fruited

en-adj

fruited (comparative more fruited, superlative most fruited)

more fruited (comparative)
most fruited (superlative)

[…] the first gules, a chevron or, between three heads erased; the second vert, an oak tree, fruited or[…]

1813, John Lyon, The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle: With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports, page 138:

[…]; Or, an olive tree eradicated proper, by the name of Montolivet; Or, on a mound a pear tree fruited proper, by the name of Pyrton; Sable, an apple tree or, fruited gules, by the name of Verse, in Flanders.

1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 139:

A white horse holding in his mouth a sprig of oak. 2. The same galloping before an oak-tree fruited or (Fig. 178).

1870, Mrs. Bury Palliser, Historic Devices, Badges, and War-cries, page 270:

Azure , on a mount an apple tree fruited proper, are the armes parlantes of the Dutch APPELBOOMS, and of the Barons APFALTRER.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 317:

Gold a pear tree fruited gules

1910, Archaeologia Aeliana, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquities, page 163:

(heraldry) Bearing fruit or acorns, typically of a specified tincture.


button up

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

2000, Bonnie Ramthun, Ground Zero, page 6:

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


decouple

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


broad church

The Liberal party in Australia is often described as being a broad church, encompassing conservatives and radicals, wets and dries.

If representation and recruitment is an objective, self-styled mavericks like Kelly and his Queensland sidekick George Christensen have some utility. This duo operates like an extended wink and a nudge; they tell voters the Coalition is a broad enough church to be a home for fringe views.

2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian:

(UK, New Zealand and Australia, politics) A wide scope of political or religious philosophies and ideas.


alférez

/ʔɐl.fɛˈɾɛz/

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

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


TKO

/ˈtiː ˈkeɪ ˈəʊ/

technical knockout
technical knockout#English

(martial arts) Initialism of technical knockout.


sufflue

(heraldry) A clarion-like charge on a coat of arms.


LSA

en-noun

LSA (countable and uncountable, plural LSAs)

logistics support aircraft
logistics support aircraft#English

(aviation, military) Initialism of logistics support aircraft.


interoperable

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

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


disallowance

disallowance (countable and uncountable, plural disallowances)

From dis- + allowance and disallow + -ance; may be analyzed as dis- + allow + -ance.

(law, politics) A power a higher level authority has to disallow particular legislation of the lower level jurisdiction; such as a federal government disallowing state/provincial legislation, or the British monarch disallowing colonial legislation.


comble

(heraldry) A band along the top part of the shield, half the height of the chief.


competence

competence (countable and uncountable, plural competences)

Borrowed from Middle French compétence, from Late Latin competentia. Doublet of competency.

আহলিয়াত

the quality or state of being competent for a general role.

আহলিয়াত

the quality or state of being competent for a particular task.

The bill was denied royal assent because the Scottish Parliament does not have legislative competence on the bill's matter.

K C Wheare's definition of federalism requires that two governments be independent and co-ordinate within their own spheres, generally set out by the division of competences codified in a constitution, which is supreme.

2016, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, “Division of competences in the European Union”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Also, the Constitutional Court has tried to reduce impunity in cases of human rights abuses by narrowly interpreting the legal competence of military justice to investigate military and police officers.

2003, Rodrigo Uprimny, “The constitutional court and control of presidential extraordinary powers in Colombia”, in Democratization, archived from the original on 2021-05-09:

(countable, law, politics) the legal authority to deal with a matter.


industrial espionage

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

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

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


miscall

en-verb

miscall (third-person singular simple present miscalls, present participle miscalling, simple past and past participle miscalled)

miscalls (present singular third-person)
miscalling (participle present)
miscalled (participle past)
miscalled (past)

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From Middle English miscallen, equivalent to mis- + call.

The networks soon discovered that they had miscalled Florida, based, so it was later explained, on important errors and miscalculations made from their combined pool source of information, the Voter News Service.

2002, A.E. Busch, J.W. Ceasar, The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election, Rowman & Littlefield, page 10:

To make a wrong call (prediction or announcement).

(politics) To announce the result of an election incorrectly.


ground pounder

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

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


Krav Maga

/kɹɑːv məˈɡɑː/

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

krav maga (alternative)
Krav maga (alternative)

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


drillmaster

(military) A person who instructs in marching drill.


saucisse

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

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

(fortification) A fascine of more than ordinary length.


fire step

fire steps (plural)
firestep (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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


prison chaser

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


UUP

Ulster Unionist Party
w:Ulster Unionist Party

(Northern Ireland, politics) Initialism of Ulster Unionist Party.


dented

A lion rampant sable, langued and dented gules.

(heraldry) Having teeth of a specified colour.

Ermyne on a chiefe dented, Gules.

1572 November 30, John Bossewell, Workes of Armorie:

London, 116. John Farmary M. D. Dec. 1611. Ar. 5 roundels V. in saltier; a chief dented G.

1808, Sir Egerton Brydges, Censura Literaria: Containing Titles, Abstracts, and Opinions of Old English Books, with Original Disquisitions, Articles of Biography, and Other Literary Antiquities, page 257:

(especially heraldry, obsolete) Indented.


Czech hedgehog

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

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

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


entrenching tool

en-noun

entrenching tool (plural entrenching tools)

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

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


take by storm

en-verb

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

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

The soldiers took the castle by storm.

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


plinking

en-noun

plinking (countable and uncountable, plural plinkings)

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


dixie

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


AN

Derived from the first letters of army and navy.

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


syke

(heraldry) A roundel barry wavy argent and azure; a fountain.


CIWS

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

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


adumbrated

en-adj

adumbrated (comparative more adumbrated, superlative most adumbrated)

more adumbrated (comparative)
most adumbrated (superlative)

(heraldry) Depicted on a shield as an outline (having the same colour(s) as the field, but often darker) instead of a solid figure. (See "further reading" below.)


fighter bomber

(military, aircraft) Alternative spelling of fighter-bomber.


carabine

From French carabine. Doublet of carbine.


self-criticism

en-noun

self-criticism (usually uncountable, plural self-criticisms)

[ˌsɛlfˈkɹɪɾəˌsɪzəm]

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to commit self-criticism

... commit self - criticism and allow other people to criticize him . If we do all these things , then there is hope and there is a future for Marxism . The most important thing is consistency . If you make a promise you must keep it[…]

1991, Edward A. Gargan, China's Fate: A People's Turbulent Struggle with Reform and Repression, 1980-1990, Doubleday Books:

This is starting to resemble (in a much lower-stakes field, it cannot be said often enough) some Union of Soviet Cinematographers self-criticism sessions for artists whose work was considered “bourgeois formalism” or whatever made Stalin’s colon clench that week.

2003 August 16, vjmorton, “Not-so-brave heart”, in Rightwing Film Geek:

(communism, Juche) A practice of confessing and criticizing one's real or imagined transgressions in public settings, especially in East Asia.


European Parliament

(politics) A legislative chamber of the European Union.


tambour

tambour (countable and uncountable, plural tambours)

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

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


stative

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

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

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


ecclesiarchy

(religion, politics) A government ruled by or in conjunction with a religion; a church-state.


gynarchy

gynarchy (countable and uncountable, plural gynarchies)

/ˈɡaɪˌnɑːki/

/ˈɡaɪˌnɑɹki/

But I have always ſome hopes of a change under a Gunarchy ; where whim and humour commonly prevail, reaſon very ſeldom, and then only by a lucky miſtake.

1759 February 2, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope, Esq.; Late Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Dresden, volume II, Dublin: Eugenia Stanhope, published 1774, page 447:

Though no ways anti-matrimonial, this faithful servitor was not particularly desirous of serving under a gynarchy, while on the other hand he was not destitute of feelings of gratitude for services rendered him by Miss Bud, which he endeavored to maintain consistently with fidelity to his master.

1839, MGM, “The Bachelor Beset”, in Southern Literary Messenger, volume V, Richmond: Thos. W. White, page 753:

(politics, countable) A government ruled by a woman or women.

They did not band themselves together for or against anarchy or gynarchy, monarchy or hierarchy, or any form of civil or religious government, but simply against slavery.

1836, Seventh Annual Report of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston: Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, published 1840, page 26:

(politics, uncountable) Government by a woman or women.


acey-deucey

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

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

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


inescutcheon

/ɪnɪˈskʌt͡ʃn̩/

PIE word
 *h₁én
From in- (prefix meaning ‘in; within’) + escutcheon.

prefix

All the quartered Arms that I meet vvith belonging to Scottiſh Families, do not exceed ſix different Coats of Arms, vvhich are marſhalled after theſe three vvays, Plain Quartering, Quartering, and Counter-quartering, of vvhich I have treated and illuſtrate by Examples, vvith their Surtouts and Ineſcutcheons.

1718, Alexander Nisbet, “Of Arms of Alliances, with the Method of Marshalling Them and Others Quarterly”, in An Essay on the Ancient and Modern Use of Armories; […], Edinburgh: […] William Adams Junior, for Mr. James Mack Euen, […], →OCLC, page 112:

[A]n Ineſcutcheon is properly the Charge of a Shield, and born vvithin a 'Scutcheon or Shield, […]

1724, John Guillim, chapter VII, in A Display of Heraldry. […], 6th edition, London: […] T. W. for R. and J. Bonwicke and R. Wilkin, […] [a]nd J. Walthoe and Tho[mas] Ward, […], →OCLC, page 49, column 1:

When only one escutcheon is borne as a charge, it is now generally termed an in'''escutcheon, but in the early rolls there is no such distinction.

1852, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Artificial Objects”, in The Pursuivant of Arms, or Heraldry Founded upon Facts, London: W. N. Wright, […], →OCLC, page 124:

When he became titular bishop of Hippo and auxiliary bishop of Boston, he added an inescutcheon or small shield in the center of his shield bearing a gold heart inflamed pierced by an arrow and on a blue field. Since titular bishops do not impale their personal arms with those of the see, this was a convenient reference to his titular see.

1992, Duane L. C. M. Galles, “The Reform of Ecclesiastical Heraldry Revisited”, in The American Benedictine Review, volume 43, number 4, Atchison, Kan.: American Benedictine Review, →ISSN, →OCLC, footnote 15, page 424:

escutcheon of pretence
escutcheon of pretence

(heraldry) A small escutcheon (“coat of arms; shield”) (such as an escutcheon of pretence) which is charged (“represented”) on a larger escutcheon.


goo-goo

From good government. Attested from the 1890s.

Stinging Rebuke Administered to Bald Attempt to Grab City; Goo-Goo Clique Swept Off Their Feet by Landslide Against Municipal Freak

1912 December 4, “Voters, Aroused, Rout Goo-Goo Gangsters”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2013-06-30:

Some goo-goos are so relentless in their pursuit of goo-gooism that they become a public menace.

1993 December 7, Mike Royko, “Pass the pablums, it's goo-goo time”, in Chicago Tribune, archived from the original on 2013-06-30, page 13:

(US, politics, derogatory) A government reformer.


cheval de frise

en-noun

cheval de frise (plural chevaux de frise)

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

/ʃəˈvɑːl də ˈfɹiːz/

/ʃəˈvɑːl də ˈfɹiːs/

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

bor

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

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

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

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

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


scrog

en-noun

scrog (countable and uncountable, plural scrogs)

Compare scrag, or Scottish Gaelic sgrogag (“anything shriveled”), from sgrag (“to compress, shrivel”).

cog

Argent, a Palm-tree growing out of a Mount in base proper, surmounted of S. Andrews-cross Gules, on a chiet azur [...]. Azur, a Cheveron Or, betwixt two Scrogs or starved branches in chief, and a mans heart in base argent.

1680, George Mackenzie, Observations Upon the Laws and Customs of Nations, as to Precedency, page 59:

(heraldry, countable) The branch of a tree, especially one used as a charge in Scottish heraldry.


remembrancer

In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called the remembrancer: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that, whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected.

[2011 October 31, George Monbiot, “The medieval, unaccountable Corporation of London is ripe for protest”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

City of London Corporation
City of London Corporation

(UK politics) Alternative letter-case form of Remembrancer: an official of the City of London Corporation.


Remembrancer

(UK politics) Any of several former officials in the Court of Exchequer.

“Thank you. Tuesday evening, in four days’ time, Daedra West hosts a gathering, the venue yet to be announced. Possibly one of the guildhalls. Her guest list, so far, is interesting.” She looked at Lev. “The Remembrancer himself may be there. Lesser faces from the City.[…]

2014, William Gibson, The Peripheral, G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 222:

In particular, Harkaway told him about the unelected offices of the Lord Mayor and the City Remembrancer, who can be mistaken for figureheads but, in fact, have extensive powers.

2014 November 16, Ned Beauman, “William Gibson: ‘We always think of ourselves as the cream of creation’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK politics) A similar official of the City of London Corporation.


kingsman

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


hatchment

From Middle French hachement, a modification of Old French acesmement (“adornment”) (related to Italian accismare); not, as is often claimed, an alteration of achievement.

No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 275, column 1:

Having passed through Gaunt Square into Great Gaunt Street, the carriage at length stopped at a tall gloomy house between two other tall gloomy houses, each with a hatchment over the middle drawing-room window; as is the custom of houses in Great Gaunt Street, in which gloomy locality death seems to reign perpetual.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Immediately the Railway Executive received the news, the former London & North Eastern Railway special rolling stock was prepared, including the saloon always used as a hearse coach, which was painted black and decorated each side with hatchments of the Royal Arms.

1953 June, “Royal Railway Journeys”, in Railway Magazine, page 372:

The second and third quarters of the shield are indecipherable on the stone but clearer in two other representations of the arms, a painted wooden funeral hatchment for Mary Davie[…]

2012 October 8, Daniel W. Patterson, The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 141:

(heraldry) A display of the arms, supporters, crests, motto, etc of a deceased person, placed within a black lozenge and hung on a wall


on the ropes

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

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

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

köysissä

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


TIC

en-noun

TIC (countable and uncountable, plural TICs)

TICs must be admitted by a defendant in addition to the crimes for which they have been convicted.

offence to be taken into consideration#English

(countable, UK, criminal law, law enforcement) Initialism of offence to be taken into consideration.


table stakes

So what makes people want to 'listen' to a brand? Sounding like a human, ugh; that's table stakes. If that's all you can say about your social approach, you're not trying hard enough.

2016, Geoffrey Colon, Disruptive Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks, and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About Navigating the New Normal, →ISBN, page 143:

(business, politics, figurative) The stake that a stakeholder must put up even just to earn a place at the table (a chance to compete), let alone ensure a win.


master sergeant

master sergeant (plural master sergeants)

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

sergeant first class
sergeant first class

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

master gunnery sergeant
master gunnery sergeant

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

senior master sergeant
senior master sergeant

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


astragal

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

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


truck driver

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

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


OCONUS

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


gunnery sergeant

gunnery sergeant (plural gunnery sergeants)

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


blue ribbon

Perhaps a calque of Middle French cordon bleu (“blue ribbon”), worn by knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit, or after Blue Riband, a sailing award.

cal

(Australia, informal, politics) Pertaining to the Liberal Party, its supporters and regions.


Guelph

Guelph (disambiguation)
Guelphs and Ghibellines
Investiture Controversy
Matilda of Tuscany
Welf II, Duke of Bavaria

Guelphs (plural)
Guelf (alternative)
Gwelph (alternative)
Gwelf (alternative)

From Italian guelfo, from Middle High German Welf, a Bavarian dynasty.
Welf II, Duke of Bavaria, inherited from his Italian wife, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, possessions including Tuscany, Ferrara, Modena, Mantua and Reggio, which played a role in the Investiture Controversy. The Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, so partisans of the Pope became known in Italy as Guelfi.

1893, Oscar Browning, Guelphs and Ghibellines: A Short History of Mediaeval Italy from 1250-1409, Methuen & Co., page 13,
The parties of Guelph and Ghibelline raged as fiercely as if the lances of the German hosts were ever glimmering on the crest of the Alps, or as if the Lombard leagues were in constant watchfulness against an impending foe. […] Speaking generally, the Ghibellines were the party of the emperor, and the Guelphs the party of the Pope; the Ghibellines were on the side of authority, or sometimes of oppression, the Guelphs were on the side of liberty and self-government.

(historical, politics) In the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Pope in a long struggle against the Ghibellines and the Holy Roman Emperor.

غولف

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Pope

Bismarck was aware of the opportunity which the Reichstag afforded the Guelphs.

1973, Stewart A. Stehlin, Bismarck and the Guelph Problem 1866-1890, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, page 111:

(historical, politics) Any member of the German-Hanoverian Party (1867–1933), a conservative federalist political party in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic founded in protest of the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia.


Ghibelline

From Italian ghibellino, from German Waiblingen, from Middle High German Wibellingen, the name of a castle in Swabia held by the Hohenstaufen dynasty (nowadays in the township of Waiblingen), from Old High German Weibilinga, Weibelingen, possibly a suffixed form of the personal name Wabilo, Wahilo.
The emperor's supporters used the name as a rallying cry, which was probably introduced to Italy during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa, 1155—1190.

These two factions came to be called Guelphs and Ghibellines respectively. The Guelphs were the supporters of the Popes, the Ghibellines of the Emperors. The Guelphs upheld the temporal supremacy of the Pope: the Ghibellines would separate temporal from spiritual authority. The Guelphs resisted the establishment of complete imperial government in the cities of northern Italy: the Ghibellines, with the glories of the old Roman Empire before their eyes, longed to see Italy welded together into a single nation, and governed and controlled by the strong hands of the emperor.

1878, Arthur Elam Haigh, The Political Theories of Dante: The Stanhope Prize Essay, 1878, Thos. Shrimpton & Co., page 6:

2012, Elizabeth K. Haller, Dante Aleghieri (1265—1321), Lister M. Matheson (editor), Icons of the Middle Ages, Volume 1, ABC-Clio (Greenwood) page 246,
The Ghibellines gained power in Florence in 1249 and immediately banished the Guelphs. Ezzelino da Romano was one of the leaders of the Ghibelline movement and had a reputation for cruelty. He is depicted by Dante as a tyrant in The Divine Comedy.

More specifically, Fastello is said to address those Ghibellines who resided in the Valdarno area.

2019, Nicolino Applauso, Dante's Comedy and the Ethics of Invective in Medieval Italy, Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Books), page 117:

(historical, politics) In the politics of medieval Italian city states, any member of a faction that supported the Holy Roman Emperor in a long struggle against the Guelphs and the Pope.

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Guelphs and Ghibellines
Waiblingen

غيبلين

member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the German emperors


Handlanger

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

bor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


hypothecate

en-verb

hypothecate (third-person singular simple present hypothecates, present participle hypothecating, simple past and past participle hypothecated)

hypothecates (present singular third-person)
hypothecating (participle present)
hypothecated (participle past)
hypothecated (past)

From Latin hypothecatus, past participle of hypotheco, hypothecare. This was in turn derived from Ancient Greek ὑποθήκη (hupothḗkē, “pledge”), from the verb ὑποτίθημι (hupotíthēmi, “to pledge as surety”).

uder

The levy needed primary legislation and permission from the Treasury to hypothecate the proceeds back into the new line. It meant that the Greater London Authority could borrow against future income from the levy.

2022 November 30, Peter Plisner, “Can land value capture set projects free?”, in RAIL, number 971, page 51:

(politics, British) To designate a new tax or tax increase for a specific expenditure.


public office

en-noun

public office (countable and uncountable, plural public offices)

My son finished law last month, and now aspires to public office.

(government) A position or occupation established by law or by the act of a government body, for the purpose of exercising the authority of the government in the service of the public.


prebendal

From Latin praebenda (“the support or allowance afforded by the state to a private person”).

uder

(politics) Relating to political patronage.


unionization

en-noun

unionization (countable and uncountable, plural unionizations)

unionizations (plural)
unionisation (alternative)

Still, the coffee giant, which has been facing a wave of unionization efforts inside stores across the United States, was light on specifics around some of the concerns that have been raised by its employees, like scheduling.

2022 September 13, Julie Creswell, “Starbucks Shares Shift in Strategy, to Automation and Expansion”, in The New York Times:

(politics) The act of forming a labor union.


GMA

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
w:Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

(Philippine politics) Initialism of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the 14th President of the Philippines.


casemate

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

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

compound

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

каземат

bombproof chamber as part of fortification


Oozlefinch

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


pillbox

pillboxes (plural)
pill-box (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

(military) A flat, concrete gun emplacement.


Jedburgh

/ˈd͡ʒɛdbərə/

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

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


counterpunch

en-verb

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

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

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


counterforce

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


battled

Fesse battled, embattled, or, as it were, double embattled, with one battlement upon another.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 9:


defamed

a lion defamed

(heraldry, postpositive) Shown rampant without its tail.


aspersed

en-adj

aspersed (comparative more aspersed, superlative most aspersed)

more aspersed (comparative)
most aspersed (superlative)

Coat of arms in the left-hand bottom corner, a lion or rampant in a field gules, aspersed with billets or. Purchased in Flanders from the subject's descendant, who would not part with the picture until he had cut out the coat[…]

1891, William Stirling Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain:

The arms of the Counts-Dukes of Benavente have a shield quarterly, or a three bands gules and sinople a five escallops argent aspersed, and bordure compony with the arms of Castile and León.

2012 October 3, Eduardo de J. Douglas, In the Palace of Nezahualcoyotl: Painting Manuscripts, Writing the Pre-Hispanic Past in Early Colonial Period Tetzcoco, Mexico, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 194:

(heraldry) Having a number of small charges scattered over the surface; semé.


mantling

en-noun

mantling (countable and uncountable, plural mantlings)

(heraldry) The representation of a mantle, or the drapery behind and around a coat of arms.


purfling

(heraldry) An ornament consisting of purfle.


puggled

en-adj

puggled (comparative more puggled, superlative most puggled)

more puggled (comparative)
most puggled (superlative)

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

1977, James Aikman Cochrane, Charlie Company:


redlined

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

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

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


eclipsed

Or, on a pile azure, between two lions rampant combatant in base gules, the sun in splendour proper - PEARSON, Co. Lincoln. [...] Argent, a sun eclipsed issuing out of the dexter chief, the beams or - WELDAY, Wheelhurst.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 558:

(heraldry, of a sun) With its disc sable (or, modernly, of another specified tincture).


gahmen

[ˈɡɑː˧.mən(˦)]

Variant pronunciation of government with second syllable omitted.

Without doubt, gahmen must medically subsidise the lowest 10% of the population.

2006 January 30, George Soros, “Should Singapore subsidise medical care?”, in soc.culture.malaysia (Usenet):

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(Manglish, Singlish, derogatory, politics) Pronunciation spelling of government.


noneffective

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

(military) Not able to assume active duty.


WIA

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

(military fiction) Initialism of wounded in action.


ACA

(military) Initialism of airspace control authority.

(military) Initialism of airspace coordination area.


ACA

However, it is unclear whether the ACA will cover nonprescription contraception such as Opill.

2023 July 21, Amanda Musa, “The FDA approved the US’ first over-the-counter birth control pill. What happens next?”, in CNN:

(US, politics) Initialism of Affordable Care Act (“H.R. 3590”), from the U.S. national law "Affordable Care Act" (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)


mechanized

mechanized (comparative more mechanized, superlative most mechanized)

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

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


REP

Republican Party
w:Republican Party (United States)

(US, politics) Abbreviation of Republican Party.


DEP

en-noun

DEP (countable and uncountable, plural DEPs)

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

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


impalement

impalement (countable and uncountable, plural impalements)

impalements (plural)
empalement (alternative)

From Middle French empalement; equivalent to impale + -ment.

(heraldry) The joining of two coats of arms on one shield.


oiler

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

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

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


comrade in arms

comrade in arms (plural comrades in arms)

(military) A fellow combatant or soldier.


self-determination

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has categorically ruled out any new negotiations saying the future of the Falklands can only be decided by the islanders themselves in accordance with the UN principle of self-determination.

2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, The Guardian:

(politics) The political independence of a people


self-seeking

en-adj

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

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

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

maaliin hakeutuva

military: searching automatically for target


say again

Bravo Six, say again, over.

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

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


most Rikki-Tik

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

Get that done most rikki-tik.

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


most Rikki-Tik

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


boyau

Borrowed from French boyau. Doublet of bowel.

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


cuirassier

Borrowed from French cuirassier, see below.

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

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

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


woolly bear

woolly bears (plural)
wooly bear (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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


scopie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Mossie

Form of mossie (“diminutive of mosquito”).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


reapportionment

en-noun

reapportionment (countable and uncountable, plural reapportionments)

In this context Endean pointed to the upcoming reapportionment of congressional districts according to the 1980 Census figures saying, "Everyone is up in the air over what their district will look like. Liberals are afraid they'll be gerrymandered into conservative districts.

1981 February 7, Betty Krier, quoting Steve Endean, “Pro, Anti-Gay Lobbies Plan Bills For Congress”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 28, page 3:

The act of reapportioning; a second or subsequent apportionment.

(US, politics) Reassignment of representation in a legislature, especially of U.S. House of Representative seats, in accord with changes in the census population determination.


SPLA

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

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


doss down

en-verb

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

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


appui

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

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

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

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


right-winger

Analyses that used to exist only in arcane feminist journals are now common among right wingers and are being institutionalized as law and public policy.

1984 December 22, Gayle Rubin, “Censored: Anti-Porn Laws And Women's Liberation”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 8:

The ruling led to calls from the right of the Conservative Party to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a prospect that has loomed over the government for months and has caused deep rifts between centrists and right-wingers in Britain’s ruling party.

2023 November 15, Rob Picheta, “UK plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda blocked by Supreme Court”, in CNN:

(politics) A person who belongs to the political right.


jaws of life

By analogy with an actual jaw and the fact that this mechanical device allows the possibility of preserving the life of the victim being rescued.

2005, Mary Gordon, Pearl
Isn't there some machine used in car wrecks to extricate people called the jaws of life?

The power of the “jaws of life” were shown first and set aside.

2005, Chuck McCann, Short, Shorter and Shorter Stories, Volume 1, page 388

2009, Tony Evans, Tony Evan's Book of Illustrations
Even when drivers have had wrecks through no one's fault but their own, rescue crews still employ the "jaws of life" to get them out of trouble.

For the most terrible of car accidents, jaws of life have to be used to extricate the injured.

(firefighting) Emergency rescue equipment used to open a severely damaged passenger vehicle with a strong mechanical jaw function that forcibly pushes or pulls metal components apart, to quickly and somewhat safely extricate the trapped occupants.


TRB

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


WPA

(Australia, military) Initialism of Woomera Prohibited Area.


IBA

en-noun

IBA (countable and uncountable, plural IBAs)

(military, US) Initialism of Interceptor Body Armor.


furball

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

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

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


AEB

AEB (countable and uncountable, plural AEBs)

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


libertarianism

libertarianism (countable and uncountable, plural libertarianisms)

/lɪbəˈtɛːɹɪənɪz(ə)m/

Nevertheless, advocates of individual freedom not only continue to exist, but are increasing in number. Refugees from the Old Right, the Old Left and the New Left, they are organizing independently under the New Right banner of libertarianism.

1971 January 10, Stan Lehr, Louis Rossetto, “The New Right Credo–Libertarianism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The peculiar brand of libertarianism in vogue within technology circles means a minority of members—a couple of outspoken misogynists—can disproportionately affect the behavior and mood of the group under the cover of free speech.

2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

Isaacson reports that Musk’s fractured relationship with Jenna, who is trans, partly led to Musk’s rightward turn toward libertarianism and questioning what he considers the “woke-mind-virus, which is fundamentally antiscience, antimerit, and antihuman.”

2023 September 12, Paul Glader, “Four takeaways from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk”, in CNN:

(economics, philosophy, politics) A political philosophy maintaining that all persons are the absolute owners of their own lives, and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or property, provided they allow others that same liberty.


helo

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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


hand grenade

hand grenades (plural)
hand-grenade (alternative)

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

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

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

грана́та

ручна́я (ručnája)


attrit

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

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

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

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

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

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


sell out

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

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

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

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

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


centenar

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


weather gauge

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


vic

(Ryotaro Dojima): We haven't found the cause of death for the first vic, and now we've got a second one just like it […]

2008, Atlus Co., Ltd., Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (04/16, Evening)

We did find some black fibers stuck between the victim's teeth, presumably from a glove, and lastly, seeing as the vic was found completely naked, we can't process her clothes for any potential evidence.

“The vic was found by some birdwatchers at the Theler Wetlands,” he began.

(law enforcement, slang) A victim of a homicide.


divide and rule

divide and rule (third-person singular simple present divides and rules, present participle dividing and ruling, simple past and past participle divided and ruled)

divides and rules (present singular third-person)
dividing and ruling (participle present)
divided and ruled (participle past)
divided and ruled (past)

divide and conquer
divide and conquer#English

(politics) Synonym of divide and conquer.


angular mil

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


CBN

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


debouche

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

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

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

uder

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

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

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


COMUSNAVCENT

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

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


retrench

en-verb

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

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

/ɹɪˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɹəˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

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

der

to retrench bastions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


RCP

The RCP was a tiny British party, founded in the 70s, officially disbanded in the late 90s.

2020 August 1, Andy Beckett, “Why Boris Johnson's Tories fell for a tiny sect of libertarian provocateurs”, in The Guardian:

Revolutionary Communist Party
w:Revolutionary Communist Party

(politics) Initialism of Revolutionary Communist Party.

That’s broadly consistent with the Real Clear Politics average of all general election matchups between the two; RCP shows Biden with an average of a 6-point lead over Sanders.

2020 April 8, Chris Cillizza, “Why Joe Biden starts as the general election front-runner”, in CNN:

(US politics) Initialism of RealClearPolitics.


RUC

Whereas the R.U.C. was highly militarized and overwhelmingly Protestant, the current force has tried to be more representative of the community it polices — although because of a “substantial” terrorist threat from paramilitary groups opposed to the peace process, it is the only police force in the United Kingdom whose members regularly carry firearms.

2023 September 5, Megan Specia, “Northern Ireland Police Chief Resigns Amid Mounting Scandals”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Royal Ulster Constabulary
w:Royal Ulster Constabulary

(Northern Ireland, historical, law enforcement) Initialism of Royal Ulster Constabulary (now known as the PSNI).


RUC

(military, US) Initialism of reporting unit code.


Lib

(Australian politics) A member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

The same people will have you believe that François Legault — a man who calls himself “prime minister of the Quebec nation” — would gladly watch his beloved nation’s hospital system crumble just to own the Libs.

2022 December 22, Rahim Mohamed, “Rahim Mohamed: Team Trudeau gaslighting Canadians on health transfers”, in National Post:

(Canadian politics) A member of the Liberal Party of Canada.


anarcho-capitalism

Karl Hess
Murray Rothbard
Playboy
anarcho-capitalism

From anarcho- + capitalism. Earliest extant attestation is in American author Karl Hess's essay “The Death of Politics”, originally published by Playboy, in March 1969. Even though American economist Murray Rothbard is credited with coining this word, its first possible appearance among his writings is in his 1971 essay “Know Your Rights”, published two years after Hess's essay.

Laissez-faire capitalism, or anarchocapitalism^([sic]), is simply the economic form of the libertarian ethic. Laissez-faire capitalism encompasses the notion that men should exchange goods and services, without regulation, solely on the basis of value for value. It recognizes charity and communal enterprises as voluntary versions of this same ethic.

1969 March, Karl Hess, “The Death of Politics”, in Playboy:

Anarcho-capitalism is a creed new to the present age. Its closest historical links are with the “individualist anarchism” of Benjamin R. Tucker and Lysander Spooner of the late nineteenth century, and it shares with Tucker and Spooner a devotion to private property, individualism, and competition. Furthermore, and in contrast to Read and Rand, it shares with Spooner and Tucker their hostility to government officials as a criminal band of robbers and murderers.[…]

1971, Murray Rothbard, “Know Your Rights”, in WIN: Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action, volume 7, number 4, pages 6–10:

(politics, economics) A political and economic philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and other coercive institutions in favour of individual self-ownership, voluntary society, and free market.

لاسلطوية رأسمالية

philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and a self-regulating free market

The second was shock therapy. Implemented briefly in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, shock therapy aimed to construct a free market in post-communist Russia. It produced instead a species of mafia-dominated anarcho-capitalism.

1998, John Gray, False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism, New York: The New Press, →ISBN, page 133:

(politics, economics) A political and socioeconomic system that ostensibly recognizes only individual self-ownership, voluntary society, and free market but not the state and other coercive institutions.


muzzle velocity

en-noun

muzzle velocity (plural muzzle velocities)

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

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

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

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

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


free float

en-verb

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

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

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


varvel

varvels (plural)
vervelle (alternative)
vervel (alternative)

From Old French vervelle (“falcon's leg fetter”), from Vulgar Latin derivation of Latin vertibulum (“joint”).

uder

1894 — James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, s.v. Falcon.
To the jesses, it is said, are attached the varvels, sometimes written vervels, or rings.

(falconry, heraldry) A metal ring bearing the owner's name or coat of arms, attached to a hawk's jesses. Used for identifying birds.


Christofascism

(derogatory, offensive, politics) Christian fanaticism or fundamentalism.


Christofascist

From Christo- + fascist, analyzable as Christ + -o- + fascist.

The anti-balaka movement consists largely of Christofascists.

(derogatory, politics) A Christofascist person; a Christian fanatic or fundamentalist.


barrelled

a barrelled action

a double-barrelled shotgun

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


ETS

en-noun

ETS (countable and uncountable, plural ETSes)

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

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


shake and bake

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

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

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

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


position paper

He headed the China-watching Consulate General, and in 1963 drafted a position paper for President Kennedy that recommended rapprochement with China.

1972 February 28, “The Supporting Cast in Peking”, in Time, retrieved 2016-10-30:

The first chapter is a position paper on explanation in the social sciences, a plea for "mechanisms" as opposed to law-like principles.

2001, Robert C. Solomon, “Review of Alchemies of the Mind: Rationality and the Emotions by Jon Elster”, in The Philosophical Review, volume 110, number 1, page 104:

They oversee groups that are churning out position papers on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, democracy and human rights, and global development.

2016 August 26, Mark Landler, “Clinton and Trump Campaigns Are Buzzing About the Race . . . for the Cabinet”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-30:

(philosophy, government) An essay or report which expresses a position, conclusion, or recommendation concerning a contested issue or undecided question and which usually contains arguments or reasons in support of this position.

kannanotto

essay or report which expresses a position on a contested issue


reprogram

en-verb

reprogram (third-person singular simple present reprograms, present participle reprogramming or reprograming, simple past and past participle reprogrammed or reprogramed)

reprograms (present singular third-person)
reprogramming (participle present)
reprograming (participle present)
reprogrammed (participle past)
reprogrammed (past)
reprogramed (participle past)
reprogramed (past)
reprogramme (alternative)

Technically, DOE did not need authority to reprogram the funds as long as the spending didn't span different appropriation line items.

1993, Diane Publishing Company, Defense Conversion: Redirecting R & D, page 110:

This deferral is reported to give Congress time to consider a request to reprogram the funds.

1976, Gerald R. Ford, “Special Message to the Congress Reporting on Budget Decisions and Referrals”, in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford, published 1979, page 2097:

(government) To shift funds appropriated for one government program to a different government program.


retrenchment

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

suffix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


retrenchment

en-noun

retrenchment (countable and uncountable, plural retrenchments)

Internal formation from retrench (“take up a defensive position”) + -ment, possibly reinforced by misinterpretation of Etymology 1.

af

Confronted by their practices again and again, these individuals and organizations in the gay community have made token gestures to appease the demands of people of color, while in the long run these confrontations have resulted in retrenchment of attitudes and stereotypes by gay whites.

1976 December 4, John Kyper, quoting Ken Dudley, “Gays Discuss Their Own (And Others') Racism”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 23, page 3:

Retrenchment—on the left and the right—led to exclusivist, mutually recriminating positions on the film that made reasoned debate almost impossible, as opponents drowned each other out with competing narratives of “victimization” and “pariah” status.

2011, Michael Berenbaum, J. Shawn Landres, “The Passion of Christ Controversy”, in Eric Michael Mazur, editor, Encyclopedia of Religion and Film, →ISBN, page 352:

But at the Seventeenth CCP Congress in 2008 Zeng Qinghong retired, and beginning the very next year the CCP began a deep political retrenchment, halting most of the political reforms, and reverted to old-style harsh and repressive rule.

2016, David Shambaugh, “Politics: Editorial Introduction”, in David Shambaugh, editor, The China Reader: Rising Power, 6th edition, →ISBN, page 36:

While Kim Jong-un has experimented with such reforms, the character of the young leader’s reign has been one of traditionalist retrenchment and the cult of personality.

2017 February 23, Adam Cathcart, “How different would North Korea have been under Kim Jong-nam?”, in The Guardian:

What was once a conservative retrenchment against civil litigation in the United States has now been globalized in no small part due to the proliferation of class actions as legal transplants.

2021, Michael Molavi, Collective Access to Justice: Assessing the Potential of Class Actions in England and Wales, →ISBN, page 55:

(especially politics) The adoption of a defensive and hostile posture; refusal to compromise, radicalization.


frontline

front-line (alternative)
front line (alternative)


gemelle

(heraldry, rare) Alternative form of gemel.


DEW line

(military, historical) A system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska.


tacops

Once developed, the TACOPS section reviews the ATO and SPINS for mission data (routes, A2C2 data).

2005, William R. Duggan, Coup D'Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning, page 52:

In his next assignment he served as the troop EWO; these duties led to his becoming the brigade EWO and, eventually, the brigade tactical operations (TACOPS) officer.

2005, W.R. Clemons, The Case for Consolidating Tactical and Operational Systems:

"Looks like Navcom is tied into TacOps," Miska said, peering over his shoulder.

(US, military) Abbreviation of tactical operations.

(US, military) Abbreviation of tactical organization paperless service support system.


WBC

World Boxing Council
w:World Boxing Council

(boxing) Initialism of World Boxing Council, one of several sanctioning bodies in professional boxing.


coastwatcher

(historical, military) Any of the allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific island locations during World War II, to observe enemy shipping movements and rescue stranded Allied personnel.


rasante

en-adj

rasante (comparative more rasante, superlative most rasante)

more rasante (comparative)
most rasante (superlative)

From French rasant, present participle of raser (“to graze”).

(military, historical) Sweeping; grazing; applied to a style of fortification in which the command of the works over each other, and over the country, is kept very low, so that the shot may more effectually sweep or graze the ground before them


palet

(heraldry) Alternative form of pallet (“diminutive pale”).


malapportionment

en-noun

malapportionment (countable and uncountable, plural malapportionments)

(politics) Any system where one group has significantly more influence than another, such as when voting districts are unevenly spread out across a population (compare gerrymandering).


hic Rhodus, hic salta

The phrase arises from the Latin form of Aesop's Fables (Gibbs 209; Perry 33; Chambry 51), as translated from Ancient Greek "Αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ Ῥόδος καὶ πήδημα" (literally) "Here is Rhodes, jump here!". In the fable, a boastful athlete brags that he once achieved a stupendous long jump in competition on the island of Rhodes. A bystander challenges him to dispense with the reports of the witnesses and simply repeat his accomplishment on the spot: "Here is Rhodes, jump here!"

1820, Hegel, “Philosophy of Right”, Preface, from SW Dyde 1896 translation
As a philosophic writing, it must be on its guard against constructing a state as it ought to be. Philosophy cannot teach the state what it should be, but only how it, the ethical universe, is to be known. Idou Podos, idou kai to pidima / Hic Rhodus, hic saltus.

On the other hand, proletarian revolutions, like those of the nineteenth century, constantly criticize themselves, constantly interrupt themselves in their own course, return to the apparently accomplished, in order to begin anew; they deride with cruel thoroughness the half-measures, weaknesses, and paltriness of their first attempts, seem to throw down their opponents only so the latter may draw new strength from the earth and rise before them again more gigantic than ever, recoil constantly from the indefinite colossalness of their own goals – until a situation is created which makes all turning back impossible, and the conditions themselves call out: Hic Rhodus, hic salta!

1852, Karl Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte”, Chapter 1, from Saul K Padover English translation, published 1937

The repeated retreat of the mass of the European workers' movement in the face of the Hic Rhodus, hic salta of the 1918-1920 period, a retreat which included the violent destruction of its radical minority, favored the completion of the Bolshevik development and let this false result present itself to the world as the only proletarian solution.

1967, Guy Debord, “The Society of the Spectacle”, Chapter 4, from Black and Red translation, published 1970

1992, Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History and the Last Man”, Part IV, Leaping Over Rhodes (quoted as epigram).
Hic Rhodus, hic saltus

(politics) Prove what you can do, here and now.


intervasion

intervasion (countable and uncountable, plural intervasions)

(military) A military action consisting of armed forces of one geopolitical entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of intervention in some troubled situation.


veny

Alteration of French venue. Doublet of venue.

It is not, as at Fence, where the number of venies [tr. touches] given, gets the victorie: So long as the enemie is on foot, a man is newly to begin.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 47, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:


two-tier

two-tier policing

two-tier Keir (nickname for prime minister Keir Starmer)

2025, 28 March, Paul Seddon, Minister threatens to override sentencing rules (BBC News) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0303vkg7ko
Under the rules, which have prompted a "two-tier" justice row, judges will be expected to consider the lives of offenders from ethnic minority and other backgrounds before deciding on punishment.

(UK politics, derogatory) Giving preferential treatment to one group over another.


gunner

Cebuano: gunner

gonna (non-rhotic, based on the /ˈɡʌn.ə/ pronunciation)

From Middle English gonner; equivalent to gun + -er.

(military) An artillery soldier, especially one who holds private rank.


MOAS

(military) Initialism of mine and obstacle avoidance sonar.


AADC

area air defense commander
area air defense commander#English

(military) Initialism of area air defense commander.

air aide-de-camp
air aide-de-camp#English

(military) Initialism of air aide-de-camp.

anti-aircraft defense commander
anti-aircraft defense commander#English

(military) Initialism of anti-aircraft defense commander.

army air defense commander
army air defense commander#English

(military) Initialism of army air defense commander; army air defense command.


AAW

(military) Initialism of anti-air warfare.


ABCCC

command and control
command and control#English

(military) Initialism of airborne battlefield command and control center.


Berlin Wall

(politics) Any barrier designed to keep people from crossing a border, e.g. the one proposed to keep people from crossing from Mexico into the United States.


coalition of the willing

coalition of the willing (plural coalitions of the willing)

Coined in the early 1970s by MIT professor Lincoln P. Bloomfield and colleagues.

(politics) A group of countries whose leaders have been persuaded by another to take up a specific task, usually in the context of an invasion or war.


enhanced interrogation

enhanced interrogation (countable and uncountable, plural enhanced interrogations)

/ɪnˈhænst ɪnˌtɛɹəˌɡeɪʃən/

/ɪnˈhɑːnst ɪnˌtɛɹ.əˌɡeɪʃən/

In 2009, the Obama Administration released guidelines on enhanced interrogation written in 2003 and 2004 by the CIA Office of Medical Services. ^((OMS).1-3(appendix F)) The OMS guidelines, even in redacted form, and opinions from the US Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel show that CIA physicians, psychologists, and other health care personnel had important roles in enhanced interrogation.

2010 August 4, Leonard S. Rubenstein, JD, Stephen N. Xenakis, MD, “The Ethics of Enhanced Interrogations and Torture: A Reappraisal of the Argument”, in JAMA, volume 304, number 5, American Medical Association, →DOI, pages 569–570:

If Cheney calls it enhanced interrogation, he argues, this still doesn’t change the meaning of the word torture, which Cheney and the public know perfectly well. But cognitive linguists like Lakoff (1996) remind us that the public can be manipulated into believing that torture is “merely” an enhanced interrogation technique and thus does not protest.

2014 January 7, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 35:

Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011).

2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12:

(US, politics, euphemistic) The practice of using techniques normally considered torture that are claimed not to be torture according to a carefully parsed interpretation of legal language.


gynocracy

gynocracy (countable and uncountable, plural gynocracies)

(government, sociology) Synonym of gynecocracy.


bubble-head

bubble-heads (plural)
bubblehead (alternative)

(military slang, derogatory) A submariner.


Bent Spear

(US, euphemistic, military) A significant incident with a nuclear weapon, nuclear components, or nuclear-bearing vehicle.


Broken Arrow

In the US, the code name for a serious nuclear weapons incident is "Broken Arrow". It is US policy neither to confirm nor deny the existence of nuclear weapons at any specific location; this also applies to Broken Arrow incidents.

2004, Roland Everett Langford, Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Radiological, Chemical, and Biological, page 97:

(US, euphemistic, military) An accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear components but does not create the risk of nuclear war.


Broken Arrow

The FAC urgently sends over his radio a cry for help: "Broken Arrow! Broken Arrow!' His message unleashes all available close air support in South Vietnam on a priority basis.

2003, Jacques-François de Chaunac, The American Cavalry in Vietnam: "First Cav", →ISBN, page 48:

Before Caras could respond, the General threw down the mike, turned to his second and said, "Get them all the air support we have, everything. This is Broken Arrow"

2008, Terry Ryan, Bring Out Your Dead, →ISBN, page 137:

Broken Arrow refers to the U.S. military's code word used during the Vietnam War. This call was used only in the direst of tactical situations, when a ground unit was overrun by enemy forces. When "Broken Arrow" was heard on the radio nets, all available aircraft were diverted to provide close air support for the endangered command.

2010, Danny W. Davis, The Phinehas Priesthood, →ISBN:

All Pulse elements, this is Home Plate. Broken Arrow. I repeat, Broken Arrow. Forward command of close air-support operations is Rebel Four One.

2017, Kevin Ikenberry, Vendetta Protocol, page 155:

(US, military) A code phrase indicating that a ground unit is facing imminent destruction from enemy attack and all available air forces within range are to provide air support immediately.


dawk

Blend of dove + hawk. Coined by American author Donald S. Zagoria in 1967 (see quotation).

coinage

In the analysis that follows, I shall explore the foreign policy views of three distinct factions within the Chinese elite: “hawks, doves, and dawks.” In my view, the “dawks,” “centrists,” or more precisely, Maoists, have won.

1967, Donald S. Zagoria, “Peking’s Hawks, Doves, and Dawks” (chapter 3), in Vietnam Triangle: Moscow, Peking, Hanoi, New York, N.Y.: Pegasus, →LCCN, page 67:

Collins English Dictionary
w:Collins English Dictionary

(politics) A person who advocates neither an aggressive nor a conciliatory political attitude (especially in foreign policy).


PWA

Public Works Administration
w:Public Works Administration

(historical, US politics, 1933–1943) Initialism of Public Works Administration.

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

Pro Wrestling America
w:Pro Wrestling America

(professional wrestling) Initialism of Pro Wrestling America.

Pro Wrestling Alliance
Pro Wrestling Alliance#English

(professional wrestling) Initialism of Pro Wrestling Alliance.

(professional wrestling, Canada) Initialism of Pure Wrestling Association.


patchery

patcheries (plural)
parcherry (alternative)
patcheree (alternative)
patcherry (alternative)

(UK, India, military, historical) Living quarters for married soldiers.


swiftboat

en-verb

swiftboat (third-person singular simple present swiftboats, present participle swiftboating, simple past and past participle swiftboated)

swiftboats (present singular third-person)
swiftboating (participle present)
swiftboated (participle past)
swiftboated (past)
swift boat (alternative)

Uncertain: Possibly, swift + boat, or possibly based on an acronym for Shallow Water Inshore Fast Tactical Craft.
The use as a political term derives from a smear campaign against John Kerry when Texas tycoon Robert J. Perry hired several Navy swiftboat veterans to form the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which questioned the legitimacy of Kerry's status as a war hero.

No one should have been surprised that the Republicans would try to swiftboat Hillary in 2016, turning an accomplished diplomat into a feckless bungler who lied to cover up her own failures.

2015, David Brock, Killing the Messenger, →ISBN:

(US, politics, derogatory, transitive) To attack a politician with specious claims.


adventurism

en-noun

adventurism (countable and uncountable, plural adventurisms)

1993, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom, Nairobi: EAEP, Part I, Chapter 2, p. 22,
Even where they were aware of the devastating effects of imperialism on the subject peoples, as in Conrad’s description of the dying victims of colonial adventurism in Heart of Darkness, they could not free themselves from the Eurocentric basis of their vision.

The rejection of foreign adventurism derived partly from an awareness of the dynastic vulnerability of the Bourbon line, partly from the country's economic as well as its military fragility – and partly too from the increasingly evident limitations of France's traditional international allies.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 133:

(politics) The taking of excessive risks by a government in their political, economic or foreign affairs.


dubok

Borrowed from Russian дубо́к (dubók), from дуб (dub, “oak tree”).

And then there are the duboks. Every Red Army intelligence agent abroad is assigned the task of finding duboks in the city where he is stationed. A dubok is a hiding place for anything that may be exchanged in espionage work […]

1947, Hearst's International Combined with Cosmopolitan:

Meantime, in addition to the active agents, scores of others wait expectantly, always on the alert; scores of yavkas operate; scores of duboks are maintained; exchange of personnel goes on constantly.

1955, David J. Dallin, Soviet Espionage, page 509:

[…] was unable to remember the spy's cover name but he did not attach much importance to this, since, as he pointed out, cover names, like duboks, were changed from time to time.

1981, H. Montgomery Hyde, The Atom Bomb Spies, page 91:

His couriers should communicate with him through duboks – hiding places where messages could be left or collected, also called 'dead letterboxes' […]

2011, Chapman Pincher, Treachery: Betrayals, Blunders and Cover-Ups:


centerline

centerlines (plural)
centreline (alternative)
centre line (alternative)

You might already know that, I don't know, but since you are training at home I didn't want you to be weaving wildly on each side of the rope - the goal is to pop up as tight as possible to the center line.

2005 July 31, Vovchanchyn Fan, “Re: Bob and weaving drill”, in Sherdog (Usenet):

take his lead leg out from under him. Just dont it when he is going for a power jab, just make sure your heads out of the center line

2006 January 3, Justin Pressley, “Re: having problems whilst sparring”, in Sherdog (Usenet):

(martial arts, boxing) An imaginary line connecting the center of two fighters' bodies while they face each other.


Catherine wheel

Catherine wheel (plural Catherine wheels)

Catherine wheels (plural)
Catharine wheel (alternative)
Catharine-wheel (alternative)
Catherine-wheel (alternative)
catherine wheel (alternative)
catherine-wheel (alternative)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to have been sentenced to execution on such a wheel, which shattered at her touch.

Sorcerers are too common; cunning men, wizards, and white witches […] have commonly St. Catherine's wheel printed in the roof of their mouth, or in some other part about them […]

[…] her tortures consisted of being broken on a wheel (later called Catherine wheel), but the machine broke down injuring bystanders; Catherine was beheaded.

1992, David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3rd edition, page 88:

She only lied to the boy to keep him from hurt, and for her sin her intestines were pulled from her on a Catherine wheel.

2008, Peter Carey, His Illegal Self, page 181:

(historical or heraldry) A breaking wheel, or wheel with spikes on it.


third way

He believes the left must be radical—the opposite of the social democratic left or “Third Way” politics espoused by Bill Clinton and later Tony Blair, which he says betrayed the people to side with big business and the wealthy.

2025 May 3, Leila Abboud, “Lunch with the FT: Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

(politics) An ideology which seeks to find middle ground between right- and left-wing politics, associated during the 1990s with various centre-left political parties in Europe, North America, and Australia.


unearned income

unearned income (countable and uncountable, plural unearned incomes)

(taxation) Income that is not a wage, such as interest, dividends or realized capital gains from investments, rent from land or property ownership, and any other income that does not derive from work.


Clintonian

en-adj

Clintonian (comparative more Clintonian, superlative most Clintonian)

more Clintonian (comparative)
most Clintonian (superlative)

"Obama's Clintonian circle: the abundance of Clinton veterans recruited by Obama may not be the change voters had in mind." (Yahoo Home Page, November 19, 2008 2:58PM (PST) ).

(US politics) Of or relating to Bill Clinton (born 1946), US politician who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001.

(US politics) Of or relating to Hillary Clinton (born 1947), US politician and wife of Bill Clinton.

(US politics) Of or relating to DeWitt Clinton (born 1769), US politician.


states' rights

(US politics, conservatism) Rights reserved to the 50 state governments of the United States that allow each one to set policy on some issues, rather than being subject to federal policy, especially in reference to their right to allow slavery before the Civil War.


JAFO

(military, slang) acronym of just another fucking observer/officer/operator


on your horse, amigo

Adaptation of Korean 안녕하십니까 (annyeonghasimnikka).


nonrecognition

(taxation) Not involving recognition of gain or loss.


core constituency

en-noun

core constituency (plural core constituencies)

core constituencies (plural)
core constituent (alternative)

Some have argued that the ANC has lost sight of its core constituency: those who are poor and marginalised.

2007 December 2, “Money and politics: two views”, in The Times, South Africa:

(politics) The most important group or groups supporting an ideology, political party, officeholder, or candidate, and whose continuing support is crucial for survival and success.

peruskannattajaryhmä

politics: the most important supporting group