torpedo

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

cog

I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano.

1918, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Land that Time Forgot, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long.

2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse..., archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

And if fate should turn her back on them, or turn away from them, leaving them to their own devices, and should they find themselves be sore afraid, then they would simply sail away to the other side of the world. They would ride like the wind. They would sail once more into the breach and damn the torpedos! God save the Queen! And the devil take the hindmost!

2020, Ted Bell, Dragonfire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley, published 2021, →ISBN, page 536:

(military) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.

(science fiction) A similar projectile that can travel through space.

(obsolete, military) An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.


director

directors (plural)
directour (alternative obsolete)

/daɪ̯əˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin dīrēctor, dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

(military) A device that displays graphical information concerning the targets of a weapons system in real time.


warrant

en-noun

warrant (countable and uncountable, plural warrants)

warrants (plural)
warraunt (alternative)

→ Cantonese: 窩輪 /窝轮 (wo¹ leon⁴⁻²), 花令

→ Italian: warrant

→ Malay: waran

The noun is derived from Middle English warant (“protector; guard, shield, protection”), from Anglo-Norman warrant, Old Northern French warant, warand, a variant of Old French guarant, garant, garand (“assurance, guarantee; authorization, permission; protector; protection, safety”) (modern French garant), from Frankish *warand, present participle of *warjan (“to fend off; to stop, thwart”). The word is cognate with Old High German werento (“guarantor”).
The verb is derived from Middle English warrant, waranten (“to give protection; to protect, shield; to assure, pledge, promise; to guarantee”), from Anglo-Norman warantir, warandir, warentir, and Old Northern French warandir, warantir, variant forms of Old French guarantir (“to protect”) (modern French garantir), a Romance formation from the noun guarant: see above.

inh

[Dave T.] Daniels also stated that many supported the idea of an officers indoctrination course, with the aim of preparing warrants for broader responsibility.

2006, David R. Welsh, “Warrant Officer Associations over the Years: Chief Warrant Officers & Warrant Officers Association U.S. Coast Guard: 1919–Present”, in The Legacy of Leadership as a Warrant Officer, Nashville, Tenn., Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 40:

(military, countable) Ellipsis of warrant officer.

Several days passed away, and at length down came an order for [Harry] Bartlett to go on shore and take up his warrant for a sloop of war that was then round at Plymouth, to which place he was to make all haste to join. […] "Well, my man," said Sir Joseph [Sydney Yorke], in his usual deliberative manner, "and so it has pleased the powers aloft to reward your deserts, and you are now a warrant officer."

1854, “The Old Sailor” [pseudonym; Matthew Henry Barker], “Harry Bartlett”, in Floating Remembrances and Sketches of a Sea Life, London: Whittaker and Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; Nottingham, Nottinghamshire: Dearden, →OCLC, page 86:

(countable) A certificate of appointment given to a warrant officer.


orderly

orderlies (plural)
ordrely (alternative)

(military) A soldier who carries out minor tasks for a superior officer.

ординарец

soldier who carries out minor tasks for a superior officer — see also batman


monism

en-noun

monism (countable and uncountable, plural monisms)

The word was coined by German philosopher Baron Christian von Wolff and first used in English in 1862, from New Latin monismus, from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone”). By surface analysis, mon- + -ism.

The same conflict between the monism of temporal theorists and the dualism of ecclesiastical thinkers—the same opposition of organic to symbiotic union—occurred in the ninth century.

1964, Karl F. Morrison, Two Kingdoms: Ecclesiology in Carolingian Political Thought, Princeton University Press, page 4:

(historical, politics) The doctrine that there is a single source of political authority, especially that the church is subordinate to the state or vice versa.


debole

From Italian debole, meaning "weak", equivalent to the French foible.

There are two parts to the sword: the forte and the debole. The forte begins from the hilt, extending as far as the middle of the blade; and the remainder is called the debole. The forte is for parrying, and the debole for striking. This is really important because: if you always keep your forte in the way of the opponent's debole, you will never be hit.

(fencing) The flexible part of the blade near the tip of light swords such as rapiers.


RIP

RIPs (plural)
R.I.P. (alternative)
rip (alternative)

[…] recommended as punishment a 55-day RIP (reduction in pay) but was overruled by higher authorities […]

1972, New York Magazine, volume 5, number 5, page 32:

He admitted to his indiscretion and accepted a five-day RIP (reduction in pay). What the hell is going on? I wondered. We let a captain with possible O.C. connections off the hook, but we bust a patrolman for having a drink!

1991, Vincent Murano, William Hoffer, Cop Hunter, page 73:

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of reduction in pay.


cheeseburger

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

Etymology tree
Latin cāseusbor.
Proto-Germanic *kāsijaz
Proto-West Germanic *kāsī
Old English ċīese
Middle English chese
English cheese
English hamburger
English cheeseburger
Blend of cheese + hamburger (1928). By surface analysis, cheese + -burger.


rock and roll

/ˈɹɒk ən(d)ˈɹəʊl/

From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was an euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll").
As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.

rock-and-roll (alternative)
rock'n'roll (alternative)
rock 'n' roll (alternative)
rock n roll (alternative)
rock 'n roll (alternative)
rock-n-roll (alternative)
rock-'n'-roll (alternative)
rock & roll (alternative)

(military, slang, US) The full automatic fire capability selection on a selective fire weapon.


squishy

en-adj

squishy (comparative squishier or more squishy, superlative squishiest or most squishy)

squishier (comparative)
more squishy (comparative)
squishiest (superlative)
most squishy (superlative)
squishie (alternative noun)

濕軟 /湿软

(of an object or substance) yielding easily to pressure; very soft; especially, soft and wet, as mud

(politics, colloquial, derogatory) Politically moderate.


mount

From Middle English mount, munt, from Old English munt, from Latin mōns (“a hill, mountain”), from a root seen also in ēmineō (“I project, I protrude”) (English eminent). Doublet of mons.

(heraldry) A green hillock in the base of a shield.


mount

From Middle English mounten, from Anglo-Norman munter, from Vulgar Latin *montāre (“climb”), from Latin montem (“mountain”). Compare modern French monter.

(martial arts) A dominant ground grappling position, where one combatant sits on the other combatants torso with the face pointing towards the opponent's head.


mount

en-verb

mount (third-person singular simple present mounts, present participle mounting, simple past and past participle mounted)

mounts (present singular third-person)
mounting (participle present)
mounted (participle past)
mounted (past)

(transitive, martial arts) To sit on a combatant's torso with the face pointing towards the opponent's head; to assume the mount position in ground grappling.


policeman

→ French: policeman

→ Maori: pirihimana

→ Welsh: plismon

The policeman who arrests the "Red" does not understand the theories the "Red" is preaching; if he did, his own position as bodyguard of the monied class might seem less pleasant to him.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:

Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Still agitated, she watched resentfully as two traffic policemen remounted their motorcycles.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 378:

(law enforcement) A police officer, usually a male.


policewoman

(law enforcement) A female police officer.


scalp

→ Danish: skalp

→ Dutch: scalp

→ Esperanto: skalpo

→ German: Skalp

→ Hungarian: skalp

→ Italian: scalpo

→ Latvian: skalps

→ Macedonian: скалп (skalp)

→ Portuguese: escalpo

→ Russian: скальп (skalʹp)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ска̏лп (skȁlp)

→ Swedish: skalp

From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a North Germanic source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt North Frisian Skolp (“dandruff”), Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), Old Swedish skalp, Dutch schelp (“shell”).

He bears for Arms : Argent, on a chevron invected gules, between two bugle-horns sable, stringed of the second in chief, and the attires of a stag affixed to the scalp in base of the third, two fasces chevronways or.

1899, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, Showing which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 313:

The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from.

(heraldry) The skin of the head of a stag, to which the horns are attached.


revolution

en-noun

revolution (countable and uncountable, plural revolutions)

→ Japanese: レボリューション (reboryūshon)

Inherited from Middle English revolucion, borrowed from Old French revolucion, from Late Latin revolūtiōnem, accusative singular of revolūtiō (“the act of revolving; revolution”), from Latin revolvō (“roll back, revolve”).

inh+

The revolution completely transformed the monarchy into a republic.

Una rivoluzione è certamente la cosa più autoritaria che ci sia: è l'atto per il quale una parte della popolazione impone la sua volontà all'altra parte per mezzo di fucili, baionette e cannoni; mezzi autoritari, se ce ne sono; e il partito vittorioso, se non vuole aver combattuto invano, deve continuare questo dominio col terrore che le sue armi inspirano ai reazionari.

1873 December [1872], Friedrich Engels, “Dell'autorità”, in Almanacco repubblicano per l'anno 1874; English translation in “On Authority”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 23, translation of original in Italian, 1988, page 425:

The essence of every revolution consisted and consists in putting a new class in power, thus enabling it to realize its own program in life.

1938 January 15 [1937 December], Leon Trotsky, “The Lessons of Spain--The Last Warning”, in Socialist Appeal, volume 2, number 3, page 4:

(countable, politics) A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.

For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World, ought to produce a revolution in France.

1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat, Cassandra Editions, published 1977, →ISBN, page 237:

(countable, politics) The popular removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.


helm

From Middle English helm (“helmet; crown of thorns of Jesus; warrior; inn or shop sign”) [and other forms], from Old English helm (“helmet”), from Proto-West Germanic *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (“protective covering”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelmos, from the root *ḱel- (“to cover”). Doublet of heaume and related to helmet.
Cognates
* Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 (hilms)
* Old Frisian helm (West Frisian helm)
* Old High German helm (Middle High German helm, modern German Helm; Italian elmo; Old French helme, modern French heaume; Spanish yelmo)
* Old Norse hjalmr (Danish hjelm, Norwegian hjelm, Swedish hjälm)
* Old Saxon helm (Low German Helm, Middle Dutch helm, modern Dutch helm)

inh

(heraldry) Synonym of helmet (“the feature above a shield on a coat of arms”).


rabbi

en-noun

rabbi (plural rabbis or (archaic) rabbies or rabbanim or rabbanin or rabbonim or rabbonin)

rabbis (plural)
rabbies (archaic plural)
rabbanim (plural)
rabbanin (plural)
rabbonim (plural)
rabbonin (plural)
rabbin (alternative dated)
rabboni (alternative)

From Middle English raby, from Ecclesiastical Latin rabbi, and its source Koine Greek ῥαββί (rhabbí), from (post-Tanakh) Hebrew רַבִּי (rabbi, “my master”), from רַב (rav, “master”) + ־ִי (-í, “my”). Compare late Old English rabbi. Doublet of rebbe and related to rav.

Hoskins? He doesn't have a better rabbi in the department than that?

2006 September 17, David Mills, “Soft Eyes”, in The Wire, season 4, episode 2, spoken by Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman):

If I'm ever gonna make Captain, I need a good mentor. I need my rabbi.

2013 September 17, Dan Goor, Michael Schur, “Pilot”, in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero):

(law enforcement, slang) A senior officer who acts as a mentor.


POTD

propaganda of the deed
propaganda of the deed#English

(politics) Initialism of propaganda of the deed.


attire

attire (countable and uncountable, plural attires)

The verb is from Middle English atyren, atiren, from Old French atirier (“to equip”), from a- + tire (“rank”), akin to German Zier (“ornament”) and Old Norse tírr (“glory, renown”).
The noun is from Middle English atir, from the verb.

The latter sign, however, may have some heraldic significance, as Larwood and Hotten mention a London token of 1666 on which a horseshoe is represented within a pair of antlers or deer's attires.

1887, Miller Christy, The Trade Signs of Essex: A Popular Account of the Origin and Meanings of the Public House & Other Signs Now Or Formerly Found in the County of Essex, page 51:

(heraldry) The single horn of a goat, deer or stag.


hijack

en-verb

hijack (third-person singular simple present hijacks, present participle hijacking, simple past and past participle hijacked)

hijacks (present singular third-person)
hijacking (participle present)
hijacked (participle past)
hijacked (past)
hi-jack (alternative)
highjack (alternative)

Possibly from a blend of highway + jacker (“one who holds up”) (1915).

blend

(politics) To introduce an amendment deleting the contents of a bill and inserting entirely new provisions.


hijack

hijacks (plural)
hi-jack (alternative)
highjack (alternative)

(politics) An amendment which deletes the contents of a bill and inserts entirely new provisions.


warble

en-noun

warble (countable and uncountable, plural warbles)

(military) In naval mine warfare, the process of varying the frequency of sound produced by a narrowband noisemaker to ensure that the frequency to which the mine will respond is covered.


fillet

From Middle English filet, vylette, felet, filette, flette, from Old French filet, diminutive of fil (“thread”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”).

(heraldry) An ordinary equal in breadth to one quarter of the chief, to the lowest portion of which it corresponds in position.


gabion

Borrowed from Italian gabbione, augmentative of gabbia (“cage”), itself from Latin cavea (whence also English jail, English cajole), from Latin cavus (whence also English cage, English cave).

sap

several mentions of gabions in the context of fortifications

When our artillery came before the walls of the town, the English within the walls killed some of our men, and several pioneers who were making gabions. And seeing they were so wounded that there was no hope of curing them, their comrades stripped them, and put them still living inside the gabions, which served to fill them up.

1563, Ambroise Paré, The Journey to Havre de Grace.:

(historical, military) A cylindrical basket or cage of wicker which was filled with earth or stones and used in fortifications and other engineering work (a precursor to the sandbag).


kinetic

From Ancient Greek κινητικός (kinētikós, “puts in motion”), from κινέω (kinéō, “I move, put in motion”).

der

(military, euphemistic) Relating to active warfare or the use of lethal force.^([W])


shoulder

shoulders (plural)
shouder (alternative dialectal)

From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sculdra, sculdor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller, Schulder (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”).

inh

you can't put an old head on young shoulders

(of an object) The portion between the neck and the body.

(firearms) The angled section between the neck and the main body of a cartridge.


CV

en-noun

CV (countable and uncountable, plural CVs)

CVs (plural)
C.V. (alternative)
C. V. (alternative)

Abbreviation
* (anime, Japanimation): From Japanese CV (CV), from English character+voice
* (aircraft carrier): Initialism of cruiser (“croiseur”) + French voler (“to fly”).

initialism

(military) Initialism of combat vehicle.

aircraft carrier
aircraft carrier#English

(US, navy) aircraft carrier (“Cruiser Voler”), a diesel-powered warship launching and landing heavier than air flying vehicles (a nuclear-powered one is a CVN)


bloke

blokes (plural)
bloak (alternative archaic)

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

Origin unknown; the following borrowings have been hypothesized:
* From a modern Celtic language, such as Irish bloc (“block”) or Scottish Gaelic ploc (“large, stubborn person”, literally “block of wood”), themselves borrowings from English block
* From Hindustani لوک (lok) / लोक (lok, “people, folk”) or Shelta loke (“man”).

bor

A second green chit and then you get your hat for a talk with the bloke.

1989, Rick Jolly, Trugg Willson, Jackspeak: The Pusser’s Rum: Guide to Royal Navy Slanguage […], Torpoint, Cornwall: Palamanando Publ., →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, naval slang) (A lower deck term for) the captain or executive officer of a warship, especially one regarded as tough on discipline and punishment.


AOT

(aviation, military) Initialism of angle off tail (the angle between the flightpaths of the attacking and defending aircraft in a dogfight).


UDP

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

(military, US) Initialism of Unit Deployment Program.

According to the most recent available disclosures, UDP has spent more than $910,000 backing Stevens. AIPAC, a hawkish pro-Israel group that supports both Democrats and Republicans, endorsed Stevens and has attacked Levin, who is Jewish and comes from one of Michigan’s most prominent Jewish political families, over his willingness to criticize some Israeli policy.

2022 July 12, Gregory Krieg, “Progressive pro-Israel group takes on AIPAC in Michigan Democratic primary fight”, in CNN:

United Democracy Project
w:United Democracy Project

(US politics) Initialism of United Democracy Project: a surrogate of AIPAC.


snowbird

(US military slang) One who enlists in fall to desert after winter.


deface

en-verb

deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)

defaces (present singular third-person)
defacing (participle present)
defaced (participle past)
defaced (past)

From Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Late Latin facia.

You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.

(heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.

muunnella

heraldry: to alter by adding a new element


organic

en-adj

organic (comparative more organic, superlative most organic)

more organic (comparative)
most organic (superlative)
organick (alternative)

From Middle English organic, organik, from Old French organique, from Latin organicus.

Socially, the term “organic” unit implies a military force characterized by relatively high cohesion, overlapping primary groups and a certain sense of shared past.

1998, Eyal Ben-Ari, Mastering Soldiers: Conflict, Emotions, and the Enemy in an Israeli Military Unit, Beghahn Books, page 29:

Most types of German field divisions include an organic reconnaissance battalion, and the remainder have strong reconnaissance companies.

1945, U.S. War Department, Handbook on German Military Forces, LSU Press, published 1990, page 161:

(military) Of a military unit or formation, or its elements, belonging to a permanent organization (in contrast to being temporarily attached).


rhubarb

en-noun

rhubarb (countable and uncountable, plural rhubarb or rhubarbs)

From Middle English rubarbe, from Anglo-Norman reubarbe (modern French rhubarbe), from Late Latin reubarbarum, rheubarbarum, rubarbera, rybarba, probably from Koine Greek ῥῆον βάρβαρον (rhêon bárbaron), from ῥῆον (rhêon, “rhubarb”) + Ancient Greek βάρβαρον (bárbaron), neuter of βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign; barbaric”) (English barbarian).
There is also a Medieval Latin variant rabarbarum, which appears to be influenced by Ancient Greek ῥᾶ (rhâ, “rhubarb”), and gave rise to some of the forms in modern languages. The Ancient Greek variant term appears to have been folk-etymologically influenced by Ancient Greek Ῥᾶ (Rhâ, “the River Volga”), which is in the region from which the plant came to the Mediterranean. The ultimate origin of the Ancient Greek terms is, however, Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb, fennel”).
The word is cognate with Catalan ruibarbre, Italian rabarbaro, Dutch rabarber, German Rhabarber, Old Occitan reubarbe, Portuguese ruibarbo, Spanish ruibarbo.

der

ῥῆον βάρβαρον

cog

On 13 December 1942, Squadron Leader [Brian] Lane made his first flight from Ludham, a local familiarisation flight. That afternoon, he led a section of Spitfires low over the North Sea on a ‘Rhubarb’, a low-level sweep over the Dutch coast, looking for targets of opportunity.

2009, Dilip Sarkar, “Foreword”, in Brian Lane, edited by Dilip Sarkar, Spitfire!: The Experiences of a Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, →ISBN, page 11:

(British, military, aviation, historical) A Royal Air Force World War II code name for operations by aircraft (fighters and fighter-bombers) involving low-level flight to seek opportunistic targets.


rhubarb

en-verb

rhubarb (third-person singular simple present rhubarbs, present participle rhubarbing, simple past and past participle rhubarbed)

rhubarbs (present singular third-person)
rhubarbing (participle present)
rhubarbed (participle past)
rhubarbed (past)

der

ῥῆον βάρβαρον

(British, military, aviation) Of fighter aircraft: to fire at a target opportunistically.


inspector

inspectors (plural)
inspectour (alternative obsolete rare)

→ Japanese: インスペクター (insupekutā)

Borrowed from Latin īnspector, from īnspiciō, equivalent to inspect + -or.

(law enforcement) A police officer ranking below superintendent.


overhaul

/ˈəʊvəˌhɔːl/

/ˌəʊvəˈhɔːl/

(firefighting) The process after the fire appears extinguished in which the firefighters search the structure for signs of hot spots that may cause the structure to reignite.


zigzag

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703). Also, possibly from the shape of the letter Z, which appears twice in the word. Sense “drunk” from the zigzag movements of a drunk person.


rush

Perhaps from Middle English ruschen, russchen (“to rush, startle, make a loud rushing noise”), from Old English hrysċan (“to jolt, startle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hurskijan, from Proto-Germanic *hurskijaną (“to startle, drive”), from *hurskaz (“fast, rapid, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run, hurry”).
Cognate with Old High German hursken (“to hurry, speed, incite, accelerate”), Old English horsc (“quick, quick-witted, clever”).
etymology note
An alternative etymology traces rush via Middle English rouschen (“to rush”) from Old English *rūscian (“to rush”) from Proto-Germanic *rūskōną (“to rush, storm, be fierce, be cruel”), a variant (with formative k) of Proto-Germanic *rūsōną (“to be cruel, storm, rush”) from Proto-Indo-European *(o)rewə- (“to drive, move, agitate”), making it akin to Old High German rosc, rosci (“quick”), Middle Low German rûschen (“to rush”), Middle High German rūschen, riuschen (“to rush”) (German rauschen (“to rush”)), North Frisian ruse (“to rush”), Middle Dutch ruuscen (“to make haste”), Middle Dutch rūsen (“to rush”) (Dutch ruisen (“to rush”)), Danish ruse (“to rush”), Swedish rusa (“to rush”). Compare Middle High German rūsch (“a charge, rush”). Influenced by Middle English russhen (“to force back”) from Anglo-Norman russher, russer from Old French ruser, rëuser.
Alternatively, according to the OED, perhaps an adaptation of Anglo-Norman russher, russer (“to force back, down, out of place, by violent impact", "to pull out or drag off violently or hastily”), from Old French re(h)usser, ruser (although the connection of the forms with single -s- and double -ss- is dubious; also adopted in English ruse; French ruser (“to retreat, drive back”)), from an assumed Vulgar Latin *refūsāre and Latin refundō (“I cause to flow back”), although connection to the same Germanic root is also possible. More at rouse.

раш

video games: act of running at another player with large swarm of weak units — see also zerg

(military) A sudden attack; an onslaught.

turrje

military: sudden attack — see also onslaught


rush

en-verb

rush (third-person singular simple present rushes, present participle rushing, simple past and past participle rushed)

rushes (present singular third-person)
rushing (participle present)
rushed (participle past)
rushed (past)

(intransitive, military) To make a swift or sudden attack.

rynnäköidä

(intransitive, military) to make a swift or sudden attack

A detachment of cavalrymen rushed the enemy's position.

(transitive, military) To swiftly attack without warning.

突襲 /突袭

(transitive, military) to swiftly attack without warning


issue

From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”).
The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the end or result of pleadings in a suit (by presenting the point to be determined by trial)," leading to the sense of "the controversy over facts in a trial" (early 14th century, Anglo-French). This later extended to mean "a point of contention between two parties" (early 15th century) and more generally, "an important point to be decided" (1836). Consequently, the verbal phrase take issue with emerged in 1797 (preceded by join issue in the 1690s), meaning "to adopt an affirmative or negative stance in a dispute with another." The expression to have issues, meaning "to have unresolved conflicts," dates back to 1990.

drain

small incision etc. to drain excess bodily fluid

The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow, particularly:

(military, obsolete) A movement of soldiers towards an enemy, a sortie.


SDP

We believed that the Trots represented a mad, extreme form of Labour that was never going to do anything for anybody, yet we felt strongly that nothing would be achieved by jumping ship and defecting to the SDP.

2008, Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street:

Social Democratic Party
w:Social Democratic Party (UK)

(UK politics, historical, 1981–1988) Initialism of Social Democratic Party, a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom.


IBM

en-noun

IBM (countable and uncountable, plural IBMs)

They see this last possibility in an international agreement to stop further atomic and thermonuclear bomb tests and halt the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (IBMs).

1956 June, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 12, number 6, page 186:

Today we need a defense against IBM attack. When as chief of R&D I urged Army Ordnance to develop an antimissile missile, I heard repeatedly that you can't hit a bullet with a bullet, so it is impossible to develop such a missile.

1987, Kenneth David Nichols, The Road to Trinity, page 294:

Thus, they limit to a strictly defined number the quantity of armed IBMs in the USSR and the United States, as well as ballistic missiles of submarines.

1990, William Elliott Butler, Perestroika and International Law, page 155:

(weaponry) Initialism of intercontinental ballistic missile.


intelligentsia

intelligentsia (countable and uncountable, plural intelligentsias)

/ɪntɛlɪˈd͡ʒɛntsɪə/

/ɪntɛlɪˈɡɛntsɪə/

From Russian интеллиге́нция (intelligéncija) or Polish inteligencja, from Latin intellegentia (“intelligence”). Doublet of intelligence.

der

интеллиге́нция

[…] среди рабочих растет страстное стремление к знанию и к социализму, среди рабочих выделяются настоящие герои, которые — несмотря на безобразную обстановку своей жизни, несмотря на отупляющую каторжную работу на фабрике, — находят в себе столько характера и силы воли, чтобы учиться, учиться и учиться и вырабатывать из себя сознательных социалдемократов, «рабочую интеллигенцию». В России уже есть эта «рабочая интеллигенция», и мы должны приложить все усилия к тому, чтобы ее ряды постоянно расширялись, чтобы ее высокие умственные запросы вполне удовлетворялись, чтобы из ее рядов выходили руководители русской социал-демократической рабочей партии.

1967 [1899], Vladimir Lenin, “Попятное направление в русской социал-демократии”, in Ленин В. И. ― Полное собрание сочинений, volume 4, page 269; English translation from “A Retrograde Trend in Russian Social-Democracy”, in Lenin's Collected Works, volume 4, translation of original in Russian, 1977, pages 280-281:

[…] sredi rabočix rastet strastnoje stremlenije k znaniju i k socializmu, sredi rabočix vydeljajutsja nastojaščije geroi, kotoryje — nesmotrja na bezobraznuju obstanovku svojej žizni, nesmotrja na otupljajuščuju katoržnuju rabotu na fabrike, — naxodjat v sebe stolʹko xaraktera i sily voli, štoby učitʹsja, učitʹsja i učitʹsja i vyrabatyvatʹ iz sebja soznatelʹnyx socialdemokratov, «rabočuju intelligenciju». V Rossii uže jestʹ eta «rabočaja intelligencija», i my dolžny priložitʹ vse usilija k tomu, štoby jeje rjady postojanno rasširjalisʹ, štoby jeje vysokije umstvennyje zaprosy vpolne udovletvorjalisʹ, štoby iz jeje rjadov vyxodili rukovoditeli russkoj social-demokratičeskoj rabočej partii.

It should be noted that there is now no intelligentsia that is not in some sense "Left". Perhaps the last right-wing intellectual was T. E. Lawrence. Since about 1930 everyone describable as an “intellectual” has lived in a state of chronic discontent with the existing order.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

(politics) The intellectual elite of a society, particularly in Marxist doctrine.


stun

en-verb

stun (third-person singular simple present stuns, present participle stunning, simple past and past participle stunned)

stuns (present singular third-person)
stunning (participle present)
stunned (participle past)
stunned (past)

From Middle English stunien, stonien, stounien, from Old English stunian (“to crash, make a loud sound, resound, roar, strike with a loud sound, dash, impinge, knock, confound, astonish, stupefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn, from Proto-Germanic *stunōną, *stunjaną (“to sound, crash, bang, groan”), from Proto-Germanic *stenaną (“to moan, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tona-, *(s)tena- (“to thunder, roar, groan”) (compare thunder). Cognate with Middle Low German stonen (“to groan”), Middle High German stunen, stunden (“to drive, push, knock, strike”), Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”). Related also to Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”). See also Occitan estonar, Old French estoner, French étonner, English astonish.

cog

(Singapore, military, slang) To confiscate (an unguarded rifle, magazine, piece of equipment, etc.) from an unsuspecting soldier as punishment for neglect.


blouse

→ Bengali: ব্লাউজ (blauj)

→ Gujarati: બ્લાઉઝ (blāujha)

→ Hindi: ब्लाउज़ (blāuz)

desc

→ Japanese: ブラウス (burausu), ブルーズ (burūzu)

→ Korean: 블라우스 (beullauseu)

1828, from French blouse (“a workman's or peasant's smock”), see that for more.
More at blee, fold.

der

(military fashion) A loose-fitting uniform jacket.

工作罩衫

military: a loose-fitting uniform jacket


blouse

en-verb

blouse (third-person singular simple present blouses, present participle blousing, simple past and past participle bloused)

blouses (present singular third-person)
blousing (participle present)
bloused (participle past)
bloused (past)

An anonymous black soldier summed up his feelings by declaring, "If I fail to blouse my boots, or [if I] wear an Afro, I get socked. […]"

1989, Bernard C. Nalty, Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military, page 311:

(military) To tuck one's pants/trousers (into one's boots).


ingress

ingress (third-person singular simple present ingresses, present participle ingressing, simple past and past participle ingressed)

ingresses (present singular third-person)
ingressing (participle present)
ingressed (participle past)
ingressed (past)

From Latin ingressus, from the verb ingredior.

"We ingressed North Vietnam over Cam Pha on a westerly heading," reported Captain Madden.

1976, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia: Aces and Aerial Victories, page 108:

We were ingressing the target area.

1998, Michael William Donnelly, Falcon's Cry, →ISBN, page 93:

(transitive, US, chiefly military) To enter (a specified location or area)


magnum

From Latin magnum, neuter of magnus (“great”).
* (bottle): Ellipsis of magnum bonum.
* (handgun): Name registered 1935 by Smith & Wesson Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts.

(firearms) A powerful firearm cartridge, often derived from a shorter, less powerful cartridge calibre that uses the same bullet.


stable

From Middle English stable, borrowed from Anglo-Norman stable, singular derived from the plural Latin stab(u)la (“dwellings, stables”).

close the stable door after the horse has been stolen

close the stable door after the horse has bolted

lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen

lock the stable door after the horse has bolted

shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

(sumo) An organization of sumo wrestlers who live and train together.

Paul, who signed with WWE in late June, appeared in a segment with Reigns' stable, the Bloodline, on Friday's episode of SmackDown after making comments earlier in the week regarding a potential match with the Tribal Chief.

2022 September 17, Thomas Kika, “WWE's Logan Paul Confronts Roman Reigns Amid Rumors of Major Title Bout”, in Newsweek:

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) A group of wrestlers who support each other within a wrestling storyline.


CCG

(Canada, nautical, law enforcement) Initialism of Canadian Coast Guard.


tango

From translingual Tango (representing the letter T), from English tango (see above).

Tango down!

The two tangoes running toward the carnage at the prison door dropped simultaneously, dead in their tracks.

2005, Charles W. Sasser, Detachment Delta: Operation Aces Wild, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 370:

The sharp crack of breaking glass preceded Emily's calm voice. "One tango dead and Marcus is down, John."

2017, Beth Rhodes, Strike Zone, →ISBN, page 210:

(US, law enforcement, military slang) A target; an enemy.


autarchy

en-noun

autarchy (countable and uncountable, plural autarchies)

From Medieval Latin autarchia, from Koine Greek αὐταρχία (autarkhía, “absolute power, sovereignty, autocracy”), from αὔταρχος (aútarkhos, “autocratic”), from αὐτ- (aut-, “self”) + ἄρχω (árkhō, “to rule, govern”).

af

Like Philip's, Franco's autarchy was shrouded in religiosity—not Christianity alone, but also a sort of dim Wagnerian vision of hero-gods and Valhallas, a gloomy level of devotion on which paganism, Catholicism and the apotheosis of the State could conveniently be mingled.

1964, Jan Morris, “Envoi: State of Being”, in Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN:

(government) Autocracy (absolute rule by a single person).

(politics) Sovereignty or self-government (national political independence).


Sinn Féin

From Irish Sinn Féin (literally “we ourselves”) from sinn (“we, us”) + féin (“-self, -selves”).

compound

Ireland’s largest party, Fianna Fáil, has said it will not consider going into government with Sinn Féin, a decision likely to prevent the leftwing nationalists from entering power for the first time.

2020 February 13, “Ireland: Fianna Fáil rules out coalition with Sinn Féin”, in The Guardian, sourced from Reuters, →ISSN:

(Irish politics) An Irish political party committed to the reunification of Ireland.


Taoiseach

en-noun

Taoiseach (plural Taoiseachs or Taoisigh)

Taoiseachs (plural)
Taoisigh (plural)
taoiseach (alternative)

Borrowed from Irish Taoiseach (“chieftain, leader; prime minister of Ireland”).
The plural form Taoisigh is borrowed from Irish Taoisigh.

bor

Article 28. […] 5. 1º The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach. 2º The Taoiseach shall keep the President generally informed on matters of domestic and international policy.

1937 July 1 (date ratified), “The Government”, in The Constitution of Erin, Ireland, San Francisco, Calif.: Russell Quinn, published [1938?], →OCLC, page 22:

To cope with the situation created at home by the war so close at hand, an Taoiseach (Prime Minister [Éamon] de Valera) rearranged his cabinet and formed a Ministry of Supplies under one of his ablest men.

1940 December 7, Arthur W. Bromage, Mary C. Bromage, “Ireland—What Now?”, in The Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review: A Journal of University Perspectives, volume XLVII, number 10, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, →OCLC, page 208:

The only leader of the 1916 Easter rebellion to escape hanging, [Éamon d]e Valera lost the civil war, then won elections that made him taoiseach (prime minister) for 19 years.

1954 May 31, “The Taoiseach Falls: De Valera Nears the End of Long Political Trail”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 36, number 22, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 1:

The Constitution of Ireland, art. 13, requires that the President of Ireland, the formal head of state, appoints the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) on the nomination of the Dáil Eireann (a popular elected legislative Chamber of Deputies). Ther same provision also requires that the President appoints the other members of the government on the nomination of the Taoiseach with the previous approval of the Dáil.

1983 October, Law Library, Library of Congress, “Time Span between Election or Selection of an Official and the Subsequent Taking of Office in Various Foreign Countries [Ireland]”, in Commencement of Terms of Office of the President and Members of Congress: Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session on S.J. Res. 71: A Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Relative to the Commencement of the Terms of Office of the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress […] (Serial No. J-98-113), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 24 April 1984, →OCLC, page 42:

So what if they didn't have their Christmas Eve drinks party with the two Taoiseachs? They would have the satisfaction of knowing they could have.

1993, Mary Breasted, chapter 12, in Why Should You Doubt Me Now?, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, page 50:

Although Taoisigh insist that choices are based on merit and capacity, they show a remarkable tendency to surround themselves with loyalists.

1994, Brian Farrell, “The Political Role of Cabinet Ministers in Ireland”, in Michael Laver, Kenneth A. Shepsle, editors, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Government (The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 81:

Despite the attacks, 'the boss', as [Charles] Haughey was to become known, was elected taoiseach by 82 votes to 62. However, he was a taoiseach with strong opposition from within his own party.

2003, Dermot Keogh, “Ireland, 1972–84”, in J[acqueline] R. Hill, editor, A New History of Ireland, volumes VII (Ireland 1921–84), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 379:

Under normal circumstances, when a Taoiseach 'advises' the President to dissolve the Dáil and thereby bring about a general election, the President is bound to accede to this. However, the President, in the words of Article 13.2.2 [of the Constitution of Ireland], 'may in his absolute discretion refuse to dissolve Dáil Éireann on the advice of a Taoiseach who has ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann'.

2010, Michael Gallagher, “The Oireachtas: President and Parliament”, in John Coakley, Michael Gallagher, editors, Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 5th edition, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge in association with PSAI Press, →ISBN, part II (Representative Democracy at Work), page 200:

For three centuries, the fabled Round Room in Dublin's Mansion House has been the site of some of Ireland's most important gatherings. British monarchs and Irish taoiseachs, a Catholic pope and a Protestant terrorist, all have walked its halls.

2010, David J. Lynch, “Money is Just Evidence”, in When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again, New York, N.Y., Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 175:

He [Charles Haughey] was determined to seize the initiative, to paint a picture of a taoiseach forging ahead with a bold new strategy in relation to Northern Ireland – a leader, driven by an inner crusade to transform the landscape of Anglo-Irish relations.

2016, Stephen Kelly, “The Haughey—Thatcher Relationship: The Anglo-Irish Summit Meeting, May 1980”, in ‘A Failed Political Entity’: Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland Question 1945–1992, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland: Merrion Press, →ISBN, page 149:

Everyone in the UK and Ireland should be afraid of a no-deal Brexit, the Irish taoiseach said, after he was accused of engaging in “Project Fear mark two”.

2019 August 1, Kevin Rawlinson, “Leo Varadkar: ‘We should all be afraid of a no-deal Brexit’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:

Well, I was there from 1973 to 1993, working directly with five different taoisigh, at different times, of course, as secretary to the government, or Cabinet Secretary in Robert [Armstrong]'s terms—from Sunningdale to the Downing Street Declaration.

2020, John Coakley, Jennifer Todd, quoting Dermot Nally, “The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985”, in Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland, 1969–2019, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 173:

Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations

(Irish politics) The head of the government of Ireland, comparable to a prime minister of a Commonwealth of Nations country.


swastika

en-noun

swastika (countable and uncountable, plural swastikas)

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit स्वस्तिक (svastika), from सु- (su-, “good, well”) + अस्ति (asti), a verbal abstract of the root of the verb "to be", स्वस्ति (svasti) thus meaning "well-being" — and the diminutive suffix क (ka); hence "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm". First attestation in English in 1871, a Sanskritism that replaced the Grecian term gammadion. From 1932 onwards it often referred specifically to the version used by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (also called the "hooked cross", or German Hakenkreuz).

sauwastika

left-facing; symbolizing the night or the tantric aspects of Kali

"Is that what you think of me? I believe in the Grail, not the Swastika!"

1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, spoken by Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody):

“I can’t imagine anyone believes in Communist culprits instead of a contract job commissioned on behalf of the swastika.”

2011, Rudolph Herzog, translated by Jefferson Chase, Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany, Brooklyn: Melville House, →ISBN, page 36:

(fascism, history, metonymic, uncountable) Nazi rule.

hakenkreuz

chiefly in India referring to the Nazi swastika


ricochet

/ˈɹɪk.ə.ʃeɪ/

/ˈɹɪk.ə.ʃɛt/

Borrowed from French ricochet, of uncertain origin.

(military) A method of firing a projectile so that it skips along a surface.


ricochet

en-verb

ricochet (third-person singular simple present ricochets, present participle ricocheting or ricochetting, simple past and past participle ricocheted or ricochetted)

ricochets (present singular third-person)
ricocheting (participle present)
ricochetting (participle present)
ricocheted (participle past)
ricocheted (past)
ricochetted (participle past)
ricochetted (past)

/ˈɹɪk.ə.ʃeɪ/

/ˈɹɪk.ə.ʃɛt/

(military) To operate upon by ricochet firing.


regiment

/ˈɹɛd͡ʒɪmənt/

From Middle French regement, régiment, and its source, Late Latin regimentum (“direction for government; course of medical treatment”), from Latin regō (“rule”).

der

It was an old, withered man, who had served the Government in the days of the Mutiny as a native officer in a newly raised cavalry regiment.

1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, chapter III, in Kim (Macmillan’s Colonial Library; no. 414), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 65:

As the prime minister insisted that he had "never told a lie" in his life, the Tory leader attacked him for ordering Scottish troops into battle with no warning that their regiments would be disbanded.

2005 April 28, Nicholas Watt, Michael White, The Guardian:

(military) A unit of armed troops under the command of an officer, and consisting of several smaller units; now specifically, usually composed of two or more battalions.


mousetrap

en-noun

mousetrap (countable and uncountable, plural mousetraps)

mousetraps (plural)
mouse trap (alternative)

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

From Middle English mouse-trappe, mous trappe, mouse trape, equivalent to mouse + trap. Cognate with Dutch muizetrap, muizentrap (“mousetrap”), German Low German Muustrappe, Muustrapp (“mousetrap”). In the Internet sense, refers to a computer mouse.

Besides depth charges, they were armed with smaller forward firing antisubmarine rocket launchers called mousetraps. Fired in groups, these rockets detonated when they contacted a submarine.

2003, Nautical Research Journal, volume 48, page 199:

(military, historical) An antisubmarine rocket used mainly during World War II by the US Navy and US Coast Guard.


liberalism

liberalism (countable and uncountable, plural liberalisms)

Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism.

Whether some distant cousin really belongs to the extended family of liberalisms is a matter of healthy dispute.

2009 January 25, Timothy Garton Ash, “A Liberal Translation”, in The New York Times:

This poses obvious problems for statistical inference in that what may appear as ‘declines’ in non-white racial liberalism may actually be due to increases in representation of non-black racial/ethnic minorities whose racial attitudes are more conservative.

2022 May 2, Zachary Goldberg, “Explaining Shifts in White Racial Liberalism: The Role of Collective Moral Emotions and Media Effects”, in Georgia State University, archived from the original on 2025-01-25, page 142:

(politics) Any political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.


boomer

Distant contact, probably submerged. It's a wild guess, but I'd say we hit a boomer coming out of the barn. Could be a missile boat out of Polijarny.

(US, nautical, military, slang) A nuclear ballistic missile submarine, SSBN.


Gitmo

From GTMO (Guantanamo), pronounced as if it were a word rather than letter by letter.

(informal, military) Guantanamo Bay, the US naval base at the eponymous location, on the island of Cuba.


drum

Perhaps back-formation from drumslade (“drummer”), from Middle Dutch trommelslach (“drumbeat”), from trommel (“drum”) + slach (“beat”) (Dutch slag).
Or perhaps borrowed directly from a continental Germanic language; compare Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”) et al. Compare also Middle High German trumme, trumbe (“drum”), Old High German trumba (“trumpet”).


MDC

Metropolitan Detention Center
w:Metropolitan Detention Center

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of Metropolitan Detention Center.


rear

From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.

задник

the posterior, butt(ocks)- only terms with directional notion

When the fierce Foe hung on our brok'n Rear

1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 78:

(military) Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.


corner

→ German: Corner

→ Japanese: コーナー (kōnā)

From Middle English corner, from Anglo-Norman cornere (compare Old French cornier, corniere (“corner”)), from Old French corne (“corner, angle”, literally “a horn, projecting point”), from Vulgar Latin *corna (“horn”), from Latin cornua, plural of cornū (“projecting point, end, horn”). The sense of "angle, corner" in Old French is not found in Latin or other Romance languages. It was possibly calqued from Frankish *hurnijā (“corner, angle”), which is similar to, and derived from *hurn, the Frankish word for "horn". Displaced native cognate Middle English hirn, herne, from Old English hyrne, from Proto-Germanic *hurnijǭ (“little horn, hook, angle, corner”), whence modern English hirn (“nook, corner”), itself related to horn.

nurkka

business: interest that is sufficient for price manipulation

(heading) Relating to the playing field.

(boxing) The corner of the ring, which is where the boxer rests before and during a fight.

(boxing, by extension) The group of people who assist a boxer during a bout.


proposition

en-noun

proposition (countable and uncountable, plural propositions)

/ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English proposicioun, from Old French proposicion, from Latin prōpositiō, from the verb prōponō.

constitutional amendment
constitutional amendment

(countable, US, politics) In some states, a proposed statute or constitutional amendment to be voted on by the electorate.

проект

in the US: proposed statute or constitutional amendment


polity

polity (countable and uncountable, plural polities)

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

der

Church polity was a topic of fierce dispute in 17th-century Britain.

Once exposed, Confucianism was to become a political issue, an alternative among other contending ideologies which threatened to change the polity of the empire.

1979, Jerome Ch’en, China and the West: Society and Culture, 1815–1937, page 270:

The utopian community at Ephrata flourished for forty years, and the last celibates at Ephrata died after the turn of the century. It had continuing influences reaching far into the nineteenth century, and in some measure anticipated Mormon polity and cosmology.

1994, John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844, →ISBN, page 42:

Of course, other visions of Buddhist polity and its relationship to monastic life have occurred throughout the Buddhist world. For example in the seventeenth century Tibetan Buddhists successfully established a theocracy under the guidance of monks […]

2011, Jason A. Carbine, Sons of the Buddha: Continuities and Ruptures in a Burmese Monastic Tradition, →ISBN, page 9, note 26:

(politics, religion, usually uncountable) Organizational structure and governance, especially of a state or a religion.


officer

→ Central Dusun: upisor

→ Punjabi: ਅਫ਼ਸਰ (afasar)

→ Swahili: afisa

From Middle English officer, from Anglo-Norman officer, officier, from Old French officer, Late Latin officiarius (“official”), from Latin officium (“office”) + -ārius (“-er”). By surface analysis, office + -er.

en:a contraction of the term "commissioned officer"

(colloquial, military) A commissioned officer.


SEC

S.E.C. (alternative)
S. E. C. (alternative)

“Anyway, Kaspersky took her story to the SEC. I’m sorry, it’s rude to throw obscure acronyms around. I mean the Securities and Exchange Commission. They’re the people who look after my industry.” Vincent knew what the SEC was, because she made an effort to follow the financial news, but she only nodded.

2020, Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel, Picador (2021), page 71:

Burr sold $1.65 million in stock on February 13, 2020, previous court filings by the SEC revealed.

2023 January 6, Manu Raju and Devan Cole, “SEC closes insider trading probe into former Republican senator”, in CNN:

Securities and Exchange Commission
w:Securities and Exchange Commission

(US, government, finance) Initialism of Securities and Exchange Commission.


lily

lilies (plural)
lilly (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion). See there for more.

(heraldry) The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.


strip

en-noun

strip (countable and uncountable, plural strips)

Brill Publishers
en:strip (disambiguation)

From alteration of stripe or from Middle Low German strippe, of uncertain ultimate origin, perhaps derived from a lost strong verb Proto-Germanic *strīpaną, with no clear cognates outside of Germanic except for Irish sríab (“line, stripe”).

(fencing) The playing area, roughly 14 meters by 2 meters.


defense

defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses)

defenses (plural)
defence (alternative British)

From Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering. The verb is from the noun.

obrana

argument in support or justification of something

Department of Defense

(government, military, euphemistic) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.


corridor

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

Borrowed from French corridor, from Italian corridore (“long passage”) (= corridoio), from correre (“to run”).

(military, historical, rare) The covered way lying round the whole compass of the fortifications of a place.


cutter

→ Catalan: cúter

→ Korean: 커터 (keoteo)

From Middle English cutter, cuttere, kutter. By surface analysis, cut + -er.

(wrestling) A three-quarters facelock bulldog move in which the attacker drives the opponent's head into the mat while falling onto their back.


radiant

en-adj

radiant (comparative more radiant, superlative most radiant)

more radiant (comparative)
most radiant (superlative)
radient (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English radyant, from Latin radiāns, radiantis, present participle of radiāre (“to emit rays or beams”).

the sun radiant;  a crown radiant

(heraldry) Giving off rays; said of a bearing.


woods

(military, attributive) For chemical behavior purposes, trees in full leaf (coniferous or medium-dense deciduous forests).


airspace

en-noun

airspace (countable and uncountable, plural airspaces)

airspaces (plural)
air space (alternative)

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

Various European countries transferred the aviation control of their adjoining airspace to Eurocontrol, while each retaining legal jurisdiction.

Haines has previous experience of dealing with a hugely disruptive crisis. He said: "I left the railway in 2008 and went to the Civil Aviation Authority. And within a few months I was in the middle of an Icelandic volcanic storm. Eyafjallajokull closed airspace across northern Europe.

2020 March 25, “Network News: Railway working with government to combat crisis”, in Rail, page 7:

During the war, Israel quickly took control of much of Iran's airspace, and attacked its military infrastructure. Top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and the army were swiftly killed.

2025 June 26, Kasra Naji, “When Iran's supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation”, in BBC:

(politics, aviation) A specified portion of the atmosphere, especially that under the technical aviation control and/or jurisdiction of a particular state over which territory (and territorial waters) it lies.

(εθνικός) εναέριος χώρος m ((ethnikós) enaérios chóros, literally “(national) airspace”)


declare

en-verb

declare (third-person singular simple present declares, present participle declaring, simple past and past participle declared)

declares (present singular third-person)
declaring (participle present)
declared (participle past)
declared (past)
declare (infinitive)
declare (first-person present singular)
declared (first-person past singular)
declare (present second-person singular)
declarest (archaic present second-person singular)
declared (past second-person singular)
declaredst (archaic past second-person singular)
declares (present singular third-person)
declareth (archaic present singular third-person)
declared (past singular third-person)
declare (plural present)
declared (past plural)
declare (present subjunctive)
declared (past subjunctive)
declare (imperative present)
declaring (participle present)
declared (participle past)

From Middle English declaren, from Old French declarer, from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear”), from dē- + clārus (“clear”).

декларирам

to make outstanding debts, e.g. taxes, payable.

Houghton and Sunderland South was the first constituency to declare in the 2015 general election.

(intransitive, politics) For a constituency in an election to officially announce the result


bomber

As many as 100,000 Japanese people were killed and another million injured, most of them civilians, when more than 300 American B-29 bombers dropped 1,500 tons of firebombs on the Japanese capital that night.

2020 March 7, Brad Lendon and Emiko Jozuka, “History’s deadliest air raid happened in Tokyo during World War II and you’ve probably never heard of it”, in CNN:

B-2 bombers are the only plane capable of carrying the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which experts have highlighted as the only type of bomb potentially capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Each B-2 bomber is able to carry two of these “bunker buster” bombs, which weigh an impressive 30,000 pounds each.

2025 June 21, Thomas Bordeaux, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, “US moves B-2 bombers as Trump weighs Iran options”, in CNN:

(aviation, military) A military aircraft designed to carry and drop bombs.

chidí naatʼáʼiʼtsoh beeʼeldǫǫh bikǫʼ neiyéhé


tertiary

English numerals#Ordinal numbers
Lay Carmelites
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Saint-Étienne Cathedral
University of Cambridge

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from the Latin tertiārius (“of the third part or rank”), from tertius (“third”) (from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós, whence English third) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French tertiaire.

bor

A gigaton-scale weapon would of necessity be a three-stage design (incorporating a fusion tertiary - likely with its own massive fission tamper - in addition to the fission primary and fission-jacketed fusion secondary), as a reasonably-sized primary would likely have difficulty imploding to ignition the enormous secondary that would be required to reach a one-gigaton yield with a two-stage thermonuclear.

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon

(military) A large stage in some extremely powerful thermonuclear weapons (resembling a greatly-enlarged secondary) which is compressed by the explosion of the secondary until ignition of nuclear fusion takes place, in much the same manner as the secondary is imploded by the primary, and which can allow for the attainment of yields of many tens or even hundreds of megatons, and likely even greater; not used in modern weapons due to a greater focus on the accurate use of sub-megaton weapons, the tremendous size of weapons incorporating a tertiary, and the lack of targets whose destruction would necessitate the use of a three-stage weapon.


basic

The drill sergeants gave him hell in basic.

When I shipped out for basic, the Orbital Defense Grid was all theory and politics.

2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: The Armory:


Casey

en-proper noun

Casey (countable and uncountable, plural Caseys)

Anglicisation of an Irish surname Ó Cathasaigh (“descendant of (a person named) Watchful”).

wn:Planned Parenthood v. Casey
wn:Planned Parenthood v. Casey#English

(US, law, US politics, informal, uncountable) Ellipsis of wn:Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed the right to having an abortion; and reaffirmed the existence of a right to privacy under due process following the 14th Amendment.


relief

en-noun

relief (countable and uncountable, plural reliefs)

From Italian rilievo, from rilevare (“to raise”), from Latin relevō (“to raise”).

(heraldry) The supposed projection of a charge from the surface of a field, indicated by shading on the sinister and lower sides.


bunker

→ Catalan: búnquer

desctree

→ German: Bunker
→ Polish: bunkier
→ Romanian: buncăr

The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 6.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5).
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

(military) A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.


blank

en-adj

blank (comparative blanker or more blank, superlative blankest or most blank)

blanker (comparative)
more blank (comparative)
blankest (superlative)
most blank (superlative)

Belizean Creole: blank

From Middle English blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Anglo-Norman blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Old French blanc, feminine blanche, from Frankish *blank (“gleaming, white, blinding”), from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“white, bright, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Akin to Old High German blanch (“shining, bright, white”) (German blank), Old English blanc (“white, grey”), blanca (“white steed”), Spanish blanco. More at blink, blind, blanch. Doublet of blanc.

cog

The recruits were issued blank rounds for a training exercise.

(military) Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.


blank

It was an unloaded gun that fired only blanks.

(firearms) Ellipsis of blank cartridge [since the 19th century].


deplorable

/dɪˈplɔːɹəbl̩/

PIE word
 *de
The adjective is borrowed from French déplorable (“lamentable, regrettable”), or from its etymon Late Latin dēplōrābilis + English -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant to, suitable to’). Dēplōrābilis is derived from Latin dēplōrō (“to bemoan, complain about; to bewail, lament, deplore”) + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while dēplōrō is from dē- (intensifying prefix) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain; to lament, deplore”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). By surface analysis, deplore + -able.
The noun is derived from the adjective. Sense 2 refers to a campaign speech by the American politician and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (born 1947) during the 2016 United States presidential election calling half of the supporters of her Republican opponent Donald Trump (born 1946) a “basket of deplorables”.

der

He [Donald Trump] did not say who “the guys” were—but [John Maguire] Dowd knew he meant the Trump base, the crowds at his rallies, the Fox News watchers, the deplorables.

2018, Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 355:

Trump's fate, [Steve] Bannon declared, rested with the deplorables, who had to be brought to the kind of fearful emotional pitch that would get them to the polls.

2019 June 4, Michael Wolff, “McCain, Woodward, Anonymous”, in Siege: Trump Under Fire, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

The self-image of the deplorables is that of the honest, hardworkin' people of the Christian American heartland and South who have been screwed by Washington, D.C., and the coastal elites since the dawn of time.

2020, Rick Wilson, Running against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump—And Democrats from Themselves, New York, N.Y.: Crown Forum, Crown Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 265:

(specifically US politics, derogatory, neologism) A supporter of Donald Trump.


Kremlinology

Like the Kremlinology of the cold war, the unpacking of Nasrallah’s careful ambiguities is as much art as science. Was he smiling more, some asked last week, as others sought to identify the audiences for different parts of his messaging.

2024 January 7, “Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Iran … how far could war in the Middle East spread?”, in the Guardian:

(politics) The study of the internal politics of the high members of the government of the USSR.

(by extension, politics) The study of the internal politics of any powerful and secretive organization.


Charlie

en-noun

Charlie (usually uncountable, plural Charlies)

Charlies (plural)
Charley (alternative)
charley (alternative)
charlie (alternative)

I learned a thing or two from Charlie, don't you know? You better stay away from Copperhead Road.

en:Victor Charlie, Viet Cong, or sometimes any enemy

(military slang) The Vietcong (Victor Charlie); (by extension, sometimes) any enemy.


uniform

Borrowed from Middle French uniforme, from Latin uniformis.

Skeletor held the gun against Speedo’s head, held Speedo between himself and the cops who stood, motionless and futile, where they’d stopped. Robinson, Lindfors, Carter, three uniforms and I watched helpless as Skeletor, dragging Speedy with him, inched out the gate, started backing down the hill.

1996, S. J. Rozan, Concourse, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 265:

Four men flew out of it, three uniforms and one in what appeared to be an English riding outfit—boots, whip, the whole nine yards. […] He called out, “I’m the superintendent of police.”

2001, Christine Wiltz, The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld, Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 113:

Eyes to the front now and there was the body, a lump of black and brown. Moon counted three uniforms and a photographer, the medical examiner and his assistant.

2004, Will Christopher Baer, Penny Dreadful, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, →ISBN, page 81:

(law enforcement) A uniformed police officer (as opposed to a detective).


LP

LP (countable and uncountable, plural LPs)

(military) Abbreviation of listening post.


LP

(US, politics, uncountable) The Libertarian Party of the United States.

Liberal Party
w:Liberal Party (Philippines)

(Philippine politics) Initialism of Liberal Party.


FOC

full operational capability
full operational capability#English

(military) Initialism of full operational capability.


blackjack

blackjack (countable and uncountable, plural blackjacks)

blackjacks (plural)
black jack (alternative)
black-jack (alternative)

→ Polish: blackjack

The pain is sometimes like the dull, heavy thud of being hit with a lead-filled blackjack; other times like a wizard is reaching deep below the skin and ripping muscles, tendons, and nerves.

2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press,, →ISBN, page 131:

(weaponry) A small, flat, blunt, usually leather-covered weapon loaded with heavy material such as lead or ball bearings, intended to inflict a blow to the head that renders the victim unconscious with diminished risk of lasting cranial trauma.


cartridge

cartridges (plural)
cartage (alternative)

/ˈkɑɹtɹɪd͡ʒ/

Corruption of earlier cartage, from French cartouche, from Italian cartoccio (“roll of paper”), from Medieval Latin carta (“paper”). Doublet of cartouche.

Cartridge (firearms)
Magnetic tape data storage
cartridge

Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride.

1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

(firearms) The package consisting of the bullet, primer, and casing containing gunpowder; a round of ammunition.


victual

en-verb

victual (third-person singular simple present victuals, present participle victualing or victualling, simple past and past participle victualed or victualled)

victuals (present singular third-person)
victualing (participle present)
victualling (participle present)
victualed (participle past)
victualed (past)
victualled (participle past)
victualled (past)
victual (infinitive)
victual (first-person present singular)
victualed (first-person past singular)
victualled (first-person past singular)
victual (present second-person singular)
victuallest (present second-person singular)
victualed (past second-person singular)
victualled (past second-person singular)
victuals (present singular third-person)
victualleth (present singular third-person)
victualed (past singular third-person)
victualled (past singular third-person)
victual (plural present)
victualed (past plural)
victualled (past plural)
victual (present subjunctive)
victualed (past subjunctive)
victualled (past subjunctive)
victual (imperative present)
victualing (participle present)
victualling (participle present)
victualed (participle past)
victualled (participle past)
victuall (alternative)
vittle (alternative)

From Middle English vitailen (“to provide (someone, a castle, a ship, etc., or oneself) with supplies of food, drink, or other needs; (figuratively) to load (a ship with troops and materiel); to fortify, nourish”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman vitailer, vitailler, and Old French vitailler, victuailler [and other forms], from vitaile, vitaille, victaille (“food, provisions, victuals”) (see further at etymology 1) + -er (a variant of -ier (suffix forming infinitives of first conjugation verbs)).

nb...

fetaile, vetaile, vetaille, vetayle, vetele, vitail, vitaile, vitaille, vitale, vitayle, vitaylle, vitel, vitell, vitele, vittail, vittaile, vittall, vitule, vytaile, vytaille, vytale, vytayle, vytaylle, vytel, (Scotland) wittale, wittule, vittale

[T]hy louing voyage / Is but for two moneths victuall’d: […]

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 207, column 2:

Spinola [Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquess of Los Balbases] continueth in his trenches before Breda, and victualeth and strengtheneth Breda, which being done, it is thought he will besiege Bergen op Zoom.

1625 July, Walter Yonge, edited by George Roberts, The Diary of Walter Yonge, Esq. […], Written at Colyton and Axminster, Co. Devon, from 1604 to 1628, London: Printed for the Camden Society, by J[ohn] B[oyer] Nichols and Son, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 85:

He victualleth his soldiers during the time they are upon the guard, either about the palace or abroad in the wars: whereas it is contrary in the King's country; for the Cingalese soldiers bear their own expenses.

1681, Robert Knox, “[Nineteen Years’ Captivity in the Kingdom of Conde Uda in the Highlands of Ceylon, […].] Concerning Some Other Nations, and Chiefly European that Now Live in the Island. The Portuguese and Dutch.”, in Edward Arber, compiler, An English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature, volume I, London: […] E. Arber, […], published 15 November 1877, →OCLC, part II, stanza XXXIX, page 435:

I could here ſet down the very number of Acres that would bear Bread and Drink, Corn, together with Fleſh, Butter, and Cheeſe, ſufficient to Victual nine Millions of Perſons, as they are Victualled in Ships and regular Families; but I ſhall only ſay in general that 12,000,00. will do it, […]

1683, J. S., “[A Discourse of Trade. […].] That the People and Territories of the King of England are Naturaly as Considerable for Wealth and Strength as Those of France.”, in The Present State of England. Part III. and Part IV. […], London: […] [R. Holt] for William Whitwood, […], →OCLC, part IV, page 59:

It was then, among other proof to the ſame purpoſe, given in evidence by a Virginia merchant, that in March, 1763, he had victualled his ſhips for twenty-four or twenty-five ſhillings the hundred weight of beef, which he conſidered as the ordinary price; […]

1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of the Rent of Land”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book I (Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labour, […]), I (Of the Produce of Land which Always Affords Rent), page 189:

These veterans were commissioned to defend the place to the last extremity; and, as due time had been given for preparation, the town was victualled for fifteen months' provisions, and even the crops growing in the vega had been garnered before their prime, to save them from the hands of the enemy.

1838, William H[ickling] Prescott, “War of Granada.—Conquest of Baza.—Submission of El Zagal. 1487–1489.”, in History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. […], 3rd edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt, →OCLC, pages 308–309:

In 1512 an agreement was made between him [Henry VIII] and his admiral, Sir Edward Howard, which affords an interesting view of the manner in which fleets of war were then maintained. […] It was also stipulated that, "forasmuch as our Sovereign lord at his costs and charges victualeth the said army and navy, the said admiral shall therefore reserve for the king the one-half of all gains and winnings of the war,[…]"

1857 March, I. P. W., “Historical Sketches of British Commerce.—No. 3. A.D. 1400–1600.”, in The Sailor’s Magazine, volume 29, number 7, New York, N.Y.: The American Seamen’s Friend Society, […], →OCLC, page 194, column 2:

(transitive, reflexive, chiefly military, nautical) To provide (military troops, a place, a ship, etc., or oneself) with a stock of victuals or food; to provision.

zásobit potravinami

to provide (military troops, a place, a ship, etc., or oneself) with a stock of victuals or food — see also provision

[Letter from Sir William Drury to Sir William Cecil, 3d April 1568 (Julian calendar).] The Lord Fleming [i.e., John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming], notwithstanding he still victualleth and maketh provision, he hath offered three personages of as great livehood as himself to enter caution and surety unto the [James Stewart, 1st] Earl of Moray, that he shall only hold the place at the devotion and service of the young King, and to no other.

1568 April 13, William Drury, “Containing Matters of State from the Earl of Moray’s Acceptation of the Regency in the Month of August 1567, till the Queen’s Retreat into England in the Month of May 1568”, in Robert Keith, edited by John Parker Lawson, History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, from the Beginning of the Reformation to the Year 1568. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [Alexander Laurie and Co.] for the Spottiswoode Society, published 1845, →OCLC, page 792:

For though we took a little Flower hard by, yet the ſame Guide which told us of that Ship would have conducted us where we might had ſtore of Beef and Maiz: but inſtead thereof we lost both our time and the opportunity of providing our ſelves, and ſo were forced to be victualling when we ſhould have been cruizing off Cape Corrientes in expectation of the Manila Ship.

1697, William Dampier, chapter IX, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 260:

A letter from Lt.-Gen. [John] Burgoyne to Maj.-Gen. [William] Heath, Jan. 24. 1778. […] [T]he fleet was fully victualled for four months, for the whole of the land-army and ſeamen.

1779 March, “America”, in The Scots Magazine; or, General Repository of Literature, History, and Politics, volume XLI (volume , New Series), Edinburgh: […] A. Murray and J. Cochran, →OCLC, pages 143–145:

(intransitive, chiefly military, nautical) To lay in or procure food supplies.


bearing

From Middle English bering, beringe, berynge, equivalent to bear + -ing.

Holonyms: shield, escutcheon

Jos Sedley's open carriage, with its magnificent armorial bearings.

1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo:

(heraldry) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms.


leapfrog

en-verb

leapfrog (third-person singular simple present leapfrogs, present participle leapfrogging, simple past and past participle leapfrogged)

leapfrogs (present singular third-person)
leapfrogging (participle present)
leapfrogged (participle past)
leapfrogged (past)
leap-frog (alternative)

Sam Hood
State Library of New South Wales

In late November and early December, General [William] Rosecrans juggled his units in preparation for the upcoming drive against [Braxton] Bragg. Among the changes, Sill's brigade relinquished its position in the advance of the army as other units leap-frogged south to the head of the army.

2012 December 4, James Genco, “Rosecrans Forges His Army”, in Into the Tornado of War: A History of the Twenty-First Michigan Infantry in the Civil War, Bloomington, Ind.: Abbott Press, →ISBN:

(transitive, military) To advance by engaging the enemy with one unit while another moves further forward.

koukata

military: to advance by engaging the enemy with one unit while another moves further forward


wtf

(military slang, Internet slang, text messaging, vulgar) Alternative letter-case form of WTF.


flyer

→ Finnish: flaijeri

→ French: flyer

→ German: Flyer

→ Korean: 플라이어 (peullaieo)

→ Portuguese: flyer

From fly + -er (agent noun suffix).
With regard to the sense "female kangaroo": because of the high speed at which they move.

(firearms) A stray shot away from the group on a target.


valet

Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.

der

(professional wrestling) A female performer in professional wrestling, acting as either a manager or personal chaperone; often used to attract and titillate male members of the audience.

خادمَة

a female performer in professional wrestling


passé

From French passé (“passed”, past participle of passer (“to pass”)).

bor

(fencing) An attack that passes the target without hitting.


sergeant

sergeants (plural)
serjant (alternative)
sergeaunt (alternative)
serjeant (alternative)

From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.
The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ was a regular development in Old French. Compare cavea > cage, salvia > sage.
The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.
The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).

(military) A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.


effective

From French effectif, from Latin effectīvus (“productive; effective”), from efficiō (“I make; I bring about”), equivalent to effect + -ive.

der

The Army of the West reached Corinth sometime after the battle of Shiloh. We were 15,000 effectives, and brought Beauregard's effective force up to 45,000 men.

1876, Dabney Herndon Maury, Southern Historical Society Papers: Volume 2, Number 4, Recollections of the Elkhorn Campaign:


velvet

en-adj

velvet (comparative more velvet, superlative most velvet)

more velvet (comparative)
most velvet (superlative)

From Middle English velvet, velwet, veluet, from Old Occitan veluet, from Late Latin villutittus, diminutive of villūtus, from Latin villus (“shaggy hair, tuft of hair”). Cognate with French velours.

uder

What at the time of the initial agreement of Yeltsin, Shushkevich and Kravchuk to join together in a new 'Commonwealth of Independent States' had seemed like a reconstitution of the lands of ancient Rus, quickly turned out to be, in the words of the leading Russian-Ukrainian reformer Aleksandr Tsipko, merely a 'velvet disintegration'.

1995, Amin Saikal, William Maley, Russia in Search of Its Future, page 214:

The disintegration always took place within internal borders, whether it was velvet, as in the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, or bloody, like Yugoslavia's still unfinished break-up.

2006, The Analyst: Central and Eastern European Review:

If the Sudanese can resolve the final steps in a velvet divorce and move in a more democratic direction, that will serve as a heartening "ideal model of change" […]

2011, David Gillies, Elections in Dangerous Places: Democracy and the Paradoxes of Peacebuilding, page 248:

“I was once invited to give a speech about the attempt to topple Iran's political system through a ‘velvet revolution,’ ” says Etaat in the debate, “but we all know that ‘velvet revolutions’ always occur in dictatorships.”

2011, Javad Etaat quoted in Hooman Majd, The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge, page 39

There is such a thing as a velvet divorce: if Canada or Belgium were to split apart, the consequences would be unfortunate but manageable.

2014, Dana H. Allin, NATO's Balkan Interventions, page 97:

(politics) Peaceful; carried out without violence; especially as pertaining to the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia.


unicameral

Those who criticize bicameralism stress that a unicameral legislature will be more efficient and faster in taking decisions.

2002, Levent Gönenç, Prospects for Constitutionalism in Post-Communist Countries, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, page 341:

[W]e could define a national parliament broadly as a Member State's central representative assembly which elects or at least dismisses the national government, and which holds it to account. This seems to be a robust definition comprising the unicameral parliaments, the lower chambers of the bicameral parliaments and the senates with censure powers in the EU Member States.

2006, Philipp Kiiver, The National Parliaments in the European Union: A Critical View on EU Constitution-building, The Hague: Kluwer Law International, →ISBN, page 21:

The judicial branch of government in Norden is framed around the conception of the sovereignty of parliament. There is room for some independent legal review by the ordinary courts in Norway only. No country has a Constitutional Court, though human rights have constitutional protection. The five countries have unicameral National Assemblies. All forms of public power derive ultimately from Acts of parliament, which principle of legislative supremacy has not prohibited a fairly extensive system of local government autonomy, especially in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

2008, Josep M. Colomer, editor, Comparative European Politics, 3rd edition, Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 11:

In 1951 New Zealand's parliament was converted into a unicameral one with the abolition of the upper, nominated chamber, the Legislative Council.

2009, Clyve Jones, “Epilogue”, in Clyve Jones, editor, A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland & Scotland, Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, →ISBN, page 364:

(government) Of, or having, a single legislative chamber.


cabinet

From cabin + -et, influenced by French cabinet.
In sense of “a government group”, compare salon, also named for a room used to gather.

Lincoln had a great deal of trouble with his Cabinet because some of them got it into their heads that they, and not the President, were the policy-makers. James K. Polk had the same difficulty with his Cabinet. Franklin Roosevelt never had any difficulty with his Cabinet for the simple reason that he himself, in my opinion, spent too much time doing the work that should have been delegated to the Cabinet.

1955, Harry S Truman, Memoirs of Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions, volume I, Signet Books, published 1965, →OCLC, →OL, page 364:

(politics, often capitalized) In parliamentary and some other systems of government, the group of ministers responsible for creating government policy and for overseeing the departments comprising the executive branch.

The executive branch of Kentucky state government is structured on a program cabinet system consisting of 14 program cabinets, each headed by a secretary, who is appointed by the Governor. The program cabinets listed below and the agencies within each cabinet are designated in the statutes.

2003, A Handbook for Gubernatorial Transition in Kentucky, Legislative Research Commission, page 49:

(Kentucky) A cabinet-level agency in the executive branch; that is, an agency headed by a member of the governor's cabinet.


extend

en-verb

extend (third-person singular simple present extends, present participle extending, simple past and past participle extended)

extends (present singular third-person)
extending (participle present)
extended (participle past)
extended (past)

From Middle English extenden, from Anglo-Norman extendre, estendre, from Latin extendō (“I stretch out”).

Two years later, back to amtracs, this time at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, and I liked it so much I extended.

1993, The Leatherneck, volume 76, page xxxvi:

(intransitive, US, military) To reenlist for a further period.


coop

coop (third-person singular simple present coops, present participle cooping, simple past and past participle cooped)

coops (present singular third-person)
cooping (participle present)
cooped (participle past)
cooped (past)

Dutch Bantam
Marshall, Texas
Oxford English Dictionary
coop

From Middle English cǒupe, cupe, from Old English cȳpe (“basket, cask”) or possibly from Middle Dutch cûpe (compare modern Dutch kuip, Saterland Frisian kupe, Middle Low German kûpe), from Old Saxon *kûpa, côpa (“cask”) (compare Middle Low German kôpe, Old High German chôfa, chuofa, Middle High German kuofe, modern regional German Kufe f (“cask”)), probably from Latin cūpa, Medieval Latin cōpa (“cask”) (thus a doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that if the word is from Latin, “it is difficult to account for the umlaut in Old English cýpe”.

In 1819, one of those municipal contests for the election of the Common Council happened, and it was attended with that profuse expenditure of money in direct bribery, cooping, treating, and in short in all the modes of demoralizing the classes exposed to such influence, which were the disgraceful distinctions of those elections.

1838, Richard Mackenzie Bacon, A Memoir of the Life of Edward, Third Baron Suffield, Norwich, Norfolk: Not published; printed by Bacon, Kinnebrook, and Bacon, →OCLC, page 70:

At Cambridge in the 1835 election it was reported that 'the worst features of the old system were maintained of cooping and taking away voters and keeping them drunk'. Cooping of the more unpleasant kind consisted in abducting the supporters of an opponent and keeping them out of the way until the election was over. Someone who had contested the borough of Lewes at more than one election remarked that 'one very expensive part of the Lewes election is putting the town in a state of siege, which we are forced to do to prevent carrying off of voters'. The first variety of cooping was of course often a safeguard against the second.

1953, Norman Gash, Politics in the Age of Peel: A Study in the Technique of Parliamentary Representation, 1830–1850, London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, →OCLC:

(transitive, intransitive, politics, historical) To unlawfully confine one or more voters to prevent them from casting their ballots in an election.

COOPING. The term cooping refers to police officers sleeping on duty. […] One critic of two-man squad cars suggests that this is a recipe for cooping, since one officer can drive while the other sleeps.

2001, Mitchel P. Roth, Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, pages 76–77:

One of his first, and most groundbreaking, stories was about "cooping," police slang for sleeping on duty. It was sparked when Burnham interviewed Jim Curran, then a New York City policeman, who referred to someone being "in the coop," Burnham recalled. […] Burnham heard that every day thousands upon thousands of New York police supposedly working the night shift were actually sleeping, stashed in coops all over the city, only to be awakened if a crime was discovered. […] Cooping was a natural result and a dramatic example of a city agency misusing its resources.

2010, Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury USA, →ISBN, page 155:

The majority of policemen, […] act so as to save the public from harm, i.e., they shun their duties. Instead of being up and about, interfering with the rights of the people, many policemen choose the honorable way out—they coop. Cooping (sleeping in some out-of-the-way place while on duty) was a situation which enraged [Frank] Serpico. In the finest tradition of the busybody who insists on running other people's lives, Serpico insisted on being out on the streets at all hours, stopping a prostitute here, ambushing a gambler there, harassing drug merchants everywhere.

2012, Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable: The Pimp, Prostitute, Scab, Slumlord, Libeler, Moneylender, and Other Scapegoats in the Rogue's Gallery of American Society, Baltimore, Md.: Laissez Faire Books, →ISBN:

This cynicism may lead to an increased number of job actions and deviance, such as the "blue flu" or "cooping."

2012, Jeffrey Ian Ross, Policing Issues: Challenges and Controversies, Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 66:

Cooping-prone areas are those locations where officers tend to engage in non-police activities that interrupt patrols in an unauthorized manner. A variety of such locations can be surmised, such as spending time at home or other locations not in the officer's area of responsibility while on duty. The department provided the example of officers parking in desolate areas to sleep.

2015, Steven V. Gilbert, Barbara A. Gilbert, Police Corruption in the NYPD: From Knapp to Mollen, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, pages 116–117:

(intransitive, law enforcement, slang) Of a police officer: to sleep or relax while on duty.


KKK

The Philippine sense is from Tagalog KKK.

[…] 1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S.

2015, Heidi Nast, “Pit Bulls, Slavery, and Whiteness in the Mid- to Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S.”, in Rosemary-Claire Collard, Kathryn Gillespie, editors, Critical Animal Geographies, page 138:

The “over” and “under” prefixes, however, seem only to be applied to things that we, as a culture or collective, determine to be tolerable in the first place. Each prefix transmits a deviation in what is or can be tolerated. For example, when was the last time you heard a KKK member described as “overracist?” Why don’t we speak of law-abiding citizens as “undercriminal?” When was the last time you spoke of “underviolence” or “overcomfortable?” The “over” and “under” is only applied to those things we already understand as manageable or expected.

(Can we date this quote?), Chris Christou, “There is No Such Thing as Overtourism”, in The End of Tourism:

(US politics) Initialism of Ku Klux Klan.


concealment

en-noun

concealment (countable and uncountable, plural concealments)

From Old French concelement (“concealment, secrecy”). By surface analysis, conceal + -ment.

uder

(military) protection from observation or surveillance.


surveillance

en-noun

surveillance (countable and uncountable, plural surveillances)

Unadapted borrowing from French surveillance (“a watching over, overseeing, supervision”), from surveiller (“to watch, oversee”), from sur- (“over”) + veiller (“to watch”), from Middle French, from Old French veillier (“to stay awake”), from Latin vigilāre (“to be watchful”). More at vigilant.

ubor

The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.

2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued.

2019 January 31, Ian Bogost, quoting Tim Cook, “Apple’s Empty Grandstanding About Privacy”, in The Atlantic:

And that sight will become more common in the coming years, as the city’s police pursue an ambitious campaign to install thousands of cameras to elevate their surveillance capabilities.

2024 October 5, Jessie Yeung, “Hong Kong plans to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Critics say it’s more proof the city is moving closer to China”, in CNN:

(military, espionage) Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.


maverick

Named after Texan lawyer and politician Samuel Maverick (1803–1870), who refused to brand his cattle. For probable origin and meaning, see Maverick.
The poker noun sense (“a queen and a jack as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em”) may be from the theme song of the US Western television series Maverick (1957–1962), which says of the eponymous protagonist that “[g]amblin’ is his game” and that he is “livin’ on jacks and queens”.

named-after

They had been working for and with each other for a very long period and their tolerance for “mavericks” was very high, especially if these mavericks continued to get promoted.

2013, John T. Kuehn, “The Navy, Treaties, and Innovation”, in Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 9:

(military) A person in the military who became an officer by going to college while on active duty as an enlisted person.