Mr President

(US, politics) Nonstandard form of Mr. President.


quint

A musical or piquet term, or a quintuplet

From Middle French quint, from Latin quīntus. Doublet of quintus.

(firefighting) A vehicle used by firefighters that combines the capabilities of a fire engine and a fire truck, having the ability to provide vertical access as well as pump water to fight a fire.

(fencing) quinte; the fifth fencer in parrying or attacking position.


ermines

ermins (alternative)
ermynes (alternative)

Attested in this form (with s) since at least 1562, in Legh's Accedens of Armorie, which defines it ("Sable poudred with Argent, … Ermines is his proper name") and contrasts it with both ermine and erminois. Related to ermine, but the derivation is unclear; the OED suggests "possibly [from] OF. herminès, pl. of herminet" (a supposed diminutive of hermine); modern French calls the fur contre-hermine.
The Fifteenth Century Book of Arms (c. 1460) uses ermyne in a way that sometimes contrasts with ermyn (“ermine”) ("John Garther beryth of ix pecys ermyñ and ermyne"); The Ancestor says the image of that blazon "shows the furs as those usually called at this date erminees (or erminee) and ermine—erminees being ermine with the colour reversed. It is evident that the maker of this roll, whose blazonry is sadly to seek, was uncertain by what name to call the ermine with the black field and white tails. On a later page of this MS. [fo. 59] we find ermine described as ermyñ and its reverse as ermyne)." The Middle English Dictionary defines that use of ermyne as "having the fur ermines, consisting of black with white spots (instead of black on white)", although they derive it from, and it appears to be, erminé ("ermined") instead, hence the Fifteenth Century Book also records a bend "sabyll ermyne" and a lion sable with "ermyne appon the sabyll".

He beareth Or, a Cheuron Checkey Ermin & Ermines.

1572, John Bossewell, Workes of Armorie, II, 129:

(heraldry): In blazon, coloured with a heraldic fur of a black field with white spots; counter-ermine.

kontrahermelin

of black colour with white spots on a coat of arms


blackouts

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

[…] her blackouts. When the Officer inspected everything went well. The only thing was that two of our WAAF were not wearing any knickers at all!

1995, Beryl E. Escott, Our Wartime Days: The WAAF in World War 2, page 35:

We had what were called the ‘blackouts’ and ‘twilights’. The blackouts were a dark sort of long-legged knickers, dark wintry ones, and the twilights were a lighter blue in a sort of Celanese material.

2011 December 13, Peter Liddle, Captured Memories, 1930–1945: Across the Threshold of War: The Thirties and the War, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(military, slang, historical) Long, dark-coloured underwear worn by the WAAF in winter.


twilights

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

(military, slang, historical) Long, light-coloured underwear worn by the WAAF.


cha-cha

(Philippines, politics, colloquial) Abbreviation of charter change.


hipe

(wrestling) A throw in which the wrestler lifts his opponent from the ground, swings him to one side, knocks up his nearer thigh from the back with the knee, and throws him on his back.


hipe

en-verb

hipe (third-person singular simple present hipes, present participle hiping, simple past and past participle hiped)

hipes (present singular third-person)
hiping (participle present)
hiped (participle past)
hiped (past)
hype (alternative)

(wrestling, ambitransitive) To throw (an opponent) using this technique.


uppercut

(boxing) A swinging blow aimed upwards at the opponent's chin.


scooper

(aviation, firefighting, informal) A type of air tanker waterbomber airplane, which is capable of landing on water, and directly scooping up water to fill its tanks, by skimming the water's surface with scoops delopyed.


whitewall

A weird elongated creature with a whitewall haircut who had the big head as well as hands and fat thighs of the acromegalic, he was an uninhibited cross-dresser suffering from Gender Identity Disorder who constantly appeared in frocks.

2007, Alexander Theroux, Laura Warholic: Or, The Sexual Intellectual:

A blond kid with a whitewall haircut and long, thin sideburns came over to stand beside the kid with the wimpy Roman do.

With a whitewall crew cut, high and tight.

2016, Lee Child, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back: A Jack Reacher Novel:

(US, military) Describing a hair cut with a closely cropped back and sides and the hair on the top of the head left longer.


whitewall

(US, military) A hair cut with a closely cropped back and sides and the hair on the top of the head left longer.


(US, military, historical) Cox-Klemin A-1 Air Ambulance, never mass produced.

(US, military) Skyraider single engine general-purpose attack aircraft.

(US, military) Personnel section of an air force staff.


forlorn hope

/fəˌlɔːn ˈhəʊp/

Peninsular War
Siege of San Sebastián
William Barnes Wollen

Sense 1 (“troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack”) is a mistranslation of Dutch verloren hoop (literally “lost troop”): verloren (“lost”, adjective) + hoop (“(obsolete) unit of soldiers, contingent; heap, pile, stack”), mistaking the latter word for the homograph hoop (“hope”). Verloren is the past participle of verliezen (“to lose (possession); to be defeated, to lose (a game)”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to cease to have, lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”) + *lewH- (“to cut, sever; to separate; to loosen; to lose”)), while hoop is ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (“a crowd, throng; a heap, pile”), from Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó- or *keHup-.
Sense 2 (“dangerous or hopeless venture”) is either an extension of the meaning of sense 1, or from the literal meaning of the words forlorn and hope.

ref

From Archibald Forbes, G[eorge] A[lfred] Henty, Arthur Griffiths [et al.] (1901) Battles of the Nineteenth Century, London: Cassell and Company, →OCLC.

der

Ped[ro]. Stand to your guard ſir, all the devils extant / Are broke upon us, like a cloud of thunder; / There are more women, marching hitherward, / In reſcue of my Miſtris, then ere turn’d taile / At Sturbridge Faire; and I believe, as fiery. / Jaq[ues]. The forlorn-hope’s led by a tanners wife, / I know her by her hide; a deſperate woman: [...]

c. 1609–1622?, John Fletcher, “The Womans Prize: Or, The Tamer Tamed”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene v, page 106, column 1:

For Books and fine Pictures are the Forlorn-hope, as it were, of the Catholick Cloyſters and Convents; and as there are few of the Monks that underſtand either, upon any great Emergency they ſooner chuſe to convert theſe Moveables into Money, than to melt down their ſuperfluous Hoards of Plate; Treaſures which are oftentimes by far the leſs valuable.

1726, J[ohn Durant] Breval, “Franche Comte”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Europe: Relating Chiefly to the History, Antiquities and Geography, of Those Countries though which the Author has Travel’d; […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot […], →OCLC, page 200:

Our Trenches were immediately open'd towards the Dauphin Baſtion, againſt which were planted many Cannon, in order to make a Breach; my ſelf as Probationer being twice put upon the forlorn Hope to facilitate that difficult Piece of Service.

1728, George Carleton, The Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton. From the Dutch War, 1672. in which he Serv’d, to the Conclusion of the Peace at Utrecht, 1713. […], London: […] E[dward] Symon, […], →OCLC, page 23:

[…] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 134:

[Benedict] Arnold, therefore, as usual with him, led the forlorn hope, marching about one hundred yards before the main body.

1880, Isaac N[ewton] Arnold, “Assault upon Quebec”, in The Life of Benedict Arnold; His Patriotism and His Treason, Chicago, Ill.: Jansen, McClurg & Company, →OCLC, page 82:

Lieutenant Templeton of the 76th offered to lead the forlorn hope. [...] So steep, however, was the ascent, and so continuous and well directed the fire upon it by the enemy from the bastion nearest to it, that but few men succeeded in reaching the summit. The first of these was young Templeton, the leader of the forlorn hope, but he was at once shot dead.

1885, G[eorge] B[ruce] Malleson, “Bharatpúr”, in The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 inclusive. […], 2nd edition, London: W[illiam] H. Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 323:

He's the pride of our Vicksburg army. Not afraid of hell. A chivalrous man, a forlorn-hope man.

1901 May, Winston Churchill, “A Strange Meeting”, in The Crisis, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, book III, page 433:

He felt the stress and strain of life, its fevers and sweats and wild insurgences—surely this was the stuff to write about! He wanted to glorify the leaders of forlorn hopes, the mad lovers, the giants that fought under stress and strain, amid terror and tragedy, making life crackle with the strength of their endeavor.

1908 September – 1909 September, Jack London, chapter XIV, in Martin Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published September 1909, →OCLC, page 117:

After exploding a mine, a forlorn hope of fifty English troops rushed out from one of the tunnels and made good their footing upon the ramparts.

1922, George Edmundson, “From the End of the Twelve Years’ Truce to the Peace of Munster, 1621–1648. The Stadholderate of Frederick Henry of Orange.”, in History of Holland (Cambridge Historical Series), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 147:

There will be would-be saviours of a disintegrating society who will refuse to despair of the Present and will lead forlorn hopes in an endeavour to turn the tide and to convert the rout into a fresh advance, without being willing to 'retreat according to plan' for the sake of even temporarily breaking off contact with an enemy who has at any rate momentarily gained the upper hand.

1939, Arnold J[oseph] Toynbee, “The Disintegrations of Civilizations (cont.)”, in A Study of History, volume VI, London: Oxford University Press; Geoffrey Cumberlege, […], published 1955, →OCLC, section C(II)(a) (The Relation between Disintegrating Civilizations and Individuals), page 177:

A detachment of 400 Continental soldiers waited anxiously outside Yorktown on the dark and bone-chilling evening of October 14, 1781. Pangs of uncertainty spread through the ranks, for these men were the advance party, the "forlorn hope," on the attack of the British fortifications at Yorktown.

2001, “The Purple Heart Legacy”, in editorial staff of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Turner Publishing Company, compilers, The Legacy of the Purple Heart, 4th edition, Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 15:

A small troop of soldiers picked to make an advance attack, or the first attack; a storming party.

決死隊 /决死队

[T]o make this realme a praye to al venturers, al ſpoylers, all ſnaphanſes, all forlornehopes, all cormerauntes, all reuenours of the worlde, that wyll inuade this realme, is to ſaye, thou poſſeſſyoner of any landes of this realme, of what degree ſo euer thou be, fro the higheſt to the loweſt, ſhalte be ſlayne and deſtroyed, and thy landes taken frome the by thoſe that wyl haue al for them ſelfes.

1539 April 9, Cuthbert Tunstall, A Sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII. […], London: […] [J. Compton, […]] for T[homas] Rodd, […], published 1823, →OCLC:

(obsolete) In the plural form forlorn hopes: the soldiers collectively making up such a troop; (by extension) a group of reckless adventurers.


little green man

en-noun

little green man (plural little green men)

/ˌlɪtəl ˌɡɹiːn ˈmæn/

կանաչ մարդուկ

humorous: space alien, Martian — see also alien

These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.⁴⁰

2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:

The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.¹⁹⁶

2015, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace, “The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict”, in International Law Studies, US Naval War College, volume 91, number 361, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, page 393:

The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.

2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation:

(geopolitics, euphemistic, usually in the plural) A soldier (wearing green military fatigues) without identification in order to create an air of uncertainty around their allegiance.


LGM

(US, DOD, military) Prefix code for a silo-launched surface-attack guided missile.


horsetail

horsetails (plural)
horse tail (alternative)

From Middle English horsetaile, horstaile, equivalent to horse + tail.

Commanders were distinguished by the number of horsetails carried before them. The sultan had seven, the grand vizier five, and the pashas three, two, or one.

(military) A Turkish standard denoting rank.


initiator

‘This, er, initiator of polonium and lithium, would it be used in an anti-personnel bomb?’ he asked. ‘Oh yes, you could say so, boyo,’ replied the Welshman. ‘An initiator, you see, is what sets off a nuke.’

1984, Frederick Forsyth, The Fourth Protocol, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 301:

(military) A component of a nuclear weapon that produces a burst of neutrons to start the chain reaction.


surmounted

Argent, a fess vert, surmounted by a saltier gules, by the name of Parveis.

1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 75:

(heraldry) Overlaid; denoting a figure when another is laid over it.


seeded

A rose in heraldry is a five-petalled one, and the five leaves and the seeds are often of different tinctures, e.g. A rose Gules barbed and seeded proper. When barbed and seeded proper the barbs or leaves are green and the seeds yellow. Otherwise the barbs and seeds must have their tincture stated.

1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 72–73:

(heraldry, of a rose) Having the stamens / seeds indicated.


dovetailed

(heraldry) Involving a wavy line in the form of triangles, resembling a dovetail.


NOC

NOC (countable and uncountable, plural NOCs)

non-official cover
non-official cover#English

(espionage) Initialism of non-official cover.

(UK politics) Initialism of no overall control.


orle

From Old French (also modern) orle, from orler (“to hem”), or from Vulgar Latin *orula, a diminutive of Latin ora (“edge”), probably from os, oris (“mouth”).

1819, In his hand he bore that singular “abacus”, or staff of office, with which Templars are usually represented, having at the upper end a round plate, on which was engraved the cross of the Order, inscribed within a circle or orle, as heralds term it. — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

(heraldry) A bordure that runs around the outline of a shield without touching the edge.

(heraldry) The wreath, or chaplet, surmounting or encircling the helmet of a knight and bearing the crest; a torse.


toman

tomans (plural)
tumen (alternative)
tomaun (alternative)
tomin (alternative)
touman (alternative)

Borrowed from Classical Persian تومان (tōman), from Mongolian түмэн (tümen).

(historical, military) A division of 10,000 men in the Mongolian army.

түмэн

a division of 10,000 men in the Mongolian army


bezant

bezants (plural)
Bezant (alternative)
basant (alternative)
besant (alternative)
byzant (alternative)
bezaunt (alternative)

From Middle English besaunt, from Old French bezant, nominative bezanz, from Latin byzantius (“of Byzantium”).

One and All is the motto of the County of Cornwall, used below the coat-of-arms, which is a shield embracing fifteen bezants, or golden roundels, on a black ground; [...].

1941 December, “The Why and the Wherefore: Cornish names of G.W.R. locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 575:

(heraldry) A roundel or (that is, a golden circle), the heraldic representation of a gold coin.


ski jump

(military) The ramp at the prow of an aircraft carrier which uses STOVL or STOBAR aircraft.


blue-green

en-adj

blue-green (comparative more blue-green, superlative most blue-green)

more blue-green (comparative)
most blue-green (superlative)

From blue + green.
* (color): Compare with the color called orange in Modern English, which was called geoluread (“yellow-red”) in Old English and Middle English.
* (politics): from blue representing conservatism and green representing environmentalism

(politics) Synonym of ecocapitalist; concerning ecocapitalism.


herstory

en-noun

herstory (countable and uncountable, plural herstories)

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

Wordplay: blend of her + history, derived as though the first syllable in history were his, the male determiner.

(feminism) Any historical writing by or about women.


foot soldier

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

(military) A soldier who fights on foot; an infantryman


chronograph

en-verb

chronograph (third-person singular simple present chronographs, present participle chronographing, simple past and past participle chronographed)

chronographs (present singular third-person)
chronographing (participle present)
chronographed (participle past)
chronographed (past)

/ˈkɹɒ.nə.ɡɹɑːf/

/ˈkɹɑ.nəˌɡɹæf/

From Ancient Greek χρονογράφος (khronográphos, “chronicler”). Equivalent to chrono- + -graph.

uder

(firearms) To make an accurate measurement of the speed of a projectile.


eggbeater

eggbeaters (plural)
egg beater (alternative)

He scanned the horizon to the south, searching in vain for the eggbeater.

2008, George Galdorisi, Thomas Phillips, Leave No Man Behind: The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue:


greenie

From green + -ie. Environmentalist sense first attested in Australia in 1973, referring to trade unionists who supported green bans.

(Australian politics, informal, by extension) A member of the Australian Greens.


PCP

en-noun

PCP (countable and uncountable, plural PCPs)

(healthcare) Initialism of primary care physician.

(healthcare) Initialism of primary care practitioner.


defacement

defacement (countable and uncountable, plural defacements)

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

(heraldry, vexillology) A symbol added to a flag or coat of arms to change it or make it different from another.


civvies

* (Apparel): From a clipping of civilian clothes.

(military slang, plural only) Civilian clothes.


duckbill

duckbills (plural)
duck-bill (alternative)

duckbill eel

Nettastoma parviceps, or Nessorhamphus ingolfianus

duckbill ray

Aetobatus narinari or Pteromylaeus bovinus

(firefighting) A device used to force padlocks.


fleur-de-lys

(heraldry) Alternative form of fleur-de-lis.


glacis

Borrowed from French glacis (“slippery surface”), derived from Old French glacier (“to glide; freeze”), the former from Latin glaciāre (“to freeze”), from glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin.
Cognates
* Medieval Latin glatia (“incline in front of a fortification”)

cog

[T]ook his place with solemn / Air 'midst the rest, who kept their valiant faces / And levelled weapons still against the glacis.

1823 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos VI.—VII.—and VIII., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto VIII, stanza XXXIV, page 128:

[T]heir hearts had failed them at the silence and the blaze of lighted ships from end to end of the harbour, with eerie beams of the searchlights revealing the bleakness of the glacis they would have to cross.

1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “Book II: Opening the Arab Offensive. Chapter XX.”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC, page 130:

(architecture, also figuratively) A gentle incline in front of a fortification which protects it from cannon fire and exposes attackers to more effective return fire from defenders.

гласіс

In full glacis plate: the angled armour plate on the front of a tank which protects it from projectiles; also (often nautical), such a plate protecting an opening (for example, on a ship).


recuperation

en-noun

recuperation (usually uncountable, plural recuperations)

Borrowed from Latin recuperātiō. By surface analysis, recuperate + -ion.

[Raoul Vaneigem] I have nothing in common with the spectacular recuperation of a project that, in my case, has remained revolutionary throughout.

2009 May, Hans Ulrich Obrist, “In Conversation with Raoul Vaneigem”, in e-flux, archived from the original on 2009-09-07:

(politics, sociology) Process by which radical or subversive ideas are co-opted by mainstream society.


pom-pom

onom

Imitative

(military) A rapid-firing small-calibre cannon used especially as an anti-aircraft gun.

автоматично зенитно оръдие

(military) rapid-firing small-calibre cannon


RA

(military) Initialism of rear admiral, a rank in the Royal Navy.


armoured

an armoured unit; the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps

(military) Equipped with armoured vehicles.


politicization

en-noun

politicization (usually uncountable, plural politicizations)

politicizations (plural)
politicisation (alternative)

This potential politicization of the military comes with opportunity costs to U.S. national security, says Joseph Nunn, counsel in the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent law and policy think tank.

2024 November 14, Anna Mulrine Grobe, “Worries rise over a Trump ‘warrior board’ to remove officers ‘unfit for leadership’”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

Across the country, Democratic voters who have been reeling from Mr. Trump’s sweeping and possibly illegal cuts to government, his head-spinning policy moves, and his politicization of federal law enforcement are growing more and more incensed at their own party’s seemingly feckless response.

2025 March 20, Cameron Joseph, “Panicked Democratic voters are turning on their own leaders”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(politics) The state of being (or process of becoming) politicized

تَسْيِيس

the state of being or process of becoming politicized


antipersonnel

(military, euphemistic) Designed to kill soldiers.


capitalist realism

Possibly coined in 1963 when it was used as the title of an art exhibition/performance in Düsseldorf, alluding to socialist realism. The term was later reused in a political philosophy context by cultural theorist Mark Fisher.

It captures the psychic transformation this generation has gone through: smashing through the glass at Millbank, struggling through the hard lines of the kettle, and finally piercing capitalist realism's façade: an aperture through which now flows […]

2011, Dan Hancox, Summer of Unrest: Kettled Youth: The Battle Against the Neoliberal Endgame, Random House, →ISBN:

With regard to The Wire, this definition has largely revolved around the capitalist realism of society, or the reality that money rules and determines everything.

2013, David Bzdak, Joanna Crosby, Seth Vannatta, The Wire and Philosophy: This America, Man, Open Court, →ISBN, page 167:

In the face of the 'grand narrative' of capitalist realism, the film counters with a demystifying alternative story, erecting a protective shield to insulate the informed viewer from the shock effect of the neo-liberal narrative.

2013, Bruce Bennett, The Cinema of Michael Winterbottom: Borders, Intimacy, Terror, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 164:

With each new stage in postmodernity, from its post-Keynesian beginning to the “end of history” period, and even today in capitalist realism, the film has received new treatment, marking the historical moment in some way. It is postmodern simulation and simulacra of itself.

2017 July 19, Matthew Flisfeder, “Future Imperfect; or, "It's Easier to Imagine the End of the World..."”, in Red Wedge Magazine:

(politics, philosophy) An ideological framework for viewing capitalism and its effects on politics, economics, and public thought.


Empty Quiver

(US, euphemistic, military) The seizure, theft, or loss of a nuclear weapon.


Faded Giant

(US, euphemistic, military) A reporting term to identify an event involving a nuclear reactor or radiological accident.


shero

Packing estrogen and, not infrequently, a pen and a sword, sheroes come in every imaginable shape, size, and color, and manifest their sheroism in infinite ways.

1998, Varla Ventura, Sheroes: Bold, Brash, and Absolutely Unabashed Superwomen from Susan B. Anthony to Xena, Conari Press, →ISBN, →OL:

Every human grouping, whether it's just two people, a family, people in the neighborhood, people in the city, in a nation, a tribe, a species; people live in direct relation to the heroes and the sheroes they have.

2006 November 30, Dave Chappelle & Maya Angelou (Iconoclasts), season 2, episode 6, Maya Angelou (actor), via Sundance:

He talks about how we must remember the unsung heroes and sheroes of the Talahassee boycott, of the movement in general, and finally, he wonders how C. K. Steele would be accepted here.

2010 April 1, Ana Maria Spagna, Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey, University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN:

“They are nobodies. They could be silenced tomorrow. They are sheroes, to the world.”

2012 August 17, Melena Ryzik, quoting Kate Conroy, “In New York, a Show of Solidarity for Russian Punk Band”, in New York Times:


assumptive

en-adj

assumptive (comparative more assumptive, superlative most assumptive)

more assumptive (comparative)
most assumptive (superlative)

(heraldry, of arms, not comparable) Originally, being arms which a person had a right to assume, in consequence of an exploit; now, those assumed without sanction of the Heralds' College.


tour of duty

Almost every Marine in Viet Nam carries a short-timer’s calendar of his tour of duty—the usual 365 days—plus a bonus of 20 days for being a Marine.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 45:

(military) A period of time spent on a specific assignment, especially on an overseas mission.


eradicated

(heraldry) Having the roots of a tree visible in the emblazon.


jeep

Derived from GP, initialism of general-purpose. Noun from General Purpose Vehicle (military light utility truck).

(military) Pertaining to utility or general purpose.


artilleryman

(military) A soldier enlisted in an artillery unit or who uses artillery.


buffer zone

(military) A neutral area that is located between hostile forces, and is designed to prevent hostilities.


RM

en-noun

RM (countable and uncountable, plural RMs)

(military) Initialism of radio material.


wigwag

From wig (“to wag, waggle”) + wag (“to swing”). The noun is derived from the verb.

com

Boy Scouts and others interested in visual signaling can practice indoors with this miniature wigwag sender.

1932 August, Hubert E. Mishler, “Tiny Wigwag Machine Teaches Signaling with Flag”, in Raymond J. Brown, editor, Popular Science Monthly, volume 121, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 71:

(US, military, historical) A signal sent by waving a flag to and fro.


wigwag

en-verb

wigwag (third-person singular simple present wigwags, present participle wigwagging, simple past and past participle wigwagged)

wigwags (present singular third-person)
wigwagging (participle present)
wigwagged (participle past)
wigwagged (past)
wig-wag (alternative)

He had no prearranged signals for explaining the presence of the two Americans, but when the planes returned to check his messages, he wigwagged: "No Japanese. No signs," and then led Krickel and his daughter to where they could be clearly seen. The lead plane dipped its wings alterately and flew back toward Dutch Harbor.

1988, James A[lbert] Michener, “The Railbelt”, in Alaska: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, 2014, →ISBN, page 905:

The steam whistle emitted three long blasts as the Carondelet headed into the stream, along with the echoing of sound from the signal cannon. As they passed each of the troop ships, a mighty cheer rose from the men. [General William Tecumseh] Sherman had a signalman wigwag a message of good luck and Godspeed to each.

2007, Nelson A. Reed, “April 15, 1866: The Mississippi”, in With Your Shield Shining: A Novel of the Second Civil War 1863–1866, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN:

(US, military, historical) To send a signal by waving a flag to and fro.


wildcatter

Audio (US)

Roy Weatherby began his career in the firearms industry as a “wildcatter”, developing his revolutionary ideas about rifle cartridge performance and design.

a. 2005, “Ammunition”, in Weatherby, archived from the original on 2005-02-15:

(firearms) A person who makes wildcat cartridges and the guns that use them.


MOD

Ministry of Defence
w:Ministry of Defence

(UK politics) Initialism of Ministry of Defence; also MoD.


MOD

en-noun

MOD (countable and uncountable, plural MODs)

(military, by extension) Initialism of ministry of defense (not retricted to the British War Ministry).


Legionnaire

(US, military) A member of the American Legion.

legionella

Legionnaires' disease, Legionnaires', legionellosis


Islamofascism

It braces the talk not only of pundits, but of all the major Republican candidates - from the tough guy at one end, Rudy Giuliani, who lambastes Democrats for not using the word or its equivalent, to the "nice" candidate at the other end, Mike Huckabee, who defines Islamofascism as "the greatest threat this country [has] ever faced."

2008 January 21, James Carroll, “Carroll: Islamofascism's ill political wind”, in The New York Times:

(chiefly US, derogatory, offensive, politics) Socially repressive or nationalistic Islamic fundamentalism.


workup

workup (countable and uncountable, plural workups)

(military) A period of training or preparation, typically for a specific operation.


commissioned officer

commissioned officer (plural commissioned officers)

(military) An officer who derives authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, holds a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position.

軍官 /军官

an officer who derives authority directly from a sovereign power


tallyman

(Ireland, politics) A counting agent; typically one who is a man.


motor pool

A sound truck joined the vehicles on the dock, whose number was growing almost to a full-sized motor pool.

1963, Thomas Pynchon, V., J. B. Lippincott & Co., →LCCN, →OCLC, page 31:

Head through the Motor Pool to get to the Ops Center.

2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Crow's Nest:

(US, military) A fleet of vehicles for use by a military installation; the department that maintains them


Westphalia

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin Westphalia, from Middle Low German Westvâlen, ultimately from the root of German Westfalen, which see. Related to Low German Westfaolen.

lbor

North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia

(politics) Westfalen, a subdivision (“Landschaftsverband”) of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.


Westphalian

вестфальскі

pertaining to Westphalia or its people and culure

The long stagnation and despotism under the Chinese world order in East Asia before the late 19th century are thus pretentiously repackaged as China's alternative to the Western-dominated, Westphalian system of international relations.

2006 April 10, Fei-Ling Wang, “Heading off fears of a resurgent China”, in The New York Times:

(politics) Of or pertaining to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 which established a new system of political order in Central Europe, based on the concept of co-existing sovereign states.


banyan

banyans (plural)
banian (alternative)
bannian (alternative)

From Portuguese baniano, from Arabic بَنِيَان (baniyān), from Gujarati વાણિયો (vāṇiyo, “merchant”), from Sanskrit वाणिज (vāṇijá), from earlier वणिज् (vaṇíj, “merchant, trader”). The name appears to have been first bestowed popularly on a famous tree of this species growing near Bandar Abbas, under which the Bannians, or Hindu traders settled at that port, had built a little pagoda. Doublet of bunnia.

Banyan in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

(British, naval slang, dated) A camping excursion on shore, to give a ship's crew a break from shipboard routine.


beachhead

beachheads (plural)
beach head (alternative)
beach-head (alternative)

(military) An area of hostile territory (especially on a beach) that, when captured, serves for the continuous landing (or movement into position) of further troops and material


foilist

(fencing) A fencer who fights with a foil.


booby trap

(military) An antipersonnel device deliberately hidden or disguised as a harmless object.


BBB

Such opposition to BBB completely mixes up the short-term and the long-term, and utterly confuses deficit spending to fight Covid-19 with fully paid-for spending to fund long-term reforms.

2021 November 13, Jeffrey Sachs, “US can fight inflation and still ‘build back better’”, in CNN:

(politics) Initialism of build(ing) back better.


capstone

en-verb

capstone (third-person singular simple present capstones, present participle capstoning, simple past and past participle capstoned)

capstones (present singular third-person)
capstoning (participle present)
capstoned (participle past)
capstoned (past)

From Middle English capston; equivalent to cap + stone.

“Capstoned” units are now able to train and plan in peacetime with the command with which they will fight in wartime.

1981, Army Reserve Magazine, volumes 27-28, page 24:

(transitive, US, military, informal) To train in the Capstone Military Leadership Program.


crossfire

en-noun

crossfire (countable and uncountable, plural crossfires)

/ˈkɹɔːsfaɪɹ/

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

(military) An arrangement of two or more weapons so each can fire diagonally at something in front of a line between them.


widow-maker

widow-makers (plural)
widow maker (alternative)
widowmaker (alternative)

From widow + maker. For sense 4, compare German Witwenmacher.

(military, slang) The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.


pusher

‘You should a seed some o' the pushers. Girls o' seventeen painted worse nor any Gerties I'd ever knowed.’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 208:


antipoverty

This initiative gave birth to an urban movement, the […] SAPE: a way of expressing an identity that was antipoverty, antidepression, and antipower (because it opposed the abas-cost, the uniform imposed by Mobutu) for thousands of young Kinshasans, as well as for Brazzavillians on the other side of the Congo River.

2002, Frank Tenaille, translated by Steven Toussaint and Hope Sandrine, Music Is the Weapon of the Future: Fifty Years of African Popular Music, Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, →ISBN, page 182:

(politics) That serves to alleviate poverty.


mutual assured destruction

mutual assured destruction (uncountable)

A pun on "assured destruction" ("a highly reliable ability to inflict unacceptable damage ... even after absorbing a surprise first strike"), a term used in discussions of American nuclear strategy in the 1960s. Perhaps coined by Donald Brennan, conservative defense analyst and a public critic of the policy.

mutually assured destruction (alternative)

(politics, public policy, military) The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear weapons should a potential enemy use them first, both sides being annihilated in the event of war.

destrucción mutua / mutual / recíproca asegurada


dicky

dickies (plural)
dickey (alternative)
dickie (alternative)

→ Urdu: ڈِکّی (ḍikkī), ڈِگّی (ḍiggī)

→ Pashto: ډِګّۍ (ḍiggay)

From dick + -y (diminutive suffix).
* In cover/apron senses: perhaps from English dialect dick (“leather apron”) + -y; perhaps from Dutch dek (“a cover”).


devolution

Borrowed from Middle French dévolution, from Medieval Latin devolutio, devolutionis, from Latin devolvo.

The question of whether England should receive devolution like Scotland and Wales have has dogged British politics for years.

Governments like devolution because it gives ministers someone else to blame for problems.

2020 November 4, Philip Haigh, “Cracks and divisions over funding for public transport”, in Rail, page 55:

By the 1974 general election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were polling at 30% and there were growing calls for devolution.

2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 179:

(government) The transfer of some powers and the delegation of some functions from a central government to local government (e.g. from the U.K. parliament to Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly).


11 Bang-Bang

* Slang from the MOS designation "11B" (pronounced "11 Bravo").

(US, military slang, derogatory) An infantryman.


40 mike-mike

From Mike (“the letter M in the ICAO spelling alphabet”).

(US Army and Marines, military, slang) Any weapon firing a 40mm grenade. Often specifically the M203 grenade launcher, mounted underneath an M-16 or its variant. In the Marine Corps, often the Mark-19 Automatic 40mm Grenade Launcher.


A-gang

(US, naval slang) Auxiliary division onboard a ship or submarine. Responsible for sanitary, heating/AC, emergency diesels, hydraulics, high pressure air, low pressure air, oxygen generating equipment, potable water, hatch maintenance, and assorted systems.


admin vortex

admin vortex (plural admin vortexes or admin vortices)

admin vortexes (plural)
admin vortices (plural)

(British Army military slang) A disorganized soldier.


ray gun

Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe / Put your ray gun to my head

1972, “Moonage Daydream”, in The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, performed by David Bowie:

(science fiction, weaponry) A weapon that shoots harmful rays.


cut and run

en-verb

cut and run (third-person singular simple present cuts and runs, present participle cutting and running, simple past cut and ran, past participle cut and run)

cuts and runs (present singular third-person)
cutting and running (participle present)
cut and ran (past)
cut and run (participle past)

They held on as long as they could, but when the heavy artillery fire started, they had to cut and run.

The President laid out the scenario we face if the United States decides to cut and run.

Mr Blair promised that the UK would not "cut and run". "Don't be under any doubts at all, British troops remain until the job is done and that job is moving up the Iraqi capabilities so that, for example, in Basra Iraqi forces can carry out the security work."

2006 December 18, Patrick Wintour, quoting Tony Blair, “UK will not cut and run in fight for democracy, troops told”, in The Guardian:

(military) To abandon a position as quickly as possible.


right of way

en-noun

right of way (countable and uncountable, plural rights of way or right of ways)

rights of way (plural)
right of ways (plural)
right-of-way (alternative)
ROW (alternative)

In foil the important thing is to be sure you have the right of way. You gain right of way by starting the attack first or beating the blade last.

2002, Elaine Cheris, Fencing: Steps to Success, →ISBN, page 63:

(fencing, uncountable) The priority granted to the first person to properly execute an attack.


truckie

(firefighting, slang) A firefighter who works from a fire truck.


Chindit

Derived from the mythological Chinte, half lion and half eagle.

(historical, military) A member of an allied commando unit operating behind enemy lines in northern Burma during World War II.


infighting

infighting (countable and uncountable, plural infightings)

From in- + fighting. Compare Middle English infighten (“to attack”), Old English infiht (“infighting”).

Tate predicted that Wills, famed for infighting, would have to change his tactics against Firpo to avoid being knocked "very loose."

1924 September 1, “Abdication”, in Time:

His left jab pecked at McTigue's face, and at infighting he matched the champion on even terms.

1955 March 28, Charles Lesemann, “Ruckus in Georgia”, in Sports Illustrated:

(boxing) Fighting with one's opponent closer than arm's length.

lähiottelu

boxing: fighting with the opponent close


dog biscuit

(military, colloquial) A hard, dry biscuit issued as part of food rations in the field.


quartering

(heraldry) The division of a shield containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments.

(heraldry) One of the different coats of arms arranged upon an escutcheon, denoting the descent of the bearer.


drafting

drafting (countable and uncountable, plural draftings)

draftings (plural)
draughting (alternative US)

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

(firefighting) The act or process of drawing water out of a source.


tasking

Action officers receive taskings in many ways. A top boss will grab you in the hall and tell you to do something, some key official will give you multiple taskings right in the middle of your briefing, and you will pick up taskings in staff meetings […]

2007, Perry M. Smith, Daniel M. Gerstein, Assignment: Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy:

(military, law enforcement) A task; an assigned item of work.


borking

Above all it discusses the best tactics to defeat a borking. Having been in the [Ronald] Reagan White House when Robert Bork was borked, I knew something about the subject, which was a huge help when the same borking guns were turned on my friend Judge [D. Brooks] Smith years later.

2006 October 30, Jeffrey Lord, “Borking Rush”, in American Spectator, archived from the original on 2017-10-17:

(ambitransitive, US, politics, often derogatory) The act of defeating a person's appointment or election, judicial nomination, etc., through a concerted attack on the person's character, background, and philosophy.


supermassive

en-adj

supermassive (comparative more supermassive, superlative most supermassive)

more supermassive (comparative)
most supermassive (superlative)

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

supermassive SVBIED

supermassive black hole

(especially military, engineering, sciences) Extremely massive; of extraordinary mass.


brigadier

Borrowed from French brigadier. Equivalent to brigade + -ier.

(military) An army rank; an officer commanding a brigade.

(military, UK) A field officer of the highest grade, below general officers, NATO grade O7.


picker

From Middle English pikere, pykare, equivalent to pick + -er.

(military) A priming wire for cleaning the vent, in ordnance.


RINO

Irritated that Riordan’s key aides are Democrats, some Republican party activists sported RINO (Republican In Name Only) buttons at a Riordan speech (Los Angeles Times, 16 May 1994).

1994 September, Raphael J. Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles, Princeton University Press, page 303:

And Bush is a RINO - Republican In Name Only. Even my dad, a lifelong Democrat, says that Bush (this one) is much more moderate […]

1998 October 28, Eric Chomko, “George W. Bush: Our Next President”, in alt.president.clinton (Usenet):

Among Republicans, there are the RINOs—Republican In Name Only. A RINO does not apply convictions based upon a biblical worldview to public policy.

2005 September, Brannon Howse, One Nation Under Man?: The Worldview War Between Christians and the Secular Left, Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, page 61:

Mr. Trump called Mr. Raffensperger a “RINO,” or Republican in Name Only, while continuing to make false claims about voting integrity in Georgia; along the way he tossed a few barbs at the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, Mr. Trump’s ally and sometime-scapegoat.

[2020 November 18, Richard Fausset, Jonathan Martin, “In Georgia, a Republican Feud With Trump at the Center”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US politics, derogatory) Acronym of Republican in name only, typically used by conservative members of the U.S. Republican Party to describe liberal Republicans or Republicans seen as liberals.


listening post

(military) A position established for the purpose of detecting the enemy's movements by means of listening.

監聽哨 /监听哨

position to detect enemy's movements by listening


autarky

en-noun

autarky (countable and uncountable, plural autarkies)

autarkies (plural)
autarchie (alternative obsolete)
autarchy (alternative)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐτᾰ́ρκειᾰ (autắrkeiă, “independence, self-sufficiency, autarky; satisfaction with one’s resources, contentment”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Αὐτᾰ́ρκειᾰ (Autắrkeiă) is derived from αὐτάρκης (autárkēs, “self-sufficient; content with what one has”) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, suffix forming feminine nouns); while αὐτάρκης (autárkēs) is from αὐτο- (auto-, prefix meaning ‘self’) + ᾰ̓ρκέω (ărkéō, “to be enough for, satisfy, suffice; (passive) to be satisfied with”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- (“to guard, protect; to hold; to lock”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming third-declension adjectives).

autarki

(policy of) national economic self-sufficiency

封閉經濟 /封闭经济 (fēngbìjīngjì, literally “closed economy”)

閉鎖経済 (へいさけいざい, heisa keizai, literally “closed economy”)

폐쇄경제(閉鎖經濟) (pyeswaegyeongje, literally “closed economy”)

Selfe-ſufficiencie is the end.] To haue all things, and to vvant or deſire nothing, is Selfe-ſufficiencie, Ariſtot: Polit. Lib. 7. Cap. 5. This autarchie or ſelfe-ſufficiencie, is the end and the good contained in the forme of a Citie, and conſequently is the end of all other ſocieties.

1598, Aristotle, “What is a Citie: And that It Consisteth by Nature: And that Man is Naturally a Sociable and Ciuill Creature”, in I. D. [i.e., John Dee], transl., Aristotles Politiques, or Discourses of Government. […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, book I, page 13:

If it were proved that these objects, that is to say prosperity, power, economic independence, could be attained by a policy of effective and complete autarky, there is no doubt that it would soon be carried into effect; […] But be that as it may, autarky does not permit the attainment of the objects which we have just mentioned. In reality, autarky is nowhere put into application.

1938 October 17, Paul van Zeeland, Economics or Politics? A Lecture by Paul van Zeeland, formerly Prime Minister of Belgium […], Cambridge, Cambridgshire: University Press, published 1939, →OCLC, pages 23–24:

[T]he concept of autarky is premised on the existence of economic relations required to fulfill needs for non-self-sufficient goods through interchange with outside areas. In fact, a self-sufficient society in the strict sense of the term has never existed anywhere in the world since the dawn of human history. If "closing of the ports" is a monopolistic system for control of foreign relations by state authority through which that state authority can regulate by force the influx of goods and economic activity that might threaten the maintenance of its class control, it can only really be called a policy for achieving the economic autarky of the state.

1991, Katō Eiichi, “The Age of the Great Voyages and Japan’s ‘National Seclusion’”, in National Committee of Japanese Historians, editor, Historical Studies in Japan (VII) 1983–1987: Japan at the XVIIth International Congress of Historical Sciences in Madrid, Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha; Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →ISBN, page 48:

So, although the origin of "political economy" is the household unit, this alone is not enough to meet all needs. The co-operative effort of large numbers of people is required to build irrigation systems, defences against enemies and so on. The village is a further natural development. A final development to meet greater needs is the polis itself, the city-state. The principle at work here is autarky (autos, "self" and arkeo, "suffice") or self-sufficiency.

2001, Rupert Woodfin, Judy Groves, illustrator, “The Purpose of the City State”, in Richard Appignanesi, editor, Introducing Aristotle (Introducing …), Thriplow, Cambridgeshire: Icon Books; [United States]: Totem Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 140:

Autarky, as defended by the German school of Grossraumautarkie and today by the French Nobel prize recipient, Maurice Allais, is a response to globalist economics. The autarky of great spaces is no obsidional closure, but an exercise in contingency: only those things that can't be produced domestically are imported. […] At the same time, autarky resists the extremely fragile 'new economy', which comes with globalisation, limiting the participation of transnational firms and extra-European financial powers within the European economy.

2009, Guillaume Faye, “Metapolitical Dictionary [Autarky of Great Spaces]”, in Michael O’Meara, transl., edited by John B. Morgan, Why We Fight: Manifesto of the European Resistance, [London]: Arktos Media, →ISBN, page 82:

(uncountable) (A policy of) national economic self-sufficiency, aimed at ending reliance on foreign imports to sustain a domestic economy.

Does this mean that the era of autarkies and of economic nationalism is ended?

1948 May 13, Robert Lecourt, “L’Aube (Organ of the Popular Republican Movement)”, in [anonymous], transl., News from France, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Information Division, French Embassy, →OCLC, page 8:

Local government entities are not autarkies, they don't lead fully independent financial policies, but still they have sufficient flexibility at the municipal level in their investments to be able to quantify and monitor their performance.

2013, Piotr Arak et al., “How to Measure the Impact of Public Policies on Human Development?”, in National Human Development Report: Poland 2012: Local and Regional Development, Warsaw: UNDP Project Office in Poland, United Nations Development Programme, →ISBN, section 4.2 (Welfare: Inputs and Outcomes), page 121:

(countable) A self-sufficient country or region which is not dependent on international trade to function economically.

omavarainen

self-sufficient region or country which is not dependent on international trade to function economically


entrail

en-verb

entrail (third-person singular simple present entrails, present participle entrailing, simple past and past participle entrailed)

entrails (present singular third-person)
entrailing (participle present)
entrailed (participle past)
entrailed (past)

A cross entrailed.

"Entrailed: outlined, always with black lines. See Adumbration, and Cross entrailed."

1847, Henry Gough, John Henry Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table ..., Oxford, page 124:

"Entrailed, a Cross, P.7, n.20, Lee says, the colour need not be named, for it is always sable."

1775, Hugh Clark, Thomas Wormull, An Introduction to Heraldry: Containing the Origin and Use of Arms; Rules ..., H. Washbourne, page 122:


Sherwood Forest

/ˈʃɝwʊd ˈfɔɹɪst/

/ˈʃɜːwʊd ˈfɒɹɪst/

Here crewmen are standing by in "Sherwood Forest" — as the missile compartment is named […]

1964, Adventure in Partnership: The Story of Polaris, page 34:

Fifteen other launcher tubes — Polaris submarines have 16 in the midships "Sherwood Forest" compartment […]

1966, Flight International, volume 90, page 36:

(military, slang) The banks of Polaris missile tubes on a submarine.


bluewash

bluewash (third-person singular simple present bluewashes, present participle bluewashing, simple past and past participle bluewashed)

bluewashes (present singular third-person)
bluewashing (participle present)
bluewashed (participle past)
bluewashed (past)

Corporations ...bluewash by suggesting ethical leadership and affiliating with the United Nations.

2006. William S. Laufer. Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds: The Failure of Corporate Criminal Liability, page 164

social responsibility
social responsibility

(transitive, business, politics) To tout a business or organization's commitment to social responsibility, and to use this perception for public relations and economic gain; to present a humanitarian front in this manner.


aisle

aisles (plural)
isle (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English ele, from Middle French aisle (“wing”) (Modern French aile), from Latin āla.

(US, politics) An idiomatic divide between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, who are said to be on two sides of the aisle.


gynecocracy

en-noun

gynecocracy (countable and uncountable, plural gynecocracies)

gynecocracies (plural)
gynaecocracy (alternative)

Gynaecocracy may not, however, be an idyllic affair.

1999, Jacqueline Rose, “Go girl”, in London Review of Books, section 21.19:

(government, sociology) Government or rule by women, or a society with such leadership.


horse

horse (countable and uncountable, plural horses)

horses (plural)
hoss (alternative pronunciation-spelling regional)
hawss (alternative pronunciation-spelling regional)

Sranan Tongo: asi

→ Maori: hōiho

→ Quiripi: hosses (from the plural horses)

From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of car and carrus. Cognate with North Frisian hors (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Dutch ros, hors (“horse”), German Ross (“horse”), Danish hors (“horse”), Swedish russ, hors (“horse”), Icelandic hross, hors (“horse”).

a camel is a horse designed by a committee

a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse

close the barn door after the horse has bolted

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

you can't put the shit back in the horse

zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

Also Horse harness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

See Horse-drawn vehicles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Note: Many of these were adapted into and/or gave their names to motor vehicle types

with the horse-drawn originals often being forgotten.

We should place two units of horse and one of foot on this side of the field.

Equus ferus caballus
Equus ferus caballus#Translingual

A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.

(military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).


expansionist

en-adj

expansionist (comparative more expansionist, superlative most expansionist)

more expansionist (comparative)
most expansionist (superlative)

Unlike passenger demand forecasts in England, that have resulted in the removal of 20% of service capacity in the May 2022 timetable, Welsh Ministers acting through the TfW agency are continuing an expansionist agenda for rail services under their control.

2021 August 11, Industry Insider, “Rail ambitions in Wales”, in RAIL, number 937, page 68:

(politics) Of or pertaining to expansionism.


section 8

en-noun

section 8 (countable and uncountable, plural section 8s)

By the time got out of the service I was tuly ^([sic]) a broken man. The constant threat of the stockade or a section eight (undesireable discharge for being gay) drove me to the verge of insanity.

1983 December 31, James L. Zipper, “Happy To Be Me”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 13:

(US, military) Discharge from the United States military for reason of being mentally unfit for service.


toehold

toeholds (plural)
toe-hold (alternative)
toe hold (alternative)

(wrestling) A hold in which the aggressor bends back the opponent's foot.


tige

Borrowed from French tige (“stem”), from Latin tibia (“shin bone, leg”). Doublet of tibia.

(firearms, historical) A steel pin in early rifles.


hooah

Platoon Leader: Listen up, gentlemen - tomorrow's a rest and refit day, hooah?

Soldiers: Hooah!

(US, military) The official yell of the US Army.


stovepipe

stovepipes (plural)
stove-pipe (alternative)

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

From stove + pipe. The firearms sense is due to the trapped cartridge case resembling a stovepipe of the stove sense.

(firearms) A type of malfunction affecting breechloading firearms, where a spent cartridge casing fails to eject completely, instead becoming stuck in the firearm's ejection port, usually oriented vertically or nearly so.

(military slang, World War I– World War II) A trench mortar such as the Stokes mortar.


stovepipe

en-verb

stovepipe (third-person singular simple present stovepipes, present participle stovepiping, simple past and past participle stovepiped)

stovepipes (present singular third-person)
stovepiping (participle present)
stovepiped (participle past)
stovepiped (past)
stove-pipe (alternative)

(intransitive, firearms) Of a cartridge case, to become wedged vertically in the ejection port of a breechloading firearm, rather than ejecting completely from the weapon.


midterm election

en-noun

midterm election (plural midterm elections or midterms)

midterm elections (plural)
midterms (plural)

Except in the rare case that a president leaves office early, the midterm election occurs roughly halfway through their term of office.

Most of the rational world . . . foresaw a smooth ride to victory for Democrats. They had, after all, the wind at their backs from the 2006 midterm elections.

2008 April 23, Amy Sullivan, “A Primary with No End”, in Time, retrieved 2015-07-03:

(US politics) An election held every four years to elect members of Congress in years the president is not also elected.


consociation

consociation (countable and uncountable, plural consociations)

PIE word
 *ḱóm
Borrowed from Latin cōnsociātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnsociātiō (“alliance; association, union”), from cōnsociō (“to make common; to associate; to connect, join (in), unite; to agree with; to share”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions). Cōnsociō is derived from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several things) + sociō (“to ally, associate; to join, unite; to share in”) (from socius (“associated; joining in, sharing, partaking; akin, kindred, related; allied, confederate, leagued, united”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”)).

der

(countable, politics) A power-sharing arrangement over territory entered into by competing groups.


Grits

(Canadian politics) The Liberal Party of Canada.


Fab Four

Given the rumours of rancour and rift, the unexpected show of unity between the one-time “Fab Four” of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan has been a masterstroke in ensuring the focus over the coming days of national mourning remains firmly fixed on the late Queen Elizabeth II and the new King Charles III.

2022 September 11, Caroline Davies, “William, Kate, Harry and Meghan put Firm above their differences”, in The Guardian:

(informal, UK politics) William, Kate, Harry & Meghan


bluenose

That summer the Clipper detoured north on its way to Norway so that cadets could be initiated as bluenoses. She passed between the Shetland and Orkney islands on her way to cross the Arctic Circle at Greenwich.

2005, Stephen J. Curley, Aggies By The Sea: Texas A & M University At Galveston, page 213:

(US, naval slang) A person who has crossed the Arctic Circle.


gurges

/ˈɡɜːd͡ʒiːz/

From Middle English gurges, from Latin gurges.

Argent, a gurges azure, is borne by GORGES, of Langford, Wilts., created a Baronet 1612. As the gurges (like the fountain) represents water, argent and azure are its proper tinctures.

1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 153:

A shield of arms of early shape : three gurgeses (or roundles charged with a central pellet and two annulets concentric), two and one.

1894, British Museum. Department of Manuscripts, Walter de Gray Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, page 294:

(heraldry) A series of typically four to six concentric annulets (in early heraldry, from at least the 1200s), or a spiralling line from the centre to the edge of the shield (in late heraldry); a stylized whirlpool.


five-and-dime

five-and-dimes (plural)
five and dime (alternative)
5 & dime (alternative)

Admiral Fitzwallace: A three hour patrol of the no-fly with the five-and-dime.

2000, Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing, season 1, episode 22 “What Kind of Day Has It Been”

(US, military, slang) The 5th Battalion 10th Marines, a US artillery battalion.


FIBUA

(military, British, Canada) Acronym of fighting in built-up areas.


Catalina

Catalina
Consolidated PBY Catalina
en:Santa Catalina Island (California)

(aviation, historical, military) A twin-engined amphibious aircraft used during the Second World War.


schoolie

schoolies (plural)
schooly (alternative)
skoolie (alternative)

From school + -ie (“diminutive suffix”).

Arbroath, being a training station for young naval airmen, also housed several ‘schoolies’ (education officers), four of whom lived in an adjacent building to mine. I quickly struck up a close friendship with two of the schoolies, Ron Horner and Vivian Price.

2008, John H. Dunning, Seasons of a Scholar: Some Personal Reflections of an International Business Economist, page 46:


OPM

Both Bobba and Coristine are listed in internal OPM records reviewed by WIRED as “experts” at OPM, reporting directly to Amanda Scales, its new chief of staff.

2025 February 2, Vittoria Elliott, “The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 2025-02-02:

Office of Personnel Management
w:Office of Personnel Management

(government, US) Initialism of Office of Personnel Management.


survivable

en-adj

survivable (comparative more survivable, superlative most survivable)

more survivable (comparative)
most survivable (superlative)

In order for a weapon system to be an effective deterrent it must be highly survivable. Weapon systems based in the world's ocean waters are the most survivable systems.

1972, Naval Engineers Journal, volume 84, page 274:

As Desert Storm demonstrated, heavily defended targets can be successfully attacked by cruise missiles and a limited number of highly capable and survivable aircraft, leaving other targets to be attacked by less survivable aircraft. A recent CNA study reinforced this point.

1995, United States. General Accounting Office, Cruise Missiles: Proven Capability Should Affect Aircraft and Force Structure Requirements : Report to Congressional Committees, page 48:

“I think that what we found is that our command and control needs to be more survivable,” said Col. Robert S. McChrystal, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is based in Vilseck, Germany, near the Czech border.

2024 April 24, Helene Cooper, quoting Robert S. McChrystal, “NATO Puts on a Show of Force in the Shadow of Russia’s War”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(military) Capable of surviving an attack, especially a nuclear strike.


identitarianism

en-noun

identitarianism (countable and uncountable, plural identitarianisms)

Needless to add, this augurs badly for the future of the GRECE’s identitarianism, for it now tacitly acknowledges the right of non-Europeans to occupy and partition European lands.

2004, Michael O'Meara, New Culture, New Right: Anti-liberalism in Postmodern Europe, page 78:

Identitarianism is probably the most well-known of these ‘new’ ideologies, despite its fairly recent emergence on the political scene. Employing the lambda symbol, identitarianism has gained increasing purchase amongst youth across western Europe, and France in particular, growing out of the (European) New Right (Nouvelle Droite), which dates to the 1970s and GRECE (Research and Study Group on European Civilization).

2020, Tim Nieguth, editor, Nationalism and Popular Culture, Routledge, →ISBN:

While the concept of remigration has long existed in academia, its hijacking by the far right on social media appears to have begun about a decade ago when French adherents to identitarianism, an ethno-nationalist movement, organised what they described as the inaugural meeting in Paris on remigration.

2024 October 3, Ashifa Kassam, “How remigration became a buzzword for global far right”, in The Guardian:

Counter Extremism Project
w:Counter Extremism Project

(sociology) Politics based on social identity.

(sociology, politics, often capitalized) A far-right political movement and philosophy that seeks to preserve European ethnic and cultural identity against the perceived threats of immigration, Islam, and globalization.


METT-TC

(US, military, mnemonic) Initialism of mission, enemy, terrain, troops available, time, and civilian considerations. Used by the United States military to help commanders remember the considerations in the planning of any operation.


attitude indicator

attitude indicator (plural attitude indicators)

(aviation, UK, military) An instrument that displays attitude of an aircraft in pitch and roll.


devo

Sheffield’s devo deal, signed in December, focuses on skill and jobs but also includes new powers for the authority over housing and support for business. There is no mayor, but new ‘Oyster-style’ travelcards are promised. [image caption]

2015 January 23, Susanna Rustin, “The new city centres: the alternative establishment that wants to wrest power from the capital”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly UK, politics, informal) Clipping of devolution (“transfer of some powers and the delegation of some functions from a central government to local government”).


rada

Borrowed from Polish rada, from Middle High German rât. Compare German Rat, Icelandic ráð. Doublet of rede.

(politics) A parliamentary body in a number of Slavic countries.

ռադա

a parliamentary body in a number of Slavic countries


SDF

Japan's initial contribution to Kabul resembled “checkbook diplomacy plus” with a pledge of ODA plus the dispatch of the Maritime SDF to the Indian Ocean. These steps appeared sufficient.

2014, Dennis T. Yasutomo, Japan's Civil-Military Diplomacy: The Banks of the Rubicon, Routledge, →ISBN:

The reorientation of the SDFs operational posture has gone hand in hand with a sustained legislative effort to alter the legal underpinnings of Japan's security policy.

2017, Robert S. Ross, Øystein Tunsjø, editors, Strategic Adjustment and the Rise of China, Cornell University Press, →ISBN:

(military) Initialism of (Japanese) Self-Defence Force(s).

Syrian Democratic Forces
w:Syrian Democratic Forces

(military) Initialism of Syrian Democratic Forces.

Social Democratic Federation
w:Social Democratic Federation

(historical, politics, 1881–1911) Initialism of Social Democratic Federation.


gated

Quarterly: 1st and 4th, azure, a castle argent, gated and windowed gules; 2nd, gules three legs armed proper, flexed and conjoined triangularly at the upper end of the thigh, garnished and spurred or; 3rd, azure, a deer's head cabossed[…]

1956, Thomas Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry: A Practical Handbook on the Historical Principles and Modern Application of the Art and Science, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 203:

(heraldry) Having a gate of a specified colour.


jankers

(British military slang) A form of military punishment which involves being confined to barracks, performing tedious and often pointless tasks, and being subjected to frequent uniform inspections.

(British military slang) Defaulters' drill.


DI

DI (countable and uncountable, plural DIs)

detective inspector
detective inspector#English

(law enforcement, Commonwealth) Initialism of detective inspector; a police rank.


CAG

CAG (countable and uncountable, plural CAGs)

(military, aviation, nautical) Initialism of commander of the air group.


bantamweight

bantamweight (countable and uncountable, plural bantamweights)

(boxing, uncountable) A weight class in boxing and other sports, intermediate between flyweight and featherweight. In boxing it ranges from 112 to 118 pounds (51 to 54 kg).


gutty

From goutte + -y, or anglicization of (Old or Middle French) goutté, ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop (of a liquid)”) (also the ultimate source of English goutte and French goutte). Compare guttated.

goutty (alternative)
goutté (alternative)
gouté (alternative)
gutté (alternative)
guttée (alternative)

(heraldry) Charged or sprinkled with drops.


Purple Heart

(chiefly US, military) A US military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those wounded or killed while serving on or after 5 April 1917.


crap out

en-verb

crap out (third-person singular simple present craps out, present participle crapping out, simple past and past participle crapped out)

craps out (present singular third-person)
crapping out (participle present)
crapped out (participle past)
crapped out (past)

So, recruits fought sleep and slept in the hot classrooms while DIs caught up on their sleep by crapping out on their duty rack in full uniform.

2002, Wesley L. Fox, Marine Rifleman: Forty-three Years in the Corps, page 104:

He planned on being done by the early afternoon and then crapping out for the rest of the day.

2011, Guy Lennon, Knights of the State Department:

(US, military, slang, intransitive) To idle or mess around.


fogy

(US, military, dated, slang) Extra pay granted to officers for length of service.


SEAL

(military) Ellipsis of Navy SEAL (“member of the Sea, Air, Land unit”).


gradualist

Word has it that the DfT and Treasury are considering gradualist tinkering.

2022 November 30, Anthony Lambert, “Rail fares fit for the 21st century”, in RAIL, number 971, page 41:

(biology, politics) One who believes in gradualism.


gradualism

en-noun

gradualism (countable and uncountable, plural gradualisms)

(politics) The belief that change ought to be brought about in small, discrete increments rather than in abrupt strokes such as revolutions or uprisings.


punctuationism

Gould has misled himself by his own rhetorical emphasis on the purely poetic or literary resemblance between punctuationism, on the one hand, and true saltationism on the other.

1986, Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, W. W. Norton & Company, published 2015, →ISBN:

evolutionary biology
evolutionary biology

(politics) In evolutionary biology, belief that evolution does not proceed at a steady pace, but instead is characterized by periods of stasis, punctuated by brief (within several hundred-thousand years) periods of rapid change.


punctuationist

Since most of the life of a species, on the punctuationist view, is spent in unchanging stasis, and since a species has a discrete beginning and end, it follows that, to a punctuationist, a species can be said to have a definite, measurable ‘life span’.

(politics) In evolutionary biology, one who believes in punctuationism.


conscience vote

conscience vote (plural conscience votes)

(politics) A type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party.


sectionalism

sectionalism (countable and uncountable, plural sectionalisms)

Sectionalism is tearing the country apart. Everyone wants the other regions to do the work and pay the taxes while they reap the benefits.

(politics) Promoting the good of one region over that of the nation.


formateur

formateur (countable and uncountable, plural formateurs)

(politics) chief political negotiator for formal talks that are intended to lead to the formation of a cabinet, particularly in one of the Benelux countries


inpatient

inpatients (plural)
in-patient (alternative)

For three of the four regions, the number and rate of procedures was higher in inpatient than in ambulatory settings, but in the Midwest the differences between settings were not statistically significant.

1998, Maria Owings, Lola Jean Kozak, Ambulatory and Inpatient Procedures in the United States, 1996, Issue 139:

(healthcare) A patient whose treatment requires at least one night's residence in a hospital; a hospitalized patient.

住院病人

patient whose treatment needs at least one night's residence in a hospital

inlagd

admitted to hospital, hospitalized – adjective, can be nominalized

intagen

more often of prison, but also fairly common for (involuntary) psychiatric care and the like – adjective, can be nominalized


undercard

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

(politics) The supporting candidate on a ticket, such as vice president.


short-timer

Almost every Marine in Viet Nam carries a short-timer’s calendar of his tour of duty—the usual 365 days—plus a bonus of 20 days for being a Marine.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 45:

(US, military slang, historical) A soldier during the Vietnam War who had less than two months to serve.

(military) A person who would not be required to do a difficult or dangerous task.


kickboxer

(martial arts) One who practices the martial art of kickboxing.


passant

From Middle English passaunt (c. 1300), from Old French passant.

He them espying, gan himselfe prepare, / And on his arme addresse his goodly shield / That bore a Lion passant in a golden field.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(heraldry, of a four-legged animal) Walking, usually to the right, and looking straight ahead with the right forepaw raised from the ground.


MCP

Malayan Communist Party
w:Malayan Communist Party

(Malaysia, Singapore, politics, historical) Initialism of Malayan Communist Party.


NLP

National Labour Party
w:National Labour Party

(politics) Initialism of National Labour Party.


six-pack

six-packs (plural)
sixpack (alternative)
six pack (alternative)

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

Officer Bahash then obtained a copy of Grant's photograph from the DMV and placed it in a six-person photograph array (also known as a “six-pack”) for possible identification by two earlier victims.

2008, John N. Ferdico, Henry F. Fradella, Christopher D. Totten, Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional, 10th edition, page 792:

(US, informal, law enforcement) A selection of six photographs, including one of a suspect, used for identification by a witness.


picket

picket (countable and uncountable, plural pickets)

From French piquet, from piquer (“to pierce”).

So confident was he that he ignored the warning of his two British advisers to post pickets to watch the river, and even withdrew those they had placed there.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 59:

(military) One of the soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance; or any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.


reclama

Subject: DAWN Cancellation Reclama

(US, military) A request made to the authority to reconsider its decision or action. It is normally sent through official channels, i.e. through the chain of command.


NLEC

(US, military) Initialism of no longer enemy combatant.


dexter chief

(heraldry) The upper left corner of the shield (from the viewer's perspective).


go the distance

en-verb

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

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

"In a way it's like the quality of muscle and heart that enables some prizefighters to go the distance—twenty, thirty, forty rounds, say," Dick concurred.

1915, Jack London, chapter 20, in The Little Lady of the Big House:

It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, even, cause I all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, seein' that bell ring and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.

1976 November 21, Rocky, spoken by Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone):

(boxing) To participate in a boxing match for its maximum number of rounds.


outbox

outbox (third-person singular simple present outboxes, present participle outboxing, simple past and past participle outboxed)

outboxes (present singular third-person)
outboxing (participle present)
outboxed (participle past)
outboxed (past)

(boxing, transitive) To box better than.


baptism of fire

en-noun

baptism of fire (plural baptisms of fire)

baptisms of fire (plural)
baptism by fire (alternative)

Derived from English translations of the New Testament, namely the Gospels of Matthew (3:11) and of Luke (3:16); from Ancient Greek through Latin; presumably from Aramaic.

Having to deal with a bomb scare on his first day was a real baptism of fire for John.

She sat down for four exclusive interviews over the course of several weeks to reflect on her first 100 days in the job. It has been a baptism of fire by many accounts, including hers.

2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 17:

(figuratively, military) The first experience of a severe ordeal, especially a first experience of military combat


toolkit

toolkits (plural)
tool kit (alternative)

(India, politics) A set of guidelines or instructions.

(India, politics, derogatory) A set of instructions that is used to organize a protest.


sectarianism

sectarianism (countable and uncountable, plural sectarianisms)

In Lebanese sectarianism, one half of the members of parliament are Christians and the other half are Muslims.

(politics) A political system in which power is shared among religious sects based on a constitutional formula distributing public offices among these sects.


skimmer

(naval) A sailor in the surface forces, as opposed to a submariner.


Arabist

(politics) One that wants to spread Arabic culture; an Arab nationalist.

arabista

politics: one that wants to spread Arabic culture


milch cow

From Middle English melche cow, mylche cowe.

(military, slang) A German WWII submarine designed to carry large cargoes of supplies and transfer them to other submarines.


railhead

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

(military) An area of hostile territory at the end of a rail line that, when captured, serves for the continuous movement into position of further troops and materiel.


deselect

en-verb

deselect (third-person singular simple present deselects, present participle deselecting, simple past and past participle deselected)

deselects (present singular third-person)
deselecting (participle present)
deselected (participle past)
deselected (past)

One recently deselected Sinn Féin assembly member, Davy Hyland in Newry and Armagh, has already quit the party in protest.

(transitive, British, politics) To reject (an incumbent) as a party's candidate for a forthcoming election.


fragging

→ Korean: 프래깅 (peuraeging)

Present participle of frag, from a clipping of fragmentation grenade, because those who committed fragging during the Vietnam War threw fragmentation grenades at their superior officers.

Fraggings—the intentional killings of officers by their own troops—were already occurring.

2004, Martin Torgoff, “Next Stop is Vietnam”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 175:

(US military slang) The premeditated murder of one's superior officer in a military unit


reload

reload (third-person singular simple present reloads, present participle reloading, simple past and past participle reloaded)

reloads (present singular third-person)
reloading (participle present)
reloaded (participle past)
reloaded (past)

(firearms) To load a gun again; or recharge a used cartridge.


reload

(firearms) An ammunition cartridge prepared from previously fired ammunition.


freelancing

(EMS, fire service, law enforcement) The act of performing one's duties outside of the chain of command and SOPs.


fibbing

And so did Nick, whom sometimes there would come on / A sort of fear his spouse might knock his head off, / Demolish half his teeth, or drive a rib in, / She shone so much in 'facers' and in 'fibbing.'

15th round. Chancery. Fibbing. Biggs makes dreadful work with his left. Break away. Rally. Biggs down. Betting still six to four on the gown-boy.

1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Fight at Slaughter House”, in Men's Wives, page 17:

(archaic, boxing) Repeatedly striking an opponent's head while holding them in a headlock; a pummelling; a drubbing; a beating.


en garde

(fencing) Used to warn one's opponent to take a defensive position prior to a fight.


en garde

(fencing) Ellipsis of en garde position, the start position in fencing.


Whigs

(UK politics) An 18th- and 19th-century British political party that was opposed to the Tories, and became the Liberal Party.

United States of America
United States of America

(US politics) A 19th-century political party in the United States of America.


erased

Az., on a fesse, embattled, counterembattled, arg., between three cocks' heads, erased, of the last, beaked, combed, and wattled, gu., two roses, also gu.

1860, Bernard Burke, A Selection of Arms Authorized by the Laws of Heraldry, page 34:

(heraldry) Having the appearance of being forcibly torn off, with parts left jagged or uneven, as distinguished from couped.


frog hair

en-noun

frog hair (usually uncountable, plural frog hairs)

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

Disturbingly, many of the plaque owners were contractors or architects who stood to benefit from making political contributions — "frog hair," as such funds are known locally.

The great old political wizard who managed the Turner campaign, H. W. "Coach" McNeil, would call the young man into his office each morning and hand him a draft to be cashed at the bank. "My boy," he would say every time with solemn and ritualistic regularity, "we're a little short on frog hair."

1975, Fred R. Harris, The New Populism, page 15:

(US, politics, slang) Money contributed to a campaign.


syndicalism

syndicalism (countable and uncountable, plural syndicalisms)

(socialism) Control of both industry and government by labor unions, especially as achieved through revolutionary direct action; advocacy for attempts to bring it about.

սինդիկալիզմ

the belief that capitalism should be replaced with labor unions


reveille

reveille (countable and uncountable, plural reveilles)

From French réveillez, imperative form of réveiller (“to wake”) .

A bugler and his brisk reveille woke them most mornings.

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 53:

(military) The sounding of a bugle or drum early in the morning to awaken soldiers.

ցայգանվագ

the sounding of a bugle or drum early in the morning to awaken soldiers


gyron

(heraldry) A triangular form having an angle at the fess point and the opposite side at the edge of the escutcheon.


air strike

air strikes (plural)
airstrike (alternative)

Iran's known nuclear facilities that earned the country nearly two decades of US and international sanctions, with an estimated cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, are now damaged from the air strikes, although the full extent of this has been hard to assess.

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

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


misfire

en-verb

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

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

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

(firearms) To fail to discharge properly.


sporter

(firearms) A firearm suitable for sporting use.


(politics) Abbreviation of government-to-government.


counterstrike

From counter- + strike. Compare counterstroke.

(military, sports) The tactic of counterattacking


IRINT

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


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

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

der

flash in the pan

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

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

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

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

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


pan

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


PMEE

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

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


pseudostate

pseudostates (plural)
pseudo-state (alternative)

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

In 1975 the state decreed that the Mfengu were really Xhosa, and that their traditional "homeland" was 300 miles away, in a Xhosa pseudostate called Ciskei.

1994 July 29, Bill Keller, “Back to the Land: South African Blacks Walk a Legal and Economic Maze”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-08-19:

For Iran, Syria is a counterweight to any Sunni resurgence in Iraq, as well as the conduit to Hizbullah, its client Shiite pseudo-state in Lebanon.

2013 September 23, Matt Steinglass, “Democracy in America: Rebels and tyrants”, in Economist, retrieved 2014-08-19:

(politics) A geopolitical entity which has some of the trappings of an independently-governed country or territory, but which lacks real independence and is not recognized as a self-governing political entity by the international community of nations.


birth control glasses

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

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


BCGs

birth control glasses
birth control glasses#English

(military slang) Initialism of birth control glasses.


chief of staff

en-noun

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

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

Holonym: general staff

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

(government, politics) The head of any of several political departments in several nations.


MENA

Middle East News Agency
w:Middle East News Agency

(politics) Initialism of Middle East News Agency, a news agency based in Cairo, established in 1955, nationalized and affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Information in 1960.

Middle East News Agency

2006, The MENA region is anything but stable today, A. H. Cordesman, K. R. Al-Rodhan, The Changing Dynamics of Energy in the Middle East, →ISBN, page 65:

(politics) Initialism of Middle East and North Africa.


statie

Alan supposed the Staties would arrest him if they ran across him while they pursued other lines of investigation, but otherwise, no. They had more important things to do.

(New England, slang, law enforcement) A state trooper.


BEA

Bureau of Economic Analysis
w:Bureau of Economic Analysis

(government, US) Initialism of Bureau of Economic Analysis.


SPGB

Socialist Party of Great Britain
w:Socialist Party of Great Britain

(UK politics) Initialism of Socialist Party of Great Britain.


exploratory committee

exploratory committee (plural exploratory committees)

(US, politics) An organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office.


pean

Derived from Middle French penne (“feather”), from penna (“feather”); doublet of pen and penna.

der+

(heraldry) A heraldic fur of gold spots on a black field.


pean

(heraldry) In blazon, a heraldic fur of a black field with gold spots.

kontraguldhermelin

of black colour with gold spots on a coat of arms


panjandrum

en-noun

panjandrum (plural panjandrums or panjandra)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


wheellock

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


petronel

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

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

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

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

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


on guard

en-adj

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

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

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

1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

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


sword hand

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


sixte

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

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


FORACS

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

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


circular parry

en-noun

circular parry (plural circular parries)

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


doublé

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


rassemblement

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


high line

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


low line

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


sound off

en-verb

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

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

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

1987, Stanley Kubrick, director, Full Metal Jacket:

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

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

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

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

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


glissade

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


packaged forces

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


packaged petroleum product

en-noun

packaged petroleum product (plural packaged petroleum products)

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


pack-up kit

helicopter detachment
helicopter detachment

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


sword arm

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


compound attack

compound attack (plural compound attacks)

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


smart-money

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

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

(military, historical) Alternative form of smart money.


assume the position

en-verb

assume the position (third-person singular simple present assumes the position, present participle assuming the position, simple past and past participle assumed the position)

assumes the position (present singular third-person)
assuming the position (participle present)
assumed the position (participle past)
assumed the position (past)

A day or two later we took down another seller and this time the rookie performs the search. Assume the position! he tells the guy. So the guy leans against the side of the car.

2002, James Harper Walker, Inside Your Local Police:

(idiomatic, US, law enforcement) To turn away, with one's hands in a visible and unmovable position, so that one can be searched.


sillon

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

1767, Thomas Simes, The Military Medley:

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


postern

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

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

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

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

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


chummy

What happens when the Old Bill turns up and want to look at 'chummies^([sic]) dental records, guv, 'cos 'e's bitten a bloke's ear off in the pub'?

2002, Roy C. Lilley, Paul Lambden, The Tool Kit for Dental Risk Management, page 21:

(law enforcement slang) Nickname for a person, especially a suspect or criminal.


Christmas tree bill

en-noun

Christmas tree bill (plural Christmas tree bills)

(idiomatic, US politics) A bill consisting of many riders that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments, which may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.


netroots

(politics, US politics) Grassroots political activism on the internet, especially on blogs.