Dao”, in The Complete Taiji Dao: The Art of the Chinese Saber, Berkeley, Calif.: Blue Snake Books, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 27:

(weaponry) A weapon that does not use explosives or fire.


odd bod

odd bods (plural)
odd-bod (alternative)
oddbod (alternative)

Oh I know: you're the odd bod. Of course, that's it, you're the odd bod.

2001, Norman Hampson, Not Really what You'd Call a War, →ISBN, page 111:

They had landed without the odd bod. They worked out that he must have bailed out pretty sharpish when Teddy first ordered them to abandon J-Jig.

2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 292:

We are being asked for a maximum effort sometime over the next few nights, so if one of the other crew are short, then one of your chaps will have to fill in as an odd bod.

2015, Martin Whittle, Just Another Trip, →ISBN:

(UK, military slang) A temporary crew member who joins a mission with an established crew.


tactical assembly area

en-noun

tactical assembly area (plural tactical assembly areas)

(military) An area within an operational area or battlefield (usually in a sheltered location), where a military unit assembles and makes final preparations for an attack before moving to the line of departure, which is the starting line for the attack.


overpowder

[…] to allow for the extra space taken up by the special overpowder wad.

1908 July 11, “Rubber Sandwich Wads”, in Forest and Stream, volume 71, page 71:

A two part wad column for use in shotshells is provided which consist of an overpowder component comprising inner and outer concentric cylindrical walls attached to a skirted end plate […]

1971, Canada Patent Office, The Patent Office Record, Application No. 085,160:

On firing, some of the hot gases from burning powder were able to bypass the overpowder and filler wads and reach the shot charge.

2015, Vincent J.M. DiMaio, Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms, Ballistics, and Forensic Techniques, Third Edition:

(firearms) Serving to hold in the gunpowder.


semiballistic

(military) Being or relating to a missile of a kind that has a low trajectory and/or is largely ballistic but can perform maneuvers in flight or make unexpected changes in direction and range.


LOD

LOD (countable and uncountable, plural LODs)

Additionally, commanders should note that a LOD proceeding is neither a substitute for, nor a bar to, such disciplinary action as may be warrented.

1996, Richard A. Gittins, Kirk L. Davies, The Military Commander and the Law, →ISBN, page 222:

LOD investigations are usually a result of a soldier or other personnel being killed or injured, and the investigation is necessary to determine if the cause was in the line of duty, or if the actions that caused the casualties or injuries were a result of neglect or misconduct and not in the line of duty.

2009, E. Kelly Taylor, America's Army and the Language of Grunts, →ISBN:

An unfavorable LOD determination disqualifies a service member from receiving disability compensation.

2015, Janelle B. Moore, Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott, Don Philpott, The Wounded Warrior Handbook, →ISBN:

(military, law) Initialism of line of duty; an official determination of whether something occurred in the line of duty.


sublegion

The Legion of the United States was to consist of four sublegions of 1,280 men each, commanded by brigadier generals.

1967, Russell Frank Weigley, History of the United States Army, page 92:

Proposed as sublegion; ranked as infralegion by Chow & Rich, 1982:129; changed to rank of order by McKenna, in Stucky & McKenna, in Benton, ed., 1993:742.

1997, Malcolm C. McKenna, Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level:

(taxonomy, military) A subdivision of a legion.


Tojo

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

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


WPG

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of weather, patrol, gunship/gunboat. (a designation shiptype for the U.S. Coast Guard ocean-going cutters) These USCG patrol vessels also function as meteorological stations, and are equipped with deck guns.

WDE

a USCG ocean-going cutter of the naval frigate shiptype

WAVP

a USCG ocean-going cutter of the seaplane tender shiptype

WHEC

high endurance, cutter; a USCG ocean-going cutter of the naval light cruiser shiptype

WMEC

a USCG ocean-going cutter of the naval destroyer shiptype

WPC

a USCG ocean-going cutter of the naval patrolcraft shiptype

WPB

a USCG ocean-going cutter of the naval patrolboat shiptype


Delta Force

(US, military) A US Army unit that carries out hostage rescue, counterterrorism, and actions against high-value targets.


Smokey Bear

Smokey Bears (plural)
Smokey (alternative)
Smokey the Bear (alternative)
smokey bear (alternative)
smokey (alternative)

From an ad campaign first introduced in 1944 by Foote, Cone and Belding in cooperation with the Forest Service and the Ad Council. The name was was inspired by “Smokey” Joe Martin, a New York City Fire Department hero who suffered burns and blindness during a bold 1922 rescue. (Later, in 1950, an actual burned black bear cub was named Smokey and took on this symbolic role.)

No Smokey Bears: You can't shoot something you can't see. The Air Force in Viet Nam has special teams that blast away tree leaves and other shrubbery beside canals that offer hiding places for the Viet Cong. The motto of these defoliation teams: "Only you can prevent forests."

1966, The Conservationist - Volumes 21-22, page 34:

Aircraft used to spread Agent Orange and other defoliants were known as Smokey Bears.

2007, America, History and Life - Volume 44, Issue 3, page 660:

(military slang) An aircraft used to drop defoliants in the Vietnam War.


slaught-beam

slaught-beams (plural)
slaught-boom (alternative)

Probably a calque of Dutch slagboom or German Schlagbaum. These are etymologically equivalent to English slay + beam, meaning a beam that can be banged (“slain”) down. The word slaught (related with slay) would have been chosen because it is phonetically closer to the continental words.
Alternatively it might be a phono-semantic matching of Dutch sluitboom, which has the same sense, but literally means “closing beam”. In this case, however, the etymological relation between the element slaught and the above-mentioned words would be a curious coincidence.

psm

Raise the slaught-beam.


curtain wall

(military, historical) The outer wall of a castle or defensive wall between two bastions.


JDAT

JDAT is a subcommand of the J6 Directorate of the United States Joint Chief of Staff.

Joint Deployable Analysis Team
w:Joint Deployable Analysis Team

(US, military) Initialism of Joint Deployable Analysis Team.


DCT

en-noun

DCT (countable and uncountable, plural DCTs)

(military) Abbreviation of division(al) combat team.


act of war

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

(military) An action taken by military forces as part of a war.


COMSUBPAC

(US, nautical, military) Abbreviation of commander, submarine force, U.S. Navy Pacific fleet.


COMPACFLT

(US, nautical, military) Abbreviation of commander, U.S. Navy Pacific fleet.


CANSOFCOM

Special Operations Force
special operations force#English

(Canada, military) Abbreviation of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.


PACFLT

(US, nautical, military) Abbreviation of U.S. Navy Pacific fleet.


USSOCOM

w:United States Special Operations Command

(US, military) Abbreviation of United States Special Operations Command.


banana clip

It included 44 AK-47 rifles, and 260 large-capacity banana clips.

2006, Gideon Burrows, Kalashnikov AK47, page 45:

(firearms) A curved ammunition clip for the AK-47 assault rifle.


COMMARPAC

Unlike NORAD where a formally constituted bi-national command staff existed to handle emergencies, the bilateral naval organization, which was every bit as complex as that of NORAD but did not have the same history of political sensitivity, relied on liaison between the key headquarters: COMASWFORLANT in the United States and COMARLANT in Canada to deal with the Atlantic with a parallel structure on the Pacific through COMTHIRDFLT and COMMARPAC respectively.

2007, Peter T. Haydon, “Canadian Involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis Re-Reconsidered”, in The Northern Mariner, volume 17, number 2, CNRS & NASOH, →ISSN, page 62:

When I was assigned to COMMARPAC headquarters in 1973, it was for two reasons. The first was to get headquarters staff officer experience which helps your career down the road, and the second was I had some health issues and the flight surgeons wanted me out of the cockpit for a while.

2021, Lewis Allen Lambert, chapter 28, in On the 8th Day, God Created a Marine, Bloomington: AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

(Canada, nautical, military) Abbreviation of commander, maritime forces, Pacific.


CANMARPAC

(Canada, nautical, military) Abbreviation of Canadian maritime forces, Pacific.


CANMARCOM

(Canada, nautical, military) Abbreviation of Canadian maritime forces command.


MARCOM

(nautical, military) Abbreviation of maritime forces command.


COMMARCOM

(nautical, military) Abbreviation of commander, maritime forces command.


LANT

(military) Abbreviation of Atlantic. (Atlantic Ocean)


COMSUBFOR

(US, nautical, military) Abbreviation of commander, submarine forces.


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


half-bat

half-bats (plural)
halfbat (alternative)


lead with one's chin

en-verb

lead with one's chin (third-person singular simple present leads with one's chin, present participle leading with one's chin, simple past and past participle led with one's chin)

leads with one's chin (present singular third-person)
leading with one's chin (participle present)
led with one's chin (participle past)
led with one's chin (past)

(boxing) To leave one's chin unprotected.


fighting irons

The leading recruit is pausing briefly while receiving his dinner plate in his left hand and then is resuming his forward movement towards the serving area, but first picking up a dark green plastic cup and a set of fighting irons (knife, fork, and spoon) from the leading edge of the bay marines.

2012, DF Ryschka, Too Young to Vote but Old Enough to Kill:


long rifle

long rifles (plural)
longrifle (alternative)

(firearms) An American style of rifle with an unusually long barrel, used in hunting and warfare.


active shooter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


CENTCOM

Duncan’s account includes a note that it had been “thoroughly reviewed” and approved by Central Command on October 6 for operational security reasons. The statement from CENTCOM made no mention of the review.

2021 October 14, Oren Liebermann, “CENTCOM disputes Air Force account of attempted hijacking at Kabul airport during Afghanistan evacuation”, in CNN:

(US, military) Acronym of Central Command (a global U.S. forces regional command)


hush puppy

When we used it in our “hush puppy” against a sentry, the target was almost always hit only once, in the head.

Normally, they would have used the silenced .22 ‘Hush Puppy’ pistol to dispatch both the dog and the sentry, but this was an exercise.

2021, Christophe Downes, War Crimes for the Political Elite:

(military slang) A semiautomatic handgun fitted with a suppressor, used by special forces personnel to quietly take out guard dogs and sentries.


maknoon

en-adj

maknoon (comparative more maknoon, superlative most maknoon)

more maknoon (comparative)
most maknoon (superlative)


airshoot

The impressive results: naval gunfire support qualification achieved an 86.3 average, scoring 100 in two surface gunnery shoots , and a 95 grade for an airshoot.

1984, Surface Warfare - Volume 9, Issue 2, page 27:

We had an account to settle with these compound mortars, and were therefore pleased when an RAF jeep arrived to link us with two Spitfires to carry out airshoots on these deadly nuisances.

2002, Denis Falvey, A Well-known Excellence, page 160:

(rare, weaponry) A shot at something that is in the air, or a shot in midair.


take the count

en-verb

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

takes the count (present singular third-person)
taking the count (participle present)
took the count (past)
taken the count (participle past)

Apparently ignorant of the rules of the ring which permit a fighter knocked to the floor to take the count of nine, he staggered to his feet, only to be met with another blow before he could collect his senses sufficiently to 'cover?'

1916 December 19, Chris Cozzone, Jim Boggio, quoting Rocky Mountain News, Fighter is Killed at National Club by Blow on Head, 2013, quoted in Boxing in New Mexico, 1868-1940, →ISBN, page 184:

But if a boxer is knocked down, he can always take an 'eight' count and not get up after two or three seconds. Those extra five or six seconds give you a chance to clear your head. To try to gather your reflexes, come to yourself. A friend of mine, Ruby Kessler in Ebbets Field, we fought in the same show that night. And Pete Scanlon dropped 'im. And Ruby jumped right up, and he was shakin' and they were hollerin' from the corner, 'Get down, get down, take the count, take the count.'

2011, Allen Bodner, quoting Herbie Kronowitz, When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 143:

(boxing) To take to opportunity to rest briefly after being knocked down but before being counted out by the referee.


gold star family

en-noun

gold star family (plural gold star families)

And when he came down with a life-threatening case of Covid, he suggested that he might have caught it from Gold Star families he had met with after his positive test — that is, he blamed people he himself had callously endangered.

2021 December 7, Paul Krugman, “Where Have All the Grown-ups Gone?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US military) the immediate family of a U.S. soldier who was killed in action


gold star father

gold star father (plural gold star fathers)

(US military) the father of a member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action


gold star mother

gold star mother (plural gold star mothers)

blue star mother: the mother of a living active-duty U.S. serviceman)

(US military) the mother of a member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action


gold star wife

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From gold star (“(attributively) relative of a United States soldier when the latter has been killed in action”) + wife. Gold star refers to stars of that colour traditionally shown on service flags displayed by families of members of the U.S. armed forces.

(US military) The widow of a member of the United States armed forces who was killed in action.


Gold Star

From gold + star from the shape of the medal, being star-shaped, and the colouration of the medal, being golden, with gold representing the highest of three grades of star medals, of traditional usage of metallic colours, gold, silver, bronze.

(military) A high-level military service award (medal).


gold star

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

a gold-star mother

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


kayfabed

While some respectable sporting journals, most significantly Ring Magazine, continued to offer balanced (but kayfabed) coverage of wrestling, the ballyhoo-filled wrestling magazines came to be the main source of printed information for devotees.

2006, Scott M. Beekman, Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America, Westport, Conn., London: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 97:

He also lived in the bizarre, hazy world of half-truth, half-kayfabed fiction that wrestling in 2007 had become. Lest we forget just how far the line between reality and storyline was blurred, WWE refused to acknowledge the death of Sherri Martel because it would undermine the Vince is dead angle.

2008, Scott Keith, “Conclusion”, in Dungeon of Death: Chris Benoit and the Hart Family Curse, New York, N.Y.: Citadel Press Books, Kensington Publishing, →ISBN, page 193:

[King Kong] Bundy and I stood our ground and yelled shit at each other, acting like we were about to go to blows. Then I scuffed my feet, rubbed my hands together, and went for the slam. I picked him up about halfway before I felt him deadweight me, and I had to let go of him. I grabbed my back in kayfabed pain.

2011, Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis, Andrew William Wright, “Destroy Everything that Moves”, in The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling, [St. Charles, Ill.]: Medallion Press, →ISBN, page 82:

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) Of events within the industry: portrayed as real, and not scripted or staged.


BAR

Browning Automatic Rifle
w:Browning Automatic Rifle

(military) Initialism of Browning Automatic Rifle.