extension

en-noun

extension (countable and uncountable, plural extensions)

From Middle English extensioun, from Old French estension, from Latin extensiō, extensiōnem.

(fencing) A simple offensive action, consisting of extending the weapon arm forward.

ojennus

fencing: a simple offensive action, consisting of extending the weapon arm forward


feint

The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Italian finta
* Occitan fencha, fenha
* Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))

In October, Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke of Crequi, before the Duke of Lorrain cou'd come to relieve it; […]

1683, William Temple, “Memoirs of what Pass’d in Christendom, from the War Begun 1672, to the Peace Concluded 1679. Chapter III.”, in The Works of Sir William Temple, […], volume I, London: […] J. Round, J[acob] Tonson, J. Clarke, B[enjamin] Motte, T. Wotton, S[amuel] Birt, and T[homas] Osborne, published 1731, →OCLC, page 459:

Nothing could be more uncertain than the intentions of the French marshal [André Masséna], and Lord Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] felt, that by an incautious movement, his army must be seriously committed—Massena's retreat might only be a feint to draw the allies from their position—while by turning Monte Junta, he might make a sudden rush on Torres Vedras.

1840, W[illiam] H[amilton] Maxwell, chapter XIV, in Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, […], volume II, London: A[lfred] H. Baily & Co. […], →OCLC, page 222:

(often military) A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.

He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:

It is also possible to deliver a compound riposte by using an indirect feint. The attacking fencer would be open to a compound riposte following a successful parry by their opponent.

1999, Allan Skipp, “Key Techniques”, in Handbook of Foil Fencing, Armley, Leeds: Coachwise Business Solutions for British Fencing, published 2006, →ISBN, page 36:

(boxing, fencing) A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.

klamný pohyb

(boxing, fencing) offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part


feint

en-verb

feint (third-person singular simple present feints, present participle feinting, simple past and past participle feinted)

feints (present singular third-person)
feinting (participle present)
feinted (participle past)
feinted (past)

Genevra scowled and said, "His word is wild, / But dastard treason feinteth such disorders: / Treason or witchcraft neither, undefiled, / A Christian court may cherish in its borders."

1882, T. Alderson Wilson, “Lanval”, in Perseus and Other Essays in Verse, London: Ranken and Co., […], →OCLC, page 74:

Even Penrod's walk was affected; he adopted a gait which was a kind of taunting swagger; and, when he passed other children on the street, he practised the habit of feinting a blow; then, as the victim dodged, he rasped out the triumphant horse laugh which he gradually mastered to horrible perfection.

1914, Booth Tarkington, “The Imitator”, in Penrod, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 231:

I spurred on the Turani instead of pulling him in, and stood up in the saddle just as we came upon the two. By feinting a slash at one I made him throw up his saber to guard his head. Then, leaning down as the three ponies came together, I cut at the other's neck, getting home over his blade. His mount reared and shelled him out of the saddle like a pea out of a pod.

1924 October 10, Harold Lamb, “Forward”, in Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor, Adventure, volume XLIX, number I, New York, N.Y., London: The Ridgway Company, →OCLC, page 25, column 1:

To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.

tehdä harhautusliike

to direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part

Feint him—use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no time, and you can go into him.

1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Fight”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part II, page 323:

(rare) To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).

tehdä valehyökkäys

to direct a feint or mock attack against (someone or something)

Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise.

1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter XVI, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fifth, page 387:

My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.

1893–1897 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swanston Cottage”, in St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1897, →OCLC, page 67:

Gomez feinted with his knife and the other man darted backward. He feinted again and the man moved to the side. The man feinted but Gomez didn't budge; he was anxious to get it on.

1984, Len Levinson, chapter 3, in Meat Grinder Hill (The Rat Bastards; 4), [San Francisco, Calif.]: AudioGO, published 2013, →ISBN:

(intransitive, boxing, fencing, also often military) To make a feint or mock attack.


feint

Borrowed from French feint, the past participle of feindre (“to fake, feign”): see etymology 1.

(boxing, fencing, also often military) Of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike.

harhautus-

of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike


flake

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

cog

When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money.

1973, Knapp Commission, New York, The Knapp Commission Report on Police Corruption, page 83:

(US, law enforcement, slang) A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota.


flake

en-verb

flake (third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)

flakes (present singular third-person)
flaking (participle present)
flaked (participle past)
flaked (past)

(US, law enforcement, slang) To plant evidence to facilitate a corrupt arrest.


fret

From Middle English frēten (“to decorate”), from Old French freté, freter, fretter (“to fret (decorate with an interlacing pattern)”), from Old French fret (from fraindre (“to break”), from Latin frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Italic *frangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) + Old French -er (suffix forming verbs) (from Latin -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- (“to burden, charge”)).

der

DIAPERED, or Diapre, in heraldry, the dividing of a field in planes, like fret-work, and filling the ſame with variety of figures. This chiefly obtains on bordures, which are diapered or fretted over, and the frets charged with things proper for bordures.

1764, Temple Henry Croker, Thomas Williams, Samuel Clark [et al.], “DIAPERED”, in The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, volume I, London: Printed for the authors, and sold by J. Wilson & J. Fell, Pater-noster Row; [et al.], →OCLC:

(heraldry) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.


galley

en-noun

galley (plural galleys or (obsolete) gallies)

galleys (plural)
gallies (obsolete plural)

From Middle English galeie, from Old French galee, from Latin galea, from Byzantine Greek γάλεα (gálea) of unknown origin, probably from Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē), a kind of a small fish, from γαλεός (galeós, “dog-fish or small shark”). Doublet of galea.

(heraldry) A representation of a single masted ship propelled by oars, with three flags and a basket.


gauge

gauge (countable and uncountable, plural gauges)

From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English ġealga (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse galgi (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse gelgja (“pole, perch”). Doublet of gallows.

cog

(firearms) A unit of measurement which describes how many spheres of bore diameter of a shotgun can be had from one pound of lead; 12 gauge is roughly equivalent to .75 caliber.


core

en-noun

core (countable and uncountable, plural cores)

desc

Translingual: core eudicots, core Malvales

From Middle English core, kore, coor (“apple-core, pith”), of obscure and uncertain origin. Possibly of native English origin, from Old English *cor, related to Old English *coruc, *corc (diminutive) (> Middle English cork, crok (“core of an apple or other fruit, heart of an onion”)) and Old English corn (“seed", also "grain”); or alternatively perhaps from Old French cuer (“heart”), from Latin cor (“heart”); or from Old French cors (“body”), from Latin corpus (“body”). Compare also Middle English colk, coke, coll (“the heart or centre of an apple or onion, core”), Dutch kern (“core”), German Kern (“core”). See also heart, corpse.

unc

obscure and uncertain

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

In a hollow-core design, neutrons escape from the core more readily, allowing more fissile material to be used (and thus allowing for a greater yield) while still keeping the core subcritical prior to detonation.

particular parts of technical instruments or machines essential in function:

(military) The central fissile portion of a fission weapon.


incapacitation

en-noun

incapacitation (countable and uncountable, plural incapacitations)

ubezwłasnowolnienie

The act of incapacitating or the state of being incapacitated

Order-maintenance proponents affirmatively promote youth curfews, anti-gang loitering ordinances, and order-maintenance crackdowns as milder alternatives to the theory of incapacitation and increased incarceration.

2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order:

The act of incapacitating or state of being incapacitated; incapacity; disqualification.

(law enforcement) The imprisonment of a would-be offender, which prevents them from offending.


indent

en-verb

indent (third-person singular simple present indents, present participle indenting, simple past and past participle indented)

indents (present singular third-person)
indenting (participle present)
indented (participle past)
indented (past)

Partly from Middle English indenten (“to dent in”), equivalent to in- + dent (see dent); partly from Middle English indenten, endenten, from Old French endenter (“to provide with teeth”), from en- (“in-, en-”) + dent (“tooth”), from Latin dēns.

uder

What is the rule observed in India in indenting upon England for military stores ?

1832 May 23, John Byng examining Jasper Nicolls in the House of Commons

(military, India, dated) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.


interpellation

en-noun

interpellation (countable and uncountable, plural interpellations)

From Middle French interpellation, from Latin interpellātiō; equivalent to interpellate + -ion or interpel + -ation.

While the petition was circulating, a Progressive deputy asked the Minister of the Interior what the Prussian government intended to do about it. The interpellation was intended to elicit a condemnation, but the minister’s pro forma reply that the government did not intend to abrogate Jewish rights was seen by the petitioners as an encouraging sign.

1975, Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews 1933-1945:

(politics) The act of interpellating (questioning); the period in which government officials are questioned about and explain an act, a policy or a point raised during a debate.


invitation

invitation (countable and uncountable, plural invitations)

From Middle English invitacioun, ynvytacioun, from Latin invītātio, reinforced by Middle French invitation. Displaced native Middle English lathinge from Old English laþung (see dialectal English lathing).

(fencing) A line that is intentionally left open to encourage the opponent to attack.


isolation

isolation (countable and uncountable, plural isolations)

/ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/

First attested in 1800. From French isolation, from isolé, placed on an island (thus away from other people). Equivalent to isolate + -ion.

As of 1975, diplomatic ostracism is still imposed by the Organization of American States (OAS). The inter-American community also exercises a trade embargo against Cuba. But even within this context of hemispheric isolation, Havana’s diplomacy is strikingly contradictory.

1975, W. Raymond Duncan, “Problems of Cuban Foreign Policy, chapter 20”, in Irving Louis Horowitz, editor, Cuban Communism, 5th edition, Transaction, published 1985, page 486:

Israel could offer to ease North Korea’s isolation with diplomatic recognition, […] ¶ […] But Washington’s strategy of increasing North Korean isolation left no room for back-channel talks with Tel Aviv, […]

September 1993, Jon Brook Wolfsthal, “The Israeli initiative”, in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 49, number 7, page 8:

It [Europe] now pressed Washington to begin direct talks with Tehran, but Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Rice’s point man on Iran, still stressed that diplomatic isolation of Iran—and not diplomatic engagement—was the only acceptable approach for dealing with the Iranian nuclear challenge.

2009, Dore Gold, The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West, Regnery Publishing, →ISBN, page 49:

(diplomacy, of a country) The state of not having diplomatic relations with other countries (either with most or all other countries, or with specified other countries).

մեկ

diplomacy: state of not having diplomatic relations


ladder

en-verb

ladder (third-person singular simple present ladders, present participle laddering, simple past and past participle laddered)

ladders (present singular third-person)
laddering (participle present)
laddered (participle past)
laddered (past)
ledder (alternative)

From Middle English ladder, laddre, from Old English hlǣder, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaidriju, from Proto-Germanic *hlaidrijō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlóydʰrom, from *ḱley- (“to lean”).
Compare Scots ledder, North Frisian ladder, Saterland Frisian Laadere, West Frisian ljedder, Dutch ladder, leer, German Leiter); also Old Irish clithar (“hedge”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌋𐌄𐌈𐌓𐌀𐌌 (kleθram, “stretcher”)). See lean, which is related to lid.
Further cognates include Ashkun istrī, Kamkata-viri c̣ik, Prasuni čik, čix, Waigali c̣iř, Sanskrit श्रिति (śrití).

The Rochdale climber spoken of once fell 70 feet from a mill at Linfitts, owing to an accident while he was laddering. He was terribly hurt, but recovered, and still carries on his trade with unshaken nerve.

1896, Chambers's Journal, Edinburgh, London: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, page 367:

A good working knowledge of the ladder parts, how they work, their capacities, and proper usage are a must before anyone is sent out to ladder a building.

1998, John Norman, Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics, 2nd edition, Saddle Brook, N.J.: Fire Engineering, →ISBN, page 164:

He was barefoot, but he was wearing his climbing harness and was attached to Telperion with a rope. He unclipped the rope, detaching himself from the tree. He stepped out onto a branch and free-climbed up to Cordaro's hammock. […] He laddered his way barefoot to the very top of Telperion. He didn't use a rope, and he felt that any hominid with any dexterity could have pulled off the climb.

2007, Richard Preston, “Detonation Zone”, in The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN:

(chiefly firefighting) To ascend (a building, a wall, etc.) using a ladder.

For eighteen minutes Revenge pounded the dockyard area at an average range of 15,700 yards, spreading for line and laddering for range to a prearranged plan to cover the whole target area.

2007, Peter Smith, Naval Warfare in the English Channel: 1939-1945, page 134:

Laddering made it possible to get a few hits on a fast-moving, often manoeuvring, target.

2014, Norman Friedman, Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns & Gunnery:

(UK, naval slang) To close in on a target with successive salvos, increasing or decreasing the shot range as necessary.

offences to be taken into consideration
offence to be taken into consideration

(UK, law enforcement, of a police officer) To corruptly coerce a convicted offender to admit to offences to be taken into consideration which they do not actually believe they committed, as a way to artificially increase the rate of solved crimes.


liberate

liberate (third-person singular simple present liberates, present participle liberating, simple past and past participle liberated)

liberates (present singular third-person)
liberating (participle present)
liberated (participle past)
liberated (past)

Borrowed from Latin līberātus, the perfect passive participle of līberō (“to set free, deliver”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from līber (“free”); see liberal.

(transitive, military, euphemistic) To acquire from an enemy during wartime, used especially of cities, regions, and other population centers.


martinet

After the example of 17th-century French army officer Jean Martinet.

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

Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

The same Aubrey deLint I'd dismissed for years as a 2-D martinet knelt gurneyside to squeeze my restrained hand and say ‘Just hang in there, Buckaroo,’ […]

1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 15:

In Seattle, he was replaced by a martinet from Annapolis, a man so vain and incompetent, so impatient with advice from experienced sailors and sure of his own right way, that, when the Hull set sail for the South Pacific, twenty men went AWOL, certain that to ship with this man was a death sentence.

2008, Greil Marcus, “Tied to History”, in The Threepenny Review:


muster

From Middle English musteren, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mostrer, Middle French monstrer, moustrer (whence the noun monstre, which gave the English noun), from Latin mōnstrō (“to show”), from moneō (“to admonish”). Cognate with French montrer (“to show”), Italian mostrare (“to show”), Spanish mostrar (“to show”). See also monster.

Come, let vs take a muster speedily: / Doomesday is neere; dye all, dye merrily.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

And after long being there, I 'light, and walked to the place where the King, Duke &c., did stand to see the horse and foot march by and discharge their guns, to show a French Marquisse (for whom this muster was caused) the goodness of our firemen […]

1663 July 14 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 4th, 1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:

2010, Ohtar, "Enthroned", Slechtvalk, A Forlorn Throne.
To shorten his way and to hasten for the muster he takes a long lost road.

(military) An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.


pearl

en-noun

pearl (countable and uncountable, plural pearls)

Horace
Jean Jannon
New Testament
Vergil
en:pearl
en:pearl (disambiguation)
en:pearl (typography)

From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.

der

Errol. Pearl three Escutcheons Ruby. / Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.

1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. The Armes of the most Noble and Puissant Lord, Edward Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and Baron of Atherdee in the Kingdom of Ireland. His Lordship's Atchievements are Quarterly of sixteen Coats. 1. Brabazon, as above. 2. Diamond, on a Chevron between three Pickaxes Pearl, as many Mullets Ruby, by the Name of Mosley. 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset. 4. Pearl, on a Bend Diamond, nine Annulets conjoined in three Links Topaz.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

(1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks.

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:

(heraldry) Argent, in blazoning by precious stones.


piquet

en-verb

piquet (third-person singular simple present piquets, present participle piqueting, simple past and past participle piqueted)

piquets (present singular third-person)
piqueting (participle present)
piqueted (participle past)
piqueted (past)


prize

From Middle English prise, from Old French prise (“a taking, capture, a seizure, a thing seized, a prize, booty, also hold, purchase”), past participle of prendre (“to take, to capture”), from Latin prēndere (“to take, seize”); see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, surprise, etc. Doublet of prise.

der

Having taken all the Treasure on Board their own Ships, and plundered their Prize of every Thing elſe they either wanted or liked, they let her go; ſhe not being able to continue her Voyage, returned back: […]

1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Avery, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 51:

(military, nautical) Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.

غَنِيمَة

anything captured using the rights of war


raid

raids (plural)
rade (alternative Scotland)

From Scots raid, from Northern Middle English rade, from Old English rād (“a riding, an expedition on horseback, road”), whence also the inherited English road (“way, street”). The earlier senses of “a riding, expedition, raid” fell into disuse in Early Modern English, but were revived in the northern form raid by Walter Scott in the early 19th century. The use for a swift police operation appears in the later 19th century and may perhaps have been influenced by French razzia (similar in both original meaning and sound).

Marauding chief! his sole delight / The moonlight raid, the morning fight.

1805, Walter Scott, “Canto Fourth”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 109:

There are permanent conquests, temporary occupation, and occasional raids.

1872, Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Biology, volume 1, page 315:

(military) A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.

مُدَاهَمَة

military: quick hostile or predatory incursion

a police raid of a narcotics factory

a raid of contractors on the public treasury

For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.

2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:

(law enforcement) An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering.

غَارَة

attack for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering


raider

(military) A special forces operative; a commando.

(military, naval) A warship which is light, maneuverable, and fast-moving.

אֳנִיַּת שֹׁד

naval: light maneuverable and fast warship, used in raiding


reach

From Middle English rechen, from Old English rǣċan (“to reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *raikijan, from Proto-Germanic *raikijaną, from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind, reach”).

(boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.

ulottuvuus

boxing: distance a boxer's arm can extend


recover

From Middle English recoveren, rekeveren, from Anglo-Norman recoverer and Old French recovrer, from Latin recuperāre, alternative form of reciperāre. Doublet of recuperate.
The noun is from Middle English recover, from the verb.

(military) A position of holding a firearm during exercises, whereby the lock is at shoulder height and the sling facing out.


reeve

reeves (plural)
reve (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also groefa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō (“officer, official”). Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf.
The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.

inh

A list of new titles was manufactured as follows: Ensign, Lieutenant, Flight-Leader, Squadron-Leader, Reeve, Banneret, Fourth-Ardian, Third-Ardian, Second-Ardian, Ardian, Air Marshal. […] “Reeve”, perhaps, savoured a little too much of legal authority.

1936, The Periodical, volumes 21-22, Oxford University Press, page 67:

(military, historical) The holder of a proposed but unadopted commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force, equivalent to wing commander.


represent

en-verb

represent (third-person singular simple present represents, present participle representing, simple past and past participle represented)

represents (present singular third-person)
representing (participle present)
represented (participle past)
represented (past)
repræsent (alternative)

/ˌɹɛp.ɹɪˈzɛnt/

From Old French représenter, from Latin repraesentō.

They chose a member of Congress to represent their district.

(politics, transitive) To act as a representative of (a country, state, district etc.)


reserve

en-noun

reserve (countable and uncountable, plural reserves)

From Old French reserver, from Latin reservō (“to reserve, retain”).

اِحْتِيَاط

that which is reserved or kept back, as for future use

рэзерва́цыя

tract of land reserved for Aboriginal people

That which is reserved or kept back, as for future use.

(military) A body of troops kept in the rear of an army drawn up for battle, reserved to support the other lines as occasion may require; a force or body of troops kept for an exigency.

рэзе́рв

military: body of troops in the rear of an army


rout

The noun is derived from Middle French route (“military defeat; retreat”), from rout, archaic past participle of Middle French, Old French rompre (“to break; to break up, disperse”) (modern French rompre (“to break, snap; to break up (with someone)”)), from Latin rumpere, the present active infinitive of rumpō (“to break, burst, rupture, tear; to force open; (figurative) to annul; to destroy; to interrupt”); see further at etymology 1.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

[T]hy Army preſently, / (As if they could not ſtand, when thou wert downe) / Diſperſt in rout, betooke them all to flie: [...]

1609, Samuel Daniel, “The Fovrth Booke”, in The Civile Wares betweene the Howses of Lancaster and Yorke […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes for] Simon Watersonne, →OCLC, stanza 56, page 101:

And the authorities in Moscow presented the rout in the northeast as a planned “regrouping.”

2022 September 11, Andrew E. Kramer, Andrew Higgins, “Ukraine Routs Russian Forces in Northeast, Forcing a Retreat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Small contingents of Russian troops across the country have tried to train the Syrian army into a more professional force (the rout in Aleppo suggests those efforts have gone poorly).

2024 December 4, “Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is in mortal danger”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(military, also figurative) The retreat of an enemy force, etc., in this manner; also (archaic, rare), the army, enemy force, etc., so retreating.


sanguine

en-noun

sanguine (countable and uncountable, plural sanguines)

From Middle English sanguine, from Old French sanguin, ultimately from Latin sanguineus (“of blood”), from sanguis (“blood”), of uncertain origin, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). Doublet of sanguineous.

(heraldry) A tincture, seldom used, of a blood-red colour (not to be confused with murrey).


secondary

From Middle English secundarie, from Latin secundārius (“of the second class or quality”), from secundus (whence the English second) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary), equivalent to second + -ary; compare the French secondaire, the Italian secondario, the Occitan secundari, the Portuguese secundario, and the Spanish secundario.

der

English numerals#Ordinal numbers
secondary

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon

(military) The second stage of a multistage thermonuclear weapon, which generates a fusion explosion when imploded as an indirect result of the fission explosion of the primary, and which, in a few extremely large weapons, itself implodes a fusion tertiary.


segregation

en-noun

segregation (countable and uncountable, plural segregations)

/sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/

1555. From Latin segregatio.
Morphologically segregate + -ion

(politics, public policy) The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into racial or other categories (e.g. religion, sex).

сегрегация

politics, public policy — see also apartheid


serve

en-verb

serve (third-person singular simple present serves, present participle serving, simple past and past participle served)

serves (present singular third-person)
serving (participle present)
served (participle past)
served (past)

desc

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

From Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin serviō (“be a slave; serve”), from Latin servus (“slave; servant”), which perhaps derives from Etruscan (compare Etruscan proper names 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌉 (servi), 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌄 (serve)), or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”).

John T. Greble, of the 2d regular artillery, was likewise killed instantly by a ball through the head, while serving his gun in the face of the foe.

1864, Horace Greeley, The American Conflict:

(transitive, military) To work, to operate (a weapon).


shell

From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cleave”).
Compare West Frisian skyl (“peel, rind”), Dutch schil (“peel, skin, rink”), Low German Schell (“shell, scale”), Irish scelec (“pebble”), Old Church Slavonic сколика (skolika, “shell”). More at shale.
Doublet of sheal.
* (computing): From being viewed as an outer layer of interface between the user and the operating-system internals.

cog

(weaponry) The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.

(weaponry) A hollow, usually spherical or cylindrical projectile fired from a siege mortar or a smoothbore cannon. It contains an explosive substance designed to be ignited by a fuse or by percussion at the target site so that it will burst and scatter at high velocity its contents and fragments. Formerly called a bomb.

արկ

hollow usually spherical or cylindrical projectile fired from a mortar or a cannon

(weaponry) The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.


shy

en-adj

shy (comparative shier or shyer or more shy, superlative shiest or shyest or most shy)

shier (comparative)
shyer (comparative)
more shy (comparative)
shiest (superlative)
shyest (superlative)
most shy (superlative)

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).
Etymology tree
Middle English shy
English shy

etymon

Pollsters need to remember the shy Tory factor.

(UK, US, politics, of a voter) Less likely to reveal whom they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on polling accuracy.


slapper

From slap + -er. For senses 2 and 3, the OED tentatively quotes the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang: "This working class term from East London and Essex is probably a corruption of shlepper or schlepper, a word of Yiddish origin, one of whose meanings is a slovenly or immoral woman."

(countable, military) A type of detonator which uses a powerful surge of electricity to vaporize a thin metal foil, propelling a larger piece of plastic film at a speed high enough to detonate an explosive upon impact.


slight

en-verb

slight (third-person singular simple present slights, present participle slighting, simple past and past participle slighted)

slights (present singular third-person)
slighting (participle present)
slighted (participle past)
slighted (past)

From Middle English slight (“bad, of poor quality, unimportant, trivial, slender, slim, smooth, level”), from Old English sliht (“smooth, level”), from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz (“slippery, flat, level, plain”), related to English slick. Cognate with Scots slicht (“bad, of poor quality”), West Frisian sljocht (“smooth, level, plain, simple”), Dutch slecht (“bad”), Low German slecht (“bad”), German schlecht (“bad”) and schlicht (“plain, artless, natural”), Danish slet (“bad, evil, poor, nasty, wrong”), Swedish slät (“smooth”), Norwegian slett (“even”), Icelandic sléttur (“even, smooth, level”).

cog

When the parliament had finished the war , they reduced and slighted most of the inland garrison

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

(transitive, military, of a fortification) To render no longer defensible by full or partial demolition.


snipe

From Middle English snipe, snype (a type of bird), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe.
The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper". The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".

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

(naval slang) A member of the engineering department on a ship.

laivamekaanikko

naval slang: member of the Engineering Department


spike

en-verb

spike (third-person singular simple present spikes, present participle spiking, simple past and past participle spiked)

spikes (present singular third-person)
spiking (participle present)
spiked (participle past)
spiked (past)

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.

terästää

to covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into a drink

He jumped down, wrenched the hammer from the armourer's hand, and seizing a nail from the bag, in a few moments he had spiked the gun.

1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XVIII, in Peter Simple. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 299:

Small skirmishes also took place, and the Afghans managed to seize a pair of mule-guns and force the British to spike and abandon two other precious guns.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, pages 235–6:

(military) To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.


stack

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

From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”).
The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.

(military) A pile of rifles or muskets in a cone shape.


stag

en-noun

stag (countable and uncountable, plural stags)

stags (plural)
steg (alternative)
staig (alternative)
stagg (alternative)
stagge (alternative)

From Middle English stagge, steg, from Old English stagga, stacga (“a stag”) and Old Norse steggi, steggr (“a male animal”), both from Proto-Germanic *staggijô, *staggijaz (“male, male deer, porcupine”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *stegʰ-, *stengʰ- (“to sting; rod, blade; sharp, stiff”). Cognate with Icelandic steggi, steggur (“tomcat, male fox”). Related to staggard, staggon.

Between shifts on stag or manning the radio, we grabbed a few hours sleep.

2000, Richard Tomlinson, The big breach: from top secret to maximum security, page 31:

Three days were spent on standby or patrols and a fourth day on guard, with at least eight hours on stag.

2012, Max Benitz, Six Months Without Sundays: The Scots Guards in Afghanistan:

(uncountable, UK, military, slang) Guard duty.


moderate

en-adj

moderate (comparative more moderate, superlative most moderate)

more moderate (comparative)
most moderate (superlative)

From Middle English moderat(e) (“moderate, temperate”), borrowed from Latin moderātus, perfect active participle of moderor (“regulate, restrain, moderate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from moder-, modes-, a stem appearing also in modestus (“moderate, discreet, modest”), from modus (“measure”); see mode and modest. Doublet of moderato. Displaced native Old English ġemetlīċ (“moderate”) and metegian (“to moderate”). Cognate with French modéré.

inh

(US, politics) Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative.

mötədil

having an intermediate position in politics


tang

From Middle English tange, variant of tonge (“tongs, fang”), from Old Norse tangi (“pointed metal tool”), perhaps related to Old Norse tunga (“tongue”). But see also Middle Dutch tanger (“sharp, tart, pinching”).

ruoti

projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to some other part

angel

part of small instrument inserted into handle

The rifle carried a vernier sight on the tang[…]

1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter IV, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:

A projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to a handle, or to some other part.

(firearms) The projecting part of the breech of a musket barrel, by which the barrel is secured to the stock.


tracker

追踪器

computer program that monitors something

While she and Mr. Fetterman were often in different places, she would turn up at events early so she could shoot and post photos of the crowds, the lines, the people. At most events there was a tracker: a guy from the Oz team who monitored the goings-on.

2022 December 17, Judith Newman, “John Fetterman’s TikTok Whisperer”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2022-12-24:

Agent noun of track; one who, or that which, tracks or pursues, as a man or dog that follows game.

(US politics) A person employed to follow and monitor a political rival.


treat

en-verb

treat (third-person singular simple present treats, present participle treating, simple past and past participle treated or (Northern England, Bristol, colloquial) tret)

treats (present singular third-person)
treating (participle present)
treated (participle past)
treated (past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial participle past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial past)
treat (infinitive)
treat (first-person present singular)
treated (first-person past singular)
treat (present second-person singular)
treatest (archaic present second-person singular)
treated (past second-person singular)
treatedst (archaic past second-person singular)
treats (present singular third-person)
treateth (archaic present singular third-person)
treated (past singular third-person)
treat (plural present)
treated (past plural)
treat (present subjunctive)
treated (past subjunctive)
treat (imperative present)
treating (participle present)
treated (participle past)

From Middle English treten, from Anglo-Norman treter, Old French tretier, traiter, from Latin tractāre (“to pull", "to manage”), from the past participle stem of trahere (“to draw", "to pull”).

(UK politics, law) To commit the offence of providing food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence a voter.


troll

→ Korean: 트롤 (teurol)

→ Spanish: trol

→ Ukrainian: троль (trolʹ)

→ Welsh: trol (“cart”)

The verb is derived from Middle English trollen (“to go about, wander; to move (something) to and fro, rock; to roll; to turn”) [and other forms], of uncertain origin; perhaps in part from Old French troller (“to run here and there; to walk aimlessly, ramble, stroll; (hunting) to wander about looking for game”) (modern French troller); further etymology uncertain, yet probably from or related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll, walk with short strides”) (modern German trollen (“to move slowly, trundle; to push off, toddle off”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *truzlōną (“to lumber”), which is probably related to *trudaną (“to step on, tread”) (see further at etymology 1). Doublet of trull.
Verb sense 4.2.2 (“to fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat”) is possibly influenced by trail and/or trawl.
The noun is probably derived from the verb. Noun sense 4 (“person who makes or posts inflammatory or insincere statements in an attempt to lure others into combative argument”) is possibly influenced by troll (etymology 1).
Cognates
* Middle Low German drullen (“to stroll”) (Low German trullen (“to troll”))

unc

uncertain

cog

Already, U.S. operatives in both parties have made early efforts at using trolls for political gain. Rogue progressives stealthily launched fake social media campaigns against Roy Moore, the GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama, during a 2017 special election. Their campaign aimed to confuse voters into thinking Moore supported banning alcohol and that Russian bots were working on his behalf.

2019 November 19, Shashank Bengali, Evan Halper, “Troll armies, a growth industry in the Philippines, may soon be coming to an election near you”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-09:

Social media accounts tied to a group of Russian trolls are amplifying claims of election fraud, according to researchers at the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of misinformation experts.

2020 November 3, Sheera Frenkel, “Russian internet trolls are amplifying election fraud claims, researchers say”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-27:

"The Dissident" saw as many as 500 low audience scores, out of just 2,400, flood the popular film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes on Jan. 12, filmmakers said, an act they believe came from trolls operating on behalf of the Saudi government to create a false sense of popular dissatisfaction.

2021 January 21, Steven Zeitchik, “An alleged Saudi troll campaign is targeting a movie about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-01-22:

And, perhaps unsurprisingly, pro-war Chinese trolls denounced the authors – who are based in Nanjing, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai – as "shameful" and "traitorous". "Why did you not say anything during the west's invasion in Iraq," one quipped sarcastically.

2022 February 28, Vincent Ni, “‘They were fooled by Putin’: Chinese historians speak out against Russian invasion”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-27:

(by extension, politics) A person who sows discord, or spreads misinformation or propaganda, in order to promote an agenda as part of an organized political campaign.


tweak

en-verb

tweak (third-person singular simple present tweaks, present participle tweaking, simple past and past participle tweaked)

tweaks (present singular third-person)
tweaking (participle present)
tweaked (participle past)
tweaked (past)

From Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian (“to pluck”), from Proto-West Germanic *twekkōn (“to fasten; clamp; pinch”). Related to twitch. The drug-related sense may be a blend of twitch and freak.

inh

(military, weaponry, uncommon) From a catapult, to strike a target with a missile.


vedette

The enemy made no effort to pursue Marshal Blücher. On the contrary, a patrole which I sent to Sombref in the morning found all quiet; and the enemy's vedettes fell back as the patrole advanced.

1815 June 19, Arthur Wellesley, Wellingon's Waterloo dispatch to Lord Bathurst:

My goal was Desolation Peak, the cabin where rookie vedette Jack Kerouac spent 63 eventful days in the summer of 1956.

2021 February 16, Dan Richards, “Peak cabin: a fire-spotter's lonely vantage point in Washington state”, in The Guardian:

(historical, military) A sentinel, usually on horseback, stationed on the outpost of an army, to watch an enemy and give notice of danger.


vilayet

vilayets (plural)
vilayat (alternative)
velayat (alternative)

From Ottoman Turkish ولایت (vilayet, “province”), from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya, “province, administration”). Doublet of wilayah.

der

(politics) A province, particularly (historical) the first-level administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire.

vilajet

one of the chief administrative divisions or provinces of the Ottoman Empire


volunteer

/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.

(military) One who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript.

That summer and fall the Army organized twenty-five regiments of volunteers, including two black regiments, which would have all-black captains and lieutenants. All officers were to be selected from regulars and volunteers who had distinguished themselves[…]

2007 April 30, Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 16:

(military) A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.


waster

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

Or, as they that play at wasters exercise themselves by a few cudgels how to avoid an enemy's blows, let us arm ourselves against all such violent incursions which may invade our minds.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6:

(obsolete, chiefly fencing) A kind of cudgel; also, a blunt-edged sword used as a foil.


wavy

en-adj

wavy (comparative wavier, superlative waviest)

wavier (comparative)
waviest (superlative)
wavey (alternative uncommon)

Per pale erm. and az. a fess wavy gu.

1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland: Forming an Extensive Ordinary of British Armorials; Upon an Entirely New Plan ..., page 708:

Parted per fess wavy gu. and arg.; over all a lion passant sa. pierced with a dagger ppr., hafted and pommelled of the second, the haft appearing between the shoulders and the point under the belly, tending towards the hind legs[…]

1893, James Balfour Paul, An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, page 105:

(heraldry) Undé, in a wavy line; applied to ordinaries, or division lines, especially to symbolize a river.


wreath

From Middle English wreth, wrethe (“coiled or rounded shape; decorative garland, wreath; chaplet, crown; ring”, noun), from Old English wrǣd, wrǣþ, wriþa (“bandage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”). Doublet of wreathe and writhe.

inh

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(heraldry) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest; an orle, a torse. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the coat of arms.


feud

feuds (plural)
fead (alternative)
feaud (alternative)
fede (alternative)
feood (alternative)
fewd (alternative)
fewde (alternative)
fuide (alternative)
fude (alternative)

Oxford English Dictionary
Survey of English Dialects

Inherited from Northern Middle English fede, feide, from Old French faide, feide, fede, from Proto-West Germanic *faihiþu (“hatred, enmity”) (corresponding to foe + -th), from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“hostile”).
Cognate to Old English fǣhþ, fǣhþu, fǣhþo (“hostility, enmity, violence, revenge, vendetta”), German Fehde, and Dutch vete (“feud”) (directly inherited from Proto-West Germanic) alongside Danish fejde (“feud, enmity, hostility, war”) and Swedish fejd (“feud, controversy, quarrel, strife”) (borrowed from Middle Low German).

der

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) A staged rivalry between wrestlers.


boots

[…] he sent on the 22d. Vice-Admiral Rook into it, with several Men of War and Fire-Ships, besides the Boots of the Fleet, to endeavour to destroy them: […]

1705, The Life of William III, Late King of England, and Prince of Orange, page 334:

The captain of Hotspur was Lieutenant T. Herrick, the youngest commanding officer in all the destroyers, and says Hotspur was the “boots” of the fleet! Being the junior ship, she was given jobs no-one wanted.

2005, Frank Wade, A Midshipman's War, page 115:

(UK, naval, slang) The ship in a fleet having the most junior captain.


boozer

From booze + -er (agent noun suffix) or (pub) + -er (relational noun suffix).

(UK, military, obsolete) A World War II fighter radar detector, fitted to British bombers.


ringer

A group of naval one- and two-ringers were chatting by the office door with a few ratings, complete with kit-bags and oilskins.

The senior officer of the escort was an RN two and a half ringer who had a reputation of being one of the best.

(UK, military, informal, in combination) An officer having the specified number of rings (denoting rank) on the uniform sleeve.


argent

en-noun

argent (countable and uncountable, plural argents)

argents (plural)
arg. (alternative)
a. (alternative)

From Middle English argent, from Old French argent m (“silver”), from Latin argentum n (“white money, silver”).

der

argent:

The metals are gold and silver, these being termed "or" and "argent".

1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry:

(heraldry) The white or silver tincture on a coat of arms.


argent

... when the shield is argent, it is shown in an engraving by being left plain.

1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

(heraldry): of white or silver tincture on a coat of arms.


khakis

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

(military) A khaki uniform of pants (trousers) or shorts, shirt, and hat or other head covering such as a turban.


runoff

en-noun

runoff (countable and uncountable, plural runoffs)

There will now be a runoff as neither front runner received more than 50% of the vote.

It is one of the left's best ever results and will raise momentum for next month's final runoff where only the two candidates will compete against each other.

2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian:

Mr. Macron was unable to command more than a small plurality of support against several opponents in the first round of voting on April 10. Ms. Le Pen, who finished second, is his opponent in the runoff election on Sunday.

2022 April 21, Michael Crowley, “U.S. Braces for Potential French Election Shockwave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(politics) A second or further round of an indecisive election, after other candidates (often all but the last two) have been eliminated.

جولة الإعادة

politics: second or further round of an indecisive election


clip

→ Japanese: クリップ (kurippu)

→ Portuguese: clipe

From Middle English clippen, cleppen, clüppen, from Old English clyppan (“to hug, embrace, cherish, clasp”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glemb-, *glembʰ- (“lump, clump, clod, clamp”). Cognate with Old Frisian kleppa, klippa (“to hug, embrace”), Middle High German klimpen, klimpfen (“to contract tightly, constrict, squeeze”).

inh

(military) A frame containing a number of rounds of ammunition which is intended to be inserted into an internal magazine of a firearm to allow for rapid reloading.

(military, colloquial) A removable magazine of a firearm.


Star Wars

[ˈstɑɹ ˈwɔɹz]

[ˈstɑ˞ ˈwɔɹz]

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

From the original name of the science fantasy motion picture Star Wars (1977).

Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative

(informal, military) The United States Strategic Defense Initiative.


ODT

(healthcare, technology) Initialism of optical diffraction tomography.


TDS

tax deducted at source
tax deducted at source#English

(taxation) Initialism of tax deducted at source.

“The mid-level stages of TDS have a profound effect on the victim’s vocabulary: Sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting solely of hyperbole.”

2018 July 20, Chris Cillizza, quoting Justin Raimondo, “What is ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ – and do you have it?”, in CNN:

Trump derangement syndrome
Trump derangement syndrome#English

(US politics, uncountable) Initialism of Trump derangement syndrome.

Trump delusional syndrome
Trump delusional syndrome#English

(US politics, uncountable) Initialism of Trump delusional syndrome.


jalousie

/ˈd͡ʒæləsiː/

Borrowed from French jalousie. Doublet of jealousy.

(naval architecture) A component in a ventilation system.


caisson

Borrowed from French caisson. Doublet of cassone and cajón.

Over hill, over dale / As we hit the dusty trail, / And those caissons go rolling along.

1908, Edmund Louis Gruber, “The Caissons Go Rolling Along”:

(military) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn military vehicle used to carry ammunition (and a coffin at funerals).

vaigín armlóin

two-wheeled horse-drawn military vehicle

(military) A large box to hold ammunition.

(military) A chest filled with explosive materials, used like a mine.


U-boat

(military, nautical, historical) Any German submarine of the First or Second World War, or any Austro-Hungarian submarine of the First World War.

U艇

any German submarine of the First or Second World War, or any Austro-Hungarian submarine of the First World War


bingo

Alternative form of bing, suggesting a ringing sound. Attested since 1925.

Well, the old pucker factor went up about 75 notches at that point cause that length of time would put my wingman below Bingo fuel, plus the thought of sitting in an orbit several miles West of the Yen Bai […]

1993, Red River Valley Fighter Pilots, page 40:

The first pilot to get down to this bingo fuel state would call, “Banjo 4, bingo fuel,” or whatever.

2012, Larry R Gibson, Recollections of a Marine Attack Pilot, page 54:

(US, aviation slang, chiefly military, primarily of fuel) Just sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)


bingo

en-verb

bingo (third-person singular simple present bingos, present participle bingoing, simple past and past participle bingoed)

bingos (present singular third-person)
bingoing (participle present)
bingoed (participle past)
bingoed (past)
Bingo (alternative)

Tony's den

10; in the UK, referring to the Number 10, Downing Street, the prime minister's residence

on its own

followed by the number: any single-digit number

(intransitive, US, aviation slang, chiefly military) To return to base.


mandate

First attested in 1521; borrowed from Latin mandātum (“a charge, order, command, commission, injunction”), substantivized from the neuter forms of mandātus, perfect passive participle of mandō (“to commit to one's charge, order, command, commission, literally to put into one's hands”) (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from manus (“hand”) + -dere (“to put”).

bor+

John Tyler and James K. Polk both regarded the election results as a mandate for the annexation of Texas.

2002, Leroy G. Dorsey, The Presidency and Rhetorical Leadership, Texas A&M University Press, →ISBN, page 30:

(politics) The order or authority to do something, as granted to a politician by the electorate.


GOP

Initialism of Grand Old Party, a nickname for the Republican Party.

On their behalf, Reagan insisted (over the objections of the Ford forces) that the GOP platform declare that henceforth “the goal of Republican foreign policy is the achievement of liberty under law and a just and lasting peace in the world.”

2005, Jesse Helms, “Ronald Reagan, 1976”, in Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 103:

House GOP leaders believe the plan is on track to pass the chamber, arguing that Trump’s backing will help them win robust support among House Republicans on the floor this week, even as many ultraconservatives typically loathe such stopgap measures.

2025 March 8, Sarah Ferris, “Speaker Johnson unveils bill to fund the government through September 30”, in CNN:

(US politics) The Republican Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States.


honor

en-noun

honor (countable and uncountable, plural honors)

honors (plural)
honour (alternative British Commonwealth Ireland)

From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor.
Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”).
The verb is from Middle English honouren, honuren (“to honor”).

оньо́р

card games: one of the most valuable cards

a prophet has no honor in his own country

a prophet is not without honor save in his own country

(heraldry, countable) The center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon (compare honour point).

lakipiste

heraldry: centre point of the upper half of a coat of arms


peloton

Borrowed from French peloton (“small ball (of thread, etc.), pellet; (cycling) group of riders formed during a cycling road race; (military) small group of soldiers, platoon”), from pelote (“small ball (of thread, etc.)”) (ultimately from Latin pila (“ball; ball game; globe, sphere”) (probably referring to a ball of hair), from pilus (“strand of hair”), from Proto-Indo-European *pil- (“strand of hair”)) + -on (augmentative suffix). Doublet of platoon.

der

And so here, I suppose you intend to make a stand against your followers, Ranald—voto a Dios, as the Spaniard says—a very pretty position—as pretty a position for a small peloton of men as I have seen in my service—no enemy can come towards it by the road without being at the mercy of cannon and musket.

1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume IV (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 135:

A regiment of cavalry consists of six squadrons, each squadron of four pelotons, each peloton of two companies, each company of two escouardes, and each escouarde of two men.

1840 November, R[ichard] W[illiam] H[oward] Howard Vyse, “Some Account of the Composition and Force of the Egyptian Army”, in The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, part III, number 144, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 307:

Then the chief of each peloton came forward, snapped fingers with us as we sat on our chairs under the tree, our guards ranged on the right, a mob of gazers—women scratching and boys pulling—on the left, and an open space in front.

1864, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “We Enter Whydah in State”, in A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 44:

In Bauske, on 2 July, the local commandant had twenty hostages publicly shot at the Memel bridge by a peloton supplied by the local headquarters, allegedly in "reprisal" for the German soldiers who had fallen in the battles for the town.

2000, Margers Vestermanis, “Local Headquarters Liepaja: Two Months of German Occupation in the Summer of 1941”, in Hannes Heer, Klaus Naumann, editors, War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941–1944 (Studies on War and Genocide; 3), New York, N.Y.: Berghahn Books, published 2009, →ISBN, page 232:

(military, chiefly historical) Synonym of platoon (“a small group of soldiers”) or section (cognate with the former; not invariably synonymous with it, depending on century of use).


comrade

From late Middle English comered, from Middle French camarade, from Spanish camarada or Italian camerata (“chamber mate”), from Medieval Latin *camarata, from Latin camara, camera (“vaulted room, chamber”); see chamber. Compare camaraderie.

Hello, comrade. Are you going to the Communist Party meeting tonight?

(communism, by extension) A fellow socialist, communist or other similarly politically aligned person.

Comrade Lenin inspired our people to undertake great works.

(communism) A non-hierarchical title, functionally similar to "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Miss", "Ms." etc, in a communist, socialist, or rarely in an Islamist state.


HMS

One of the other two nations to operate the F-35B, the United Kingdom, has had US versions of the jet operating off its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

2018 November 29, Brad Lendon and Zachary Cohen, “Japan preparing to put US-designed stealth jets on an ‘aircraft carrier’”, in CNN:

(military, nautical) Initialism of His/Her Majesty's Ship (prefix for ships in the navy of a monarchy, such as the British Royal Navy).


COB

contingency operating base
contingency operating base#English

(US, military) Initialism of contingency operating base.


PTA

en-noun

PTA (countable and uncountable, plural PTAs)

Their computer cannot issue a Permit to Acquire to somebody who does not have the appropriate category of licence; or whose licence is about to expire. I am hearing from lots of people who want to know why it's taking weeks, or even months, for the PTA to be issued, when the waiting period is supposed to be only 28 days. The reason is, of course, that the massive backlog of five-year licence renewals, caused by the under-resourcing of the Registry, is holding up PTA′s because they can't be issued until after the licence renewal is issued.

2003 October 21, CD, “NEWSLETTER FROM THE OFFICE OF JOHN TINGLE MLC 15.10.03”, in aus.politics.guns (Usenet):

I think that is the most meaningless sections of the law out of the whole thing, PTA for second and subsequent arms. They are likely processing hundreds of thousands of PTA′s weekly for absolutely no demonstratable purpose with tax payer monies.

2004 January 28, Seb, “NEWSLETTER FROM NSW SHOOTERS PARTY January 27 2004”, in aus.politics.guns (Usenet):

get your PTA, and then think about spending a few hundred on a more modern .22 and a scope.

2004 June 18, Lindsay, “Yaaaay. PTA in less than a month”, in aus.sport.shooting (Usenet):

Recently, people applying for a Permit to Acquire have received a letter back from the Firearms Registry saying they had to submit a Certificate of Inspection of their secure storage, before the application could be processed. This was a new thing, and, in the case of people who already have a firearm, was pretty pointless, since we all had our secure storage inspected in that great state-wide sweep; and unless the applicant's address had changed, there was little point in a new inspection. In any case, I had countless reports of people asking their local police to do a new inspection to go with the PTA and being told the police were much too busy to do all that again.

2006 February 22, CD, “NSW Shooters party Newsletter Feb 21 2006”, in aus.politics.guns (Usenet):

(Australia, firearms) Initialism of permit to acquire: a form lodged with the police to acquire a specific firearm; the authorisation subsequently acquired.


SF

(Ireland, UK politics) Initialism of Sinn Féin; an Irish political party.


international

internationals (plural)
int'l (alternative abbreviation)

[ˌɪɾ̃ɚˈnæʃ(ə)n(ə)ɫ]

From inter- + national. Introduced in modern English by Jeremy Bentham in his An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1780.

(politics) A transnational organization of political parties of similar ideology.


crunchy

From crunch + -y. The slang sense is derived from the concept of crunchy granola.

crunchie

chocolate sweet; infantry soldier; white Afrikaner

"Inside, tankers carry full-length M16s for crew protection from crunchies."

2009, James Wesley Rawles, Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse:

Since tankers are no brighter than infantry types, those men assigned to the Twelfth Infantry Division's armored unit thought their tour was a bitter waste, rather than being grateful for not getting wiped out nearly as regularly as the crunchies did.

2009, Chris Bunch, Allan cole, A Reckoning For Kings: A Novel of Vietnam:

(military slang) An infantryman, as opposed to a tanker (combatant manning a tank).


camouflage

camouflage (countable and uncountable, plural camouflages)

/ˈkæ.məˌflɑːʒ/

Unadapted borrowing from French camouflage, from camoufler (“to veil, disguise”), alteration (due to camouflet (“smoke blown in one's face”)) of Italian camuffare (“to muffle the head”), from ca- (from Italian capo (“head”)) + muffare (“to muffle”), from Medieval Latin muffula, muffla (“muff”). This Medieval Latin, from which there is also English muffle, is either derived from a Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molawēn (“to soften”), Middle High German molwic (“soft”)) + *fell (“hide, skin”), from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”), or, an alternate etymology traces it to a Frankish *muffël (“a muff, wrap, envelope”) composed of *mauwa (“sleeve, wrap”) from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“sleeve”) + *fell (“skin, hide”) from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”).

der

(military) The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.


BNP

British National Party
w:British National Party

(UK politics) Initialism of British National Party.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party
w:Bangladesh Nationalist Party

(Bangladesh politics) Initialism of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.


offensive

en-noun

offensive (countable and uncountable, plural offensives)

offensives (plural)
offencive (alternative obsolete)

From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend.

The Marines today launched a major offensive.

In Central Hupeh, the Japanese launched another offensive from the Kingshan region, but instead of moving southwestward to cooperate with another column of theirs to capture Shasi, this column swerved to the northwest and succeeded in capturing Chunghsiang on the Han River.

1939 January, Lin Yu, “The "China Incident"”, in Philippine Magazine, volume XXXVI, number 1, →OCLC, page 121:


GC

General Committee
w:Constituency Labour Party

(UK politics) Initialism of General Committee: the general management committee of a constituency party of the British Labour Party.


old man

old man (countable and uncountable, plural old men)

old men (plural)
oldman (alternative)
old-man (alternative)

From Middle English alde mann, aldman, elde man, oldeman, from Old English eald man.

(slang, military) A unit's commanding officer, or the commander of a naval vessel, irrespective of age.


barrack

Borrowed from French baraque, from Spanish barraca or Catalan barraca, which is of uncertain origin. It is probably either a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barra (“bar”), of unclear origin, or a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barrum (“clay, mud”) from Celtiberian or Paleo-Hispanic.

Before the gates of Bari, he lodged in a miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and thatched with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy.

1829, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 4, page 67:

1919, House Committee on Military Affairs, Army Reorganization: Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, 66th Congress, 1st Session, on H.R. 8287, H.R. 8068, H.R. 7925, H.R. 8870, Sept. 3, 1919-Nov. 12, 1919, Parts 23-43, page 1956,
How do you distinguish between the disciplinary barracks and the penitentiary? Where are the disciplinary barracks ?

I know the barracks at the training camp out on the moors.

1996, Erich Maria Remarque, translated by Brian Murdoch, All Quiet on the Western Front, page 129:

(military, chiefly in the plural) A building for soldiers, especially within a garrison; originally referred to temporary huts, now usually to a permanent structure or set of buildings.


Conservative party

Conservative Party
Conservative Party#English

(politics) Alternative form of Conservative Party.


red state

From the color red representing the Republican Party of the United States, and being a state (“subnational division, province”) that votes Republican.

(US politics) A state of the United States voting Republican in a given election, tending to vote Republican in general, or having a typically conservative mindset.


blue state

Compound of blue + state. From the color blue representing the Democratic Party of the United States, and being a state (“subnational division, province”) that votes Democratic.

(idiomatic, US politics) A state of the United States voting Democratic in a given election, or tending to vote Democratic in general.


swing state

(US politics) A state which may vote Democratic or Republican, in a given election or generally.

وِلَايَة مُتَأَرْجِحَة

a state which may vote Democratic or Republican


purple state

Compound of purple + state, modeled on blue state and red state. From purple being a blend of blue and red colors, where the color representing the Democratic Party of the United States is blue and that representing the Republican Party of the United States is red.

“I have loved this purple state that I’ve grown up in,” said Mallerie Stromswold, a former Republican lawmaker who left the Legislature earlier this year after she clashed with party leaders over a series of proposed transgender bills and closed-door meetings, she said, devolved into yelling and name-calling.

2023 April 27, Jim Robbins, Mike Baker, Jacey Fortin, quoting Mallerie Stromswold, “A Transgender Lawmaker Is Exiled as Montana G.O.P. Flexes New Power”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


legion

Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish.
Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".

Meronyms: cohort, maniple, century

en:the major unit or division of the Roman army

(military, Ancient Rome) The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.

legioen

(military) A combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery, including historical units such as the British Legion, and present-day units such as the Spanish Legion and the French Foreign Legion.

Efforts to unionize were routinely met with clubbings, shootings, jailings, blacklistings and executions, perpetrated not only by well-armed legions of company goons, but also by police officers, deputies, National Guardsmen and even regular soldiers.

2009 February 22, Kevin Baker, “Blood on the Street”, in The New York Times:

(military) A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.


addorsed

From Latin ad dorsum (“to the back”). Compare French adossé.

EDGHILL, a falcon, wings addorsed and inverted, supporting with dexter a carved shield, charged with a cinquefoil, […]

2012 February 3, James Fairbairn, Fairbairn’s Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN, page 165:

(heraldry, of animals or wings) Set back to back, facing away from each other.


n-word

Parkinson has to live with the dreaded “N” word. So feared is the word “nuclear” that there are those who balk at using such harmless phrases as “nuclear family”.

1988 December 10, “Unclear Power”, in New Scientist, page 12:

—and there is a large tendency, I think, to think of our sites totally in terms of the “n” word, the nuclear radioactive word, but 80 percent of the waste that we have on these sites is chemical hazardous waste , which makes us no different in that respect from all of the major industrial companies in the United States who have to deal with this problem.

1994 March 24, J. Bennett Johnston, US. Senator from Louisiana, Effect of the Administration's Superfund Reauthorization Proposals on the Department of Energy's Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. Hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources – United States Senate One Hundred Third Congress. Second Session, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 5:

Their methods depend on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technology widely used by physicists, chemists, and biologists to analyze molecular structures and by doctors for medical diagnosis. In its medical setting NMR is better known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a name that avoids unnecessarily provoking fears over the dreaded N-word: nuclear. Nuclear magnetic resonance actually doesn’t involve radioactivity or any ionizing radiation but instead uses harmless but powerful magnetic fields and pulses of radio waves to probe the atomic nuclei that quietly reside within all materials, chemical and biological.

2001 August 14, Julian Brown, David Deutsch, Quest for the Quantum Computer, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 252:

'Plus of course, there's the “N” word - nuclear is a big no, no, in British politics. Successive governments, both Labour and Tory, have shied away from doing what they both know is actually unavoidable.'

2010, Keith Milligan, The Crosses of Aiolos: A Tale of Wind and Wallets, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 121:

‘Are you going to tell me the N word?”
‘N word?’
’Nuclear.’

2011, Jeff Abbott, Adrenalin, London: Hachette, page 186:

The machine was originally called NMRI, but "nuclear" is one of the two forbidden "n" words of our times.

2022, Neil deGrasse Tyson, chapter 10, in Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, page 192:


battleship

From battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

(military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.

(military, nautical, archaic) A ship of the line.


SOS

struck off strength
strike off strength#English

stricken off strength
strike off strength#English

(Commonwealth, military, historical) Initialism of struck off strength or stricken off strength.


banger

→ Estonian: bänger

→ Finnish: bängeri

From bang + -er. The sausages were so called because of their excess water content and impervious skin, leading to the risk of explosion if not punctured before cooking.


representation

representation (countable and uncountable, plural representations)

representations (plural)
repræsentation (alternative)

From Late Middle English representacioun, from Old French representacion, from Latin repraesentātiō. By surface analysis, represent + -ation.

The lack of representation in the British parliament was one of the main factors behind the American Revolution.

(politics) The ability to elect a representative to speak on one's behalf in government; the role of this representative in government.

представителство

politics: ability to elect a representative


pivot

From Middle English pevet, *pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from Latin pūgiō.

(military) The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place while the company or line moves around him in wheeling.

(US, politics) A shift during a general election in a political candidate's messaging to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.


pivot

en-verb

pivot (third-person singular simple present pivots, present participle pivoting, simple past and past participle pivoted)

pivots (present singular third-person)
pivoting (participle present)
pivoted (participle past)
pivoted (past)

To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.

(US, politics) To shift a political candidate's messaging during a general election to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.


progressive

en-adj

progressive (comparative more progressive, superlative most progressive)

more progressive (comparative)
most progressive (superlative)
prog. (alternative abbreviation)
prog (alternative clipping)

/pɹəˈɡɹɛsɪv/

/pɹəˈɡɹɛsɪv/

/pɹəˈɡɹesɪv/

From the Middle French progressif, from the Latin prōgressīvus, from prōgredior (perfect participial stem: prōgress-) + -īvus. Displaced native Old English forþgenġe. By surface analysis, progress + -ive.

af

perfect participial stem: <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">prōgress-</i>

Conservative movements were far more progressive than the standard religious narrative of the decade alleges and the notoriously progressive ethos of the era was far more conservative than our collective memory has recognized.

2016, Richard Lints, Progressive and Conservative Religious Ideologies, page i:

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday called for “action, not words” from Democrats, criticizing the approach of some in the progressive wing of the party.

2025 March 19, Alison Main, “Michigan Democrat says she ‘can’t just be an activist’ and calls on party to act”, in CNN:


police

en-noun

police pl (normally plural, singular police)

Southern US, African-American Vernacular, Indic

From Middle French police, from Latin polītīa (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía). Doublet of policy and polity.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction across most of Chicago but focuses on the unincorporated area and tasks like prisoner transport, leaving the rest to the Chicago Police Department.

(law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularly

(Canada, US and historical) A department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement.

Scotland Yard is, technically speaking, only the metropolitan police for Greater London but because of their importance they have special jurisdiction for some crimes across the United Kingdom.

(UK) A branch of the Home Office responsible for general law enforcement within a specific territory.

(Australia, New Zealand) Any of the formally enacted law enforcement agencies at various levels of government.

There are nine Principles of Police:
...
7 To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen, in the interests of community welfare and existence.

1943, Charles Reith, British Police and the Democratic Ideal, pp. 3–4

‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

1990 Sept. 13, David Black & al., "Prescription for Death", Law & Order, 00:00:01

Citadel Security is a volunteer police service answering to the Citadel Council. The 200,000 constables of C-Sec are responsible for maintaining public order in the densely populated Citadel.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel Station: Citadel Security Services (C-Sec) Codex entry:

The rally on Sunday in Victoria Park, in the Causeway Bay district, was authorized in advance by the police. But protesters were also expected to begin marching later in the day from Sham Shui Po, a working-class neighborhood on the Kowloon peninsula, across the harbor from North Point. The police rejected their application for a permit.

2019 August 11, Mike Ives, “Hong Kong Protesters Gather Amid Fears of Mob Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-08-11:

Call the police!

There’s only one police in this town.

2012 July 16, Jonathan, Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises, spoken by Peter Foley (Matthew Modine), Warner Bros. Pictures:

Q. […] What did you do that day? — A. I was cleaning up around quarters.
Q. You had been on guard and went on police duty? You were policing, cleaning up around the barracks? — A. Yes, sir.

1907, Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, concerning the Affray at Brownsville, Tex. on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906, volume 2:

(military, slang) Cleanup of a military facility, as a formal duty.


police

en-verb

police (third-person singular simple present polices, present participle policing, simple past and past participle policed)

polices (present singular third-person)
policing (participle present)
policed (participle past)
policed (past)

This comes to him through the company housekeeping, for in the field each organization takes care of itself, cooks its own food, makes its own beds, does its own policing (cleaning up); […]

1900, Proceedings of the eighth annual meeting, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States:

ELIAS: Police up your extra ammo and frags, don't leave nothing for the dinks.

1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (film script)

"Fire off several rounds in a residential building and stop to police the brass?"

2006, Robert B. Parker, Hundred-Dollar Baby, Putnam,, →ISBN, page 275:

(ambitransitive, military, slang) To clean up an area.


APT

(UK, healthcare) Initialism of anatomical pathology technologist.


ASBO

ASBOs (plural)
Asbo (alternative)
asbo (alternative)

(British, law enforcement) Anti-Social Behaviour Order


ASBO

ASBO (third-person singular simple present ASBOs, present participle ASBOing, simple past and past participle ASBOed)

ASBOs (present singular third-person)
ASBOing (participle present)
ASBOed (participle past)
ASBOed (past)
Asbo (alternative)
asbo (alternative)

Yes he will probably end up in the criminal justice system in a few years time - but if we ASBO him now he's going to end up there an awful lot quicker because he will breach it.

2005, Andrew Millie, Anti-Social Behaviour Strategies: Finding a Balance, page 31:

"Shut up, both of you. I've got the police here. You'll get asboed," Sally shouted

2008, Harry James, Consequences?, page 65:

The redemptive storyline reminded me of the importance, in my own practice, of continuing to learn from the understanding of others' experiences and interactions in negotiating the new penal landscape of "ASBOing", portrayed so well in Rhodes' novel.

2008, Peter Squires, ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance, page 151:

(British, law enforcement, transitive) To issue an Anti-Social Behaviour Order to.


IRA

Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army#English

(Ireland, UK, politics) Initialism of Irish Republican Army.

Internet Research Agency
w:Internet Research Agency

(Internet, politics) Initialism of Internet Research Agency.

In the September follow-up, those significant gains looked much more contingent. More than 80 percent of the potential emissions reductions from the I.R.A. would be lost, the report concluded, if the country continued to expand the electricity grid at only its recent pace of about 1 percent per year.

2022 October 5, David Wallace-Wells, “Progressives Should Rally Around a Clean Energy Construction Boom”, in The New York Times:

Inflation Reduction Act
w:Inflation Reduction Act

(US politics) Initialism of Inflation Reduction Act.


neutral

en-adj

neutral (comparative more neutral, superlative most neutral)

more neutral (comparative)
most neutral (superlative)

[ˈnuːt͡ʃɹəl]

From Middle French neutral (compare modern French neutre), from Latin neutrālis. By surface analysis, neuter + -al.

(politics) Not taking sides in a conflict such as war; nonaligned.


Athena

From Middle English Athena, from Latin Athēna, from Ancient Greek Ἀθηνᾶ (Athēnâ). Doublet of Athina.

The last thing feminist Athenas see about corporate structures, government, or academia is that they are run by benevolent and all-protective fathers.

1989, Jennifer Barker Woolger, Roger J. Woolger, The goddess within:

The latter may become either Athenas or feminists. If one gets a certain sort of male sponsorship, becomes a Daddy's girl, one is allowed to function in these vocations of the righteous […]

1992, Marilyn Frye, Willful virgin: essays in feminism, 1976-1992, page 141:

Women who do decide to become scientists find themselves under attack from the self-proclaimed "echt" feminists, who call them "Athenas" and "Queen Bees."

1995, Noretta Koertge, Skeptical Inquirer, volume 19, number 2, page 42:

(feminism, derogatory, figurative) A woman who colludes with the patriarchy rather than actively opposing it.


moonbat

From moon + bat, first used in the 1940s by the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein, then used in the term “barking moonbat” coined in 1999 by Perry de Havilland of “The Libertarian Samizdata”, a right-libertarian weblog. This originally referred to both left-wing and right-wing crazy people. Sometimes wrongly claimed to be a corruption of Monbiot (from George Monbiot, British environmentalist and Guardian columnist).

So, what do moonbat professors do when they're not attacking military recruiters, the Bush administration, cameramen, and College Republicans?

2005, Michele Malkin, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, Washington, DC: Regnery, →ISBN, page 108:

As nervous Bush supporters watched the president's approval rating slide, they unleashed their wrath on Sheehan, labeling the mourning mom a “crazy,” “anti-Semite,” “left-wing moonbat,” “crackpot” whose behavior bordered on “treasonous” and who was nothing more than a “hysterical noncombatant.”

2006 May 11, Eric Boehlert, Lapdogs: How the Press Lay Down for the Bush White House, New York: Free Press, →ISBN, page 216:

Your job is to separate the media from the moonbats before some industrious cub reporter starts looking into our land deal.

2009 October 13, Steve Eubanks, Downforce, New York: Harper, →ISBN, page 255:

(informal, derogatory, politics) A liberal (someone with a left-wing ideology).


moonbat

moonbat (comparative more moonbat, superlative most moonbat)

more moonbat (comparative)
most moonbat (superlative)

20204: The Bulwark
Trump, who said last month at the Republican National Convention that he would never again retell the story of the attempt on his life “because it’s too painful to tell,” told that story with relish. He expounded at length on his usual moonbat fables about how countries around the world are emptying their prisons and mental institutions to send their convicts and lunatics to the United States.

(informal, derogatory, politics) (of ideas) Absurd or obviously untruthful.


sequester

en-verb

sequester (third-person singular simple present sequesters, present participle sequestering, simple past and past participle sequestered)

sequesters (present singular third-person)
sequestering (participle present)
sequestered (participle past)
sequestered (past)

From Middle English sequestren (verb) and sequestre (noun), from Old French sequestrer, from Late Latin sequestrō (“separate, give up for safekeeping”), from Latin sequester (“mediator, depositary”), probably originally meaning "follower", from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”).

der

The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.

(transitive, US, politics, law) To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.

elkülönít

US, politics, law: to remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget


challenge

en-verb

challenge (third-person singular simple present challenges, present participle challenging, simple past and past participle challenged)

challenges (present singular third-person)
challenging (participle present)
challenged (participle past)
challenged (past)

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒ/

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ənd͡ʒ/

From Middle English chalenge, variant with palatalization of Middle English kalange (“an accusation, claim”), from Old French chalenge, chalonge, palatalized Central French variants of Old Northern French calenge, calonge (see Continental Norman calengier), from Latin calumnia (“a false accusation, calumny”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₁l-, *keh₁l- (“to beguile, deceive”). Cognate with Old English hōl (“calumny”). Doublet of calumny.

der

The sentinel challenged us with "Who goes there?"

(military, transitive) To question or demand the countersign from (one who attempts to pass the lines).


assembly

en-noun

assembly (countable and uncountable, plural assemblies)

From Middle English assemblee, from Anglo-Norman asemblee (Old French asemblee, French assemblée). By surface analysis, assemble + -y.

the General Assembly of the United Nations

New York State Assembly

(military) A beat of the drum or sound of the bugle as a signal to troops to assemble.


swivel

swivel (countable and uncountable, plural swivels)

From Middle English swyvel, swivel, from a derivative of Old English swīfan (“to revolve”), + -el, an instrumental suffix, equivalent to swive + -el.

[The settlement] was entirely surrounded by a broad unfordable marsh or swamp, which prevented all communication, except by private paths under water, known only to the rebels, and before which Baron had placed loaded swivels […]

1796, John Stedman, chapter 4, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition,, volume 1, London: J. Johnson, page 81:

Applied to guns mounted upon the cartridges were fired without being tripods, stands, swivels, or carriages

1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer:

(military) A small piece of ordnance, turning on a point or swivel; called also swivel gun.


rebel

en-verb

rebel (third-person singular simple present rebels, present participle rebelling, simple past and past participle rebelled)

rebels (present singular third-person)
rebelling (participle present)
rebelled (participle past)
rebelled (past)

From Middle English rebellen, from Old French rebeller, from Latin rebellō (“I wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“I wage war”). Doublet of revel.

der

(intransitive, politics) To forcefully subvert the law of the land in an attempt to replace it with another form of government.


about-face

about-faces (plural)
about face (alternative)

From about + face, first attested in 1861, used in the imperative in the military.

The soldier did an about-face and marched off.

Deciding that he hasn't had enough action for one day, Captain Evans of the Johnston orders another 180-degree about-face to give gunfire support to the new arrivals, this time picking on the heavy cruiser Tone.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 22:11 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

(military) An abrupt turn to face the opposite direction.

rechtsomkeert

military: abrupt turn to face the opposite direction


ki

At sea a special cauldron of 'ki,' prepared by the ship's cook, is sent round action stations in 'fannies' or large pitchers.

1917, The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, volumes 34-35, page 217:

(UK, naval slang) Alternative form of kye (“cocoa”).


conference

From Middle French conférence, from Medieval Latin cōnferentia, from Latin cōnferēns, several steps omitting from con- + ferō.
Compare parallel Russian собра́ние (sobránije), Russian сбо́рище (sbórišče), akin to с- (s-), со- (so-) + брать (bratʹ), ultimately from the same Indo-European prefix and root. Also compare congress, convention.

University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
conference

(politics) A multilateral diplomatic negotiation.


mullet

From Middle English molet, from Old French molette (“rowel”).

Grogan, Creation of 1859, or Moyvore, Westmeath. [...] Arms,—Barry of sex or and sable, on a chief engrailed azure a lion passant of the first. Crest,—A lion's head erased sable, charged with a mullet or.

1871, Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, page 215:

(heraldry) A star with straight edges and usually with five or six points.


NEC

the NEC of the UK Labour Party

National Executive Committee
w:National Executive Committee

(politics) Initialism of National Executive Committee, a leadership body of a political party.


nascent

Borrowed from Latin nāscēns, nāscentis, present participle of nāscor (“I am born”). Doublet of naissant.

[…] charges of blazonry, bends sinister and bends dexter, lions couchant, lions nascent, and[…]

1874, G. Cameron, Charlie Lufton: An Autobiographical Novel, page 130:

Marks of the makers : the initials of the maker and the arms of the town : a lion nascent with three flames.

1931, Louis Carré, A Guide to Old French Plate:

[...] in chief a demi lion nascent gules.

1978, Paul J. Vandevander, The Van Deventer Family, 1550-1977:


grinder

From Middle English grinder, grindere, from Old English grindere (“one or that which grinds; grinder”), equivalent to grind + -er.

inh

We were told then and there that we wouldn't be allowed on the grinder again until we could do a lot better. The grinder is what that large area was called, and it was a fitting name. They literally ground us down on it.

Company formations are held on the grinder (basketball court outside the Quarterdeck).

2013, USMC Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC / TC3) Guidelines:

(US, military, slang) An outdoor space for drills and parades.