at gaze

When he wished to draw Harvey's attention to the peak-halyards, he dug his knuckles into the back of the boy's neck and kept him at gaze for half a minute.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

They were prick-eared animals, roused by her voice from their business and standing now at gaze.

1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 52:

(chiefly heraldry) Gazing; standing so as to stare (especially of deer); statant guardant. (Compare at bay.)


obturation

en-noun

obturation (countable and uncountable, plural obturations)

From Latin obturare (“to stop up”): compare French obturation.

(firearms) The process of a bullet expanding under pressure to fit the bore of the firearm, or a cartridge case expanding under pressure to seal the chamber.


mitrailleuse

From French mitrailleuse, from mitrailler (“to fire grapeshot”).

(historical, military) A breech-loading machine gun consisting of a number of barrels fitted together, so arranged that the barrels can be fired simultaneously, or successively, and rapidly.

mitraljöösi

rapidly firing breech loading gun with multiple barrels


mitrailleur

(UK, military, obsolete) A rapid-fire team-served musket or rifle.

(UK, military, obsolete) The person in charge of such a weapon.


antimine

(military) Countering or opposing mines (explosive devices).

antiminas

countering or opposing mines (explosive devices)


phonemark

en-verb

phonemark (third-person singular simple present phonemarks, present participle phonemarking, simple past and past participle phonemarked)

phonemarks (present singular third-person)
phonemarking (participle present)
phonemarked (participle past)
phonemarked (past)

Or worse, without earmarks the members of the spending committees can "phonemark" projects without anyone ever knowing

2008 June 11, “Deseret News candidate questionnaire:”, in Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah:

(US politics, transitive) To apply pressure on a government agency to fund a specific project as part of a more general program.


press tits

press tits (third-person singular simple present presses tits, present participle pressing tits, simple past and past participle pressed tits)

presses tits (present singular third-person)
pressing tits (participle present)
pressed tits (participle past)
pressed tits (past)

'Press tits at four thirty a.m.'

2010, Frank Barnard, Blue Man Falling: A riveting World War Two tale of RAF fighter pilots:

[…] For the rest of my life / I'd take me a wife / A Wimpy bomb-aimer, / For he'd press a tit, / And I'd press a tit, / We'd all press tits together, […]

2011, Lewis Brandon, Albert Smith, Ian Smith, Night Flyer/Mosquito Pathfinder: Night Operations in World War II:

(UK, military, slang, RAF) To initiate a start-up sequence.


tape out

tape out (third-person singular simple present tapes out, present participle taping out, simple past and past participle taped out)

tapes out (present singular third-person)
taping out (participle present)
taped out (participle past)
taped out (past)

Tracks made of wooden slabs fastened together were the only roads by which men and pack-mules could cross this quagmire, and each of these ways became taped out by the enemy's artillery, and very perilous.

1918, Philip Gibbs, From Bapaume to Passchendaele, on the western front, 1917, G.H. Doran Co., page 25:

(weaponry) To measure out (a piece of land) so as to be able to accurately fire upon it.


Tiny Tim

(historical, military, countable) A United States rocket, used in World War II and the Korean War.


NFA

The crew departed to conduct some NFA flying.

This mission is not part of our annual flying schedule; it will be NFA.

non-forecast airlift
non-forecast airlift#English

(military) Initialism of non-forecast airlift.


NFA

Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said the case has been classified as "no further action" (NFA) due to lack of evidence.

2020 November 24, “Individuals linked to Chin Peng's ashes will not face charges - minister”, in Malaysiakini:

ACP Nik Ezanee closed the investigation by classifying it as no further action (NFA) after hearing about the woman's plight.

2021 January 31, Farik Zolkepli, “PJ police go the extra mile to help the needy”, in The Star:

Police have completed investigations into a Physical Education (PE) teacher who allegedly made a rape joke in front of his students at school, and have classified it as No Further Action (NFA).

2021 August 5, Muhaamad Hafis Nawawi, “Case of teacher who allegedly made rape joke classified as NFA”, in New Straits Times:

no further action
no further action#English

(law enforcement, criminal law, UK, Malaysia) Initialism of no further action; a potential outcome for a suspect from a police investigation.


NFA

NFA (third-person singular simple present NFAs, present participle NFAing or NFA'ing, simple past and past participle NFAd or NFA'd or NFAed)

NFAs (present singular third-person)
NFAing (participle present)
NFA'ing (participle present)
NFAd (participle past)
NFAd (past)
NFA'd (participle past)
NFA'd (past)
NFAed (participle past)
NFAed (past)

After that interview, I think we can NFA him.

(law enforcement slang, UK) To formally end the police investigation of a suspect with no further action.


PAT

en-noun

PAT (countable and uncountable, plural PATs)

priority air traffic
priority air traffic#English

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of priority air traffic.


unstar

en-verb

unstar (third-person singular simple present unstars, present participle unstarring, simple past and past participle unstarred)

unstars (present singular third-person)
unstarring (participle present)
unstarred (participle past)
unstarred (past)

(transitive, UK politics) To demote a question from an oral one to a written one (because oral questions are conventionally marked with a star on the Order of Business in the House of Commons).


perrier

Old French perriere, perrier, French perrière, pierrier. Compare pederero.

FIrst there were sixe great gunnes, cannons perriers of brasse , that shot a stone of three foote and a halfe

1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:

(military, historical) A short mortar used for throwing stone shot.


septfoil

(heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf with seven lobes.


antismuggler

Thailand has built an antismuggler and antiterrorist fence along the Malaysian border.

1996, Martin Ira Glassner, Political geography, page 90:

(law enforcement) Acting to combat or prevent the activities of smugglers.


ASBM

anti-ship ballistic missile
w:anti-ship ballistic missile

(military) Initialism of anti-ship ballistic missile.


AShBM

anti-ship ballistic missile
anti-ship ballistic missile#English


DINO

Modelled after RINO (“Republican in name only”).

(US politics, derogatory) Acronym of Democrat in name only, typically used by liberal members of the U.S. Democratic Party to describe Democrats whose views are conservative or perceived as conservative.


ADS

Active Denial System
w:Active Denial System

(US, military) Initialism of Active Denial System.


first island chain

Calque from Chinese 第一島鏈／第一岛链 (Dìyī dǎoliàn).

zh-l

第一島鏈／第一岛链 (Dìyī dǎoliàn)

(geopolitics) The first chain of major archipelagos out from the East Asian continental mainland coast. Principally composed of the Kuril Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the northern Philippines, Japan, and Borneo; from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Malay Peninsula.


second island chain

Calque from Chinese 第二島鏈／第二岛链 (Dì'èr dǎoliàn).

第二島鏈／第二岛链 (Dì'èr dǎoliàn)

(politics) The next chain of archipelagos out from the East Asian continental mainland coast, beyond the first island chain. Principally composed of the Bonin Islands, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands; from Honshu to New Guinea.


third island chain

Indonesian Archipelago
Indonesian Archipelago

(politics, India) The Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Sumatra; from Burma in the north to either the Indonesian Archipelago, or Australia in the south.

(politics, US) The Aleutian Islands, Emperor Seamounts, Hawaiian Islands, Line Islands, New Zealand; from Alaska to New Zealand or Tasmania and Australia.


SOTU

He intends to use the SOTU message as nothing more that another Hollywood stunt similar to the pep rally he had on the WH lawn after the impeachment vote.

1999 January 14, Al Shurgalla <keyp...@pacific.net.sg>, “Re: Will Congress Applaud At Clinton's State Of Union Address?”, in alt.conspiracy, alt.impeach.clinton, alt.politics.clinton (Usenet), message-ID <14>:

Bush won't be stressing those particular points as he hits the pre-SOTU stump circuit, but the "if it's good enough for 2006 it's good enough for now"

2003 January 10, “Person of the Week: George W. Bush”, in TIME:

Issue of civil discourse will "certainly play a role" in SOTU.

2011 January 13, “Gibbs Briefs”, in TIME:

(US politics) The annual State of the Union address of the President of the United States.


United States of America
United States of America

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

(economics, politics) Abbreviation of Group of Two; the two leading economies of the world, the United States of America and the People's Republic of China.


military intelligence
military intelligence

(military, intelligence, US, initialism) staff military intelligence officer position in smaller units, or section in larger formations


CEF

C.E.F (alternative)
C.E.F. (alternative)

(military, Canada) Canadian Expeditionary Force of WWI


AEF

A. E. F. (alternative)
A.E.F. (alternative)

American Expeditionary Forces
w:American Expeditionary Forces

(military) Initialism of American Expeditionary Forces.


weaponeer

en-verb

weaponeer (third-person singular simple present weaponeers, present participle weaponeering, simple past and past participle weaponeered)

weaponeers (present singular third-person)
weaponeering (participle present)
weaponeered (participle past)
weaponeered (past)

(military) To provide with appropriate weaponry for use against the chosen targets.


wave off

wave off (third-person singular simple present waves off, present participle waving off, simple past and past participle waved off)

waves off (present singular third-person)
waving off (participle present)
waved off (participle past)
waved off (past)

(aviation, nautical, military) Of an aircraft carrier landing signal officer, to signal a pilot to go around.


(military, aviation, US) Misspelling of P-3.


RAdm

(military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral.


RADM

rear admiral (upper half)
rear admiral (upper half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (upper half).


RDML

rear admiral (lower half)
rear admiral (lower half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (lower half).


Yellow Boy

From the golden yellow colour of its receiver.

(firearms, informal) A Winchester Model 1866 lever action rifle.


Green Beret

From the color of the beret worn by them.

A former Green Beret wearing a tactical vest struck an officer in the face with a flagpole he was wielding like a spear during the Capitol riot, according to new court filings from the government and the F.B.I.

2021 March 19, Hailey Fuchs, “A former Green Beret used a flagpole to attack an officer in the Capitol riot, authorities say.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US military) A member of the United States Army Special Forces.


backseater

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

(military, informal) A navigator or other crewman who accompanies the pilot of an aircraft.


mil-dot

mil-dots (plural)
mildot (alternative)
mil dot (alternative)

(firearms) A type of firearm scope reticle using a one-milliradian dot as an aiming point and reference for range and holdover estimation.


sansad

(India, Hinglish, politics) A parliament, an assembly.


RTM

en-noun

RTM (countable and uncountable, plural RTMs)

(politics) Initialism of representative town meeting.


whip in

en-verb

whip in (third-person singular simple present whips in, present participle whipping in, simple past and past participle whipped in)

whips in (present singular third-person)
whipping in (participle present)
whipped in (participle past)
whipped in (past)

(transitive, figuratively, politics) To keep a party member in line.


birtherism

/ˈbɝθɚˌɪz(ə)m/

But Obama's plunge into the fever swamp of birtherism was just the latest detour on what had already been a long, strange trip—with many miles still to go.

2013, John Heilemann, Mark Halperin, Double Down, →ISBN, page 12:

(slang, often derogatory, US politics) A movement in the United States of America that doubts or denies that the 44th President, Barack Obama, is a natural-born U.S. citizen, thus implying that he is ineligible to be President.

Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories


cornetcy

Formed as cornet (“the fifth commissioned officer in a troop of cavalry”) + -cy.

suffix

His uncle […] diverted him from that pursuit, and gave him a cornetcy in his own regiment.

1761, “Jod.”, in A New and General Biographical Dictionary, volume 12, page 477:

I shall recommend your friend for an Ensigncy. Should you prefer a Cornetcy for him, I may be able to give him one.

1809, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington [aut.], Lieutenant-Colonel John Gurwood [compil.], Wellington Despatches, volume 5, page 141:

He was afterwards gazetted to a Cornetcy in the First Regiment of Life Guards.

1885 May 9th, Manchester Evening News, page 3, column 1

(military, historical) The rank, role, or position of a cornet.


HMIS

(nautical, military) Initialism of His Majesty's Indian Ship.

(nautical, military) Initialism of Her Majesty's Indian Ship.


Nican Tlaca

(US, politics) The indigenous peoples of the Americas, including full-bloods and mixed-bloods, regarded as one people or one nation.


public comment

The purpose of the hearings, according to John Dyer, RTD general manager, will be to receive public comment on the environmental impact statement

1983 July 14, “Public Hearings on Metro Rail Impact Study Set”, in Los Angeles Times:

The draft code, which is out for public comment, calls for regular meetings between the external auditors and the regulators of major financial firms and also encourages more informal dialogue

2011 February 10, Brooke Masters, “Bank auditors to help provide early warning system”, in Financial Times:

The public comment deadline on the plan had been Thursday. But numerous people wanted more time to consider and comment on the plan, and the agencies agreed. Comments will now be accepted until March 3.

2011 February 16, Matt Weiser, “Public will have more time to comment on location of flooding nerve center”, in Sacramento Bee:

(politics, law) Input given by the public to governmental (or rarely other) bodies, about proposed legislation or regulation(s), during a period—and by means—set aside and prescribed by law.


roundhouse kick

en-noun

roundhouse kick (plural roundhouse kicks)

(martial arts) A kick in which the attacker swings his/her leg around in a semicircular motion, striking with the front of the leg or foot.


flotant

floatant (alternative)
flottant (alternative)

Old French flotant, (French flottant), present participle of floter (“to float”).

a banner flotant

(heraldry) Represented as flying (fluttering) or floating mid-air or in water.


ECM

ECM (countable and uncountable, plural ECMs)

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

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

Electronic countermeasure
w:Electronic countermeasure

(military) Initialism of Electronic countermeasure.


underhold

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

From under- + hold. Compare German unterhalten (“to maintain”).

(wrestling) An unfair seizing of an opponent under the arms.


gomer

Likely from the oafish fictional character Gomer Pyle from the 1960s American sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.

These recruits were given such sobriquets as moron, idiot, or Gomer (after the television marine Gomer Pyle). There were constant comparisons between wayward recruits and animals or vegetables.

1993, James Ebert, A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972, page 34:

(US, military slang, derogatory) An inept trainee or serviceperson.

We were almost invisible in our tiger stripes and ghillie suits. However, as the unit marched by, a lone gomer broke rank and ventured into the high, wet saw grass that concealed our position.

2010, Brian Easton, Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter, page 22:

(US, military slang) An opponent in combat or in training.


Eastern Bloc

Holonyms: Soviet Bloc (sometimes loosely synonymous) < Second World < world, World

(geopolitics, historical) The largely Communist countries of the eastern world, usually Eastern Europe and especially in the Cold War era.

اَلْكُتْلَة الشَّرْقِيَّة

the communist countries of the eastern world


social contract

social contract (plural social contracts)

In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. […]

2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:

When scammers large and small live better than those creating value in the real economy, the Social Contract has ceased to exist.

2023 April 24, Charles Hugh Smith, America's Social Contract Is Broken:

(philosophy, politics) An implicit agreement or contract among members of a society governing such matters as submission of individuals to the rule of law and acceptable conduct.


clown car

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

From a comedy routine first invented by the Cole Brothers Circus during the 1950s.

clown-car primaries

The personnel moves were startling—some say Machiavellian—and have kept tongues wagging in a city that takes its fractious politics seriously. At The San Francisco Examiner, where street sales rose by as much as 4,000 a day during the frenetic episode, a columnist, Rob Morse, wrote: “The clown car keeps pulling up at City Hall, and more clowns keep piling out.”

1992 April 18, Jane Gross, quoting Rob Morse, “New Mayor's 'Shaky' Start Has San Francisco Puzzled”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

So the best explanation for Romney's tumble was the terrible publicity of the clown car debates, combined with the attack ads launched against him by Newt Gingrich via Sheldon Adelson.

2013, Jonathan Alter, chapter 15, in The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 191:

Of course, the ideological ascendancy of the right allows conservative commentators to take a derisory approach, labelling all work on the prison-industrial complex as laughable left-wing nonsense peddled by Marxist goofballs and other passengers in the clown car of academic identity politics' (Goldberg 2011).

2013, Simon Winlow, Rowland Atkinson, New Directions in Crime and Deviancy, Routledge, →ISBN:

The Republican Party’s clown car has become a clown van. With nearly two dozen possible presidential candidates, the GOP is having a seriousness deficit. There can’t possibly be that many people who are real candidates.

2015 January 24, Roger Simon, “GOP clown car runs into ditch”, in Politico:

The Republican field is a clown car [title]

2015 May 18, Dana Milbank, “The Republican field is a clown car”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN:

Let’s be clear: while it sounds plausible in this clown car of a White House that Trump is motivated by revenge, I don’t think he’s trying to bring down Sarah Cooper for her eviscerating mimicry of him on TikTok.

2020 August 2, Kara Swisher, “Microsoft Can Save TikTok — if Trump Doesn’t Mess It Up”, in The New York Times:

Colin Jost and Michael Che cover the same ground as the cold open, reporting on Trump’s clown car cabinet picks of Matt Gaetz (“He said the same thing he says when he sees a teenage girl: I’ll do it”), Musk (“You can’t be surprised that the white African guy’s first idea is slavery”), and RFK Jr (“The first brain worm survivor nominated to a cabinet-level position”).

2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Only when Pape Sarr, receiving the ball from the Uruguayan, whipped in a dangerous inswinging cross did the prevailing mood reassert itself, as the ball eventually found its way past a flailing André Onana off Shaw’s arm. Brennan Johnson had applied the pressure to force the mistake, but it was not good goalkeeping and it was not good defending, an absolute clown car of a goal.

2025 May 21, Jonathan Wilson, “Spurs prevail with Mourinho blueprint and ultra pragmatism in baffling final”, in The Guardian:

(figurative, derogatory, often politics) Any process with a comically large number of participants, especially participants who themselves are comical or ridiculous.


shark attack

(US military, informal) Shouting and yelling by drill instructors at enlistees on their first day of training.


QRA

(military, US) Initialism of quick reaction alert, a military and NATO term to define a higher state of readiness in which aircraft will become airborne within minutes to intercept and identify unknown aircraft or intercept one that has lost contact with air traffic control.


basha

(UK military slang) A makeshift shelter made from the above.


Ens.

(military) Abbreviation of ensign (a military rank).


DTD

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

December to Dismember
w:December to Dismember

(sports, professional wrestling) Initialism of December to Dismember.


Question Time

Members of Parliament
Members of Parliament

(politics) A time during a sitting of parliament wherein Members of Parliament pose questions to government ministers (including the Prime Minister) which they are obliged to answer.


dwell time

dwell time (usually uncountable, plural dwell times)

The length of time that a thing or person remains in a given state.

(military) The duty time soldiers have at their domestic home base between foreign deployments.


capital gains tax

capital gains tax (countable and uncountable, plural capital gains taxes)

(taxation) A tax levied on the profit made from selling any "capital" (i.e. non-inventory) asset.

nalóg na uveličénije rýnočnoj stóimosti kapitála

нало́г на увеличе́ние ры́ночной сто́имости капита́ла


BRICS

As shown by the BRICS expansion and the long waiting list to join, Xi’s offer of an alternative world order is finding receptive ears in the Global South, where many countries feel themselves marginalized in an international system they see as dominated by the US and its wealthy allies.

2023 August 28, “BRICS expansion is a big win for China. But can it really work as a counterweight to the West?”, in CNN:

(geopolitics, economics) Acronym of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, an international economic organization comprising several fast-growing economies.


glocal

en-adj

glocal (comparative more glocal, superlative most glocal)

more glocal (comparative)
most glocal (superlative)

Not so much wedded as welded to their airline seats, he and his amanuensis see the cities of the future as ‘glocal’ phenomena, where high-density urban centres are air-linked to intercontinental faubourgs.

2011, Will Self, “The frowniest spot on Earth”, in London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:

(chiefly business, politics) Both global and local.


UID

unique identification number
unique identification number#English

(India, politics) Abbreviation of unique identification number.


Chicom

(politics, informal, sometimes offensive) A member of the Communist Party of China, a Chinese cadre.

(politics, informal, sometimes offensive) A proponent of Chinese Communism, whether Maoist or its subsequent development.

(politics, informal, inexact, sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) Any citizen of the People's Republic of China.


IRR

Individual Ready Reserve
w:Individual Ready Reserve

(military, US) Initialism of Individual Ready Reserve.


KYD

(US, military) One thousand yards, a unit of measurement.


MOP

MOPs (plural)
MOP (plural)
MoP (alternative)

The MOP — a 30,000-pound bomb with 6,000 pounds of explosives — was designed for “reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities,” according to a fact sheet from the US Air Force.

2025 June 21, Kevin Liptak, “Strikes on Iranian nuclear sites thrust US into escalating Middle East conflict”, in CNN:

(US, military) GBU-57; Acronym of Massive Ordnance Penetrator.


NIO

Stormont officials spelled out linguistic pitfalls that could offend nationalists and unionists in a 164-page guidance document for Mandelson and other new NIO ministers.

2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Northern Ireland Office
w:Northern Ireland Office

(UK politics) Initialism of Northern Ireland Office.


Dipper

But the Dippers should hold their applause, since their party doesn't have the grassroots organization or the roster of good candidates it needs to capitalize on their leader's popularity.

2011 April 11, Lysiane Gagnon, “In Quebec, the NDP Is No. 2”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, archived from the original on 2011-04-15:

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party

(Canadian politics, informal) A member or supporter of the Canadian New Democratic Party.

It's either that or watch Dipper hopes of big overall seat gains dashed May 2 in Ontario.

2011 April 27, David Olive, “Historic Shift to NDP Confirmed in New Poll”, in Toronto Star, archived from the original on 2013-06-28:

(Canadian politics, informal, attributively) Of or pertaining to the Canadian New Democratic Party or supporters thereof.


unique identification number

en-noun

unique identification number (plural unique identification numbers)

(India, politics) A number assigned to each of the adult citizens and residents of India in order to identify them officially.


GoF

(politics) Abbreviation of Gang of Four.


antipirate

The Rasulids kept the southern coast under loose control up to Dhofar, even holding Hadramawt to some extent and maintaining an antipirate squadron.

(nautical, military) Opposing or countering pirates.


Conservative Party

the Conservative Party (canonical)
Conservative party (alternative)

Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, was Britain's first female Prime Minister.

(UK politics) A centre-right political party, official full name Conservative and Unionist Party, informally known as the Tory Party or Tories.

Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party#English

(Canadian politics) Clipping of Progressive Conservative Party.

Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada#English

(Canadian politics) Clipping of Conservative Party of Canada.


Socred

(Canadian politics) A member of the Social Credit Party.


socred

(uncountable, politics) social credit political philosophy

(countable, politics) a person who subscribes to the social credit political philosophy


social credit

(politics, economics) a political and economic philosophy originated by C. H. Douglas which envisages an "aristocracy of producers, serving and accredited by a democracy of consumers".


BMP

en-prop

BMP (countable and uncountable, plural BMPs)

These standard practices have been established and incorporate BMPs to meet internal, state, and federal requirements, balance construction costs, and minimize impacts to landowners and the environment. […] Any contractors involved in construction of the Transmission Line will adhere to these BMP requirements.

2024 August 19, “LAKETOWN 115-kV TRANSMISSION LINE PROJECT IN CARVER COUNTY, MN”, in Great River Energy, pages 37, 52:

w:Best management practice for water pollution

(US politics) Initialism of Best Management Practice; management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters in the USA and Canada.


wolfpack

wolfpacks (plural)
wolf pack (alternative)
wolf-pack (alternative)

(historical, nautical, military) During World War II, any of various marauding groups of submarines, especially German submarines that patrolled the North Atlantic and preyed upon merchant ships.


wedge issue

"It's sick," he gripes. "Everybody is tired of someone getting a job because of color." Republicans are exploiting such frustration. . . .. Says Kathy Spillar, national coordinator for the Feminist Majority: "The GOP wants to use it as a racial wedge issue."

1996 March 25, Catherine Yang, “Worried white men may be the GOP's ace in the hole”, in businessweek.com, retrieved 2011-05-11:

The speech . . . gave Democrats that rare gift: a wedge issue that split Republicans and united Democrats.

2006 July 30, Nancy Gibbs, “Stem Cells: The Hope And The Hype”, in Time:

(politics, sociology) A discussion point or a difference in points of view which is particularly likely to be controversial and a source of discord between discussants or other involved parties; a difference in viewpoints which causes disharmony within a political or social group.


LAB

(politics) Abbreviation of Labour Party.


LAB

(UK politics) Abbreviation of Labour Party.


FLPP

Foreign Language Proficiency Pay
w:Foreign Language Proficiency Pay

(military, US) Initialism of Foreign Language Proficiency Pay.


ferruled

(heraldry) Alternative form of viroled, veruled.


antiviolent

en-adj

antiviolent (comparative more antiviolent, superlative most antiviolent)

more antiviolent (comparative)
most antiviolent (superlative)

(law enforcement, sociology) Acting against or opposing violence.


Super Saturday

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

(US politics) A Saturday on which a large number of U.S. states hold caucuses (elections) for the process of nominating presidential candidates.


antireformist

From anti- + reformist or antireform + -ist.

Mr. Abe had described himself as the heir to political and economic reforms undertaken by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, but he quickly readmitted antireformist lawmakers whom Mr. Koizumi had expelled from the party.

2007 July 26, Norimitsu Onishi, “Japan’s Leader Attacked by His Own Party”, in New York Times:


divine right of kings

(government) Alternative form of divine right, especially regarding kings as monarchs.


consent of the governed

(government, political science, philosophy) A political theory in which a government or set of governments could only be deemed legitimate if it is supported by the people under which it exercises its political influence.


supercapitalism

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

Together, newly powerful shoppers and shareholders of this supercapitalism drove a decline in labor unions and a frenzy by corporations desperate to buy some market advantage in Washington.

2007 September 2, Stephen Kotkin, “Dangers of a Turbocharged Economy”, in New York Times:

(capitalism) Any especially intense and competitive form of capitalism.


overwatch

From over- + watch. Back-formation from watch over.

At a further and undefined point in the future, the American force would shrink to about seven and later five brigades — all involved in overwatch missions.

2007 September 11, Michael R. Gordon, “Petraeus Sees Bigger Role in Protecting Iraqi Civilians”, in New York Times:

“It’s 21st-century warfare,” says another team member, Doshch. And although some of the overwatch can be conducted remotely in bunkers, most of the drone teams (typically four-strong, they say) have to work about 1km behind the front.

2023 June 17, Dan Sabbagh, “‘It’s 21st-century warfare’: on Ukraine’s counteroffensive frontline”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(military) The supervision of one unit or vehicle by another while the supervised unit is firing or moving.


antiunification

antiunification (comparative more antiunification, superlative most antiunification)

more antiunification (comparative)
most antiunification (superlative)

(politics) Opposing political unification.


peaceful coexistence

en-noun

peaceful coexistence (usually uncountable, plural peaceful coexistences)

Calque of Russian мирное сосуществование (mirnoje sosuščestvovanije).

cal

мирное сосуществование

In spite of the failure of the first trial run of "peaceful coexistence," Kuomintang, and later the Chinese Government under my leadership, went through two more periods of "peaceful coexistence," resulting in the total loss of the Chinese mainland.

1957, Chung-cheng (Kai-shek) Chiang, “Introduction”, in Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-up at Seventy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 6:

(politics) A situation where nation-states do not interfere with the domestic affairs of other countries, in order to avoid conflict; mutual non-interference.


RTB

(military) Initialism of return to base.


antipopulist

It seems from “The Age of Turbulence” that Greenspan enjoyed the obfuscation game: as a frank antipopulist, he thought and still thinks that an air of mystery around the Fed is a good thing.

2007 October 14, Michael Kinsley, “Greenspan Shrugged”, in New York Times:


mission creep

Initially presented as a purely humanitarian mission, Operation Restore Hope gradually shifted from feeding Somalis to fighting them. Unaware of the "mission creep," the public was outraged when 18 U.S. soldiers died in an October 1993 fire fight.

1994 September 19, Mark Thompson, “Haiti: The Past As Prelude”, in Time:

General John Shalikashvili . . . said it was important to set a target date of one year and then bring the troops home, because "in the absence of that, you find yourself staying there, and that's how very often mission creep comes in."

1995 October 23, Elaine Sciolino, “One-Year Limit on U.S. Troops in Bosnia Now an 'Estimate'”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-05-27:

The risks of mission creep and a deepening quagmire leading to nation-building would arise only if ownership of the uprising was appropriated from the Libyans by the West, as would happen with ground troops.

2011 March 13, Ramesh Thakur, “Acting responsibly to protect Libyans”, in Toronto Star, retrieved 2011-05-27:

A good stand-and-stir cooking show is to the Food Network as the music video is to MTV: ancient relics of both institutions' respective original purposes, before mission creep led them to trashy reality competition programming — apparently the entropic end-stage of all TV.

2020 May 18, Adam Ragusea, 5:02 from the start, in The delights and problems of watching Molto Mario, archived from the original on 2024-07-26:

(politics, military, idiomatic) Gradual unplanned expansion of the objectives, scope, and/or cost of a project, especially a military mission.


camelry

en-noun

camelry (countable and uncountable, plural camelries)

From camel + -ry, modelled after cavalry.

A column of camelry emerged from the city as her honor guards.

1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 422:

(military) A military arm of service that fights while riding camels.


gemel

From Middle English gemow, from Old French gemel, from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus (“twin”). The modern form is influenced by the Latin etymon.

two gemells silver between two griffins passant

1698, John Strype, Life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith:

(heraldry) One of a pair of small bars placed together.


gemel

A bar gemel / Two bars gemels, or two barrulets placed near and parallel to each other.


lunel

From French lunel, a heraldic term based on lune (“moon”). Compare Spanish lunel, Italian lunello.

(heraldry) A charge formed by four crescents in cross with their horns pointing inwards.


MOUT

Military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) present many unique and challenging conditions for the warfighter.

2011, Borko Furht, Handbook of Augmented Reality, page 681:

(US, military) Acronym of military operations in urban terrain.


jump jet

Yet, 24 of the 110 Harrier AV-8A jump jets, the British-built aircraft capable of leaping straight up from a carrier deck and then accelerating to more than 500 m.p.h., have crashed since the Marines first bought them seven years ago.

1977 August 15, “Aircraft: The Marines' Bad Luck Plane”, in Time:

(informal, military) A jet airplane with fixed wings that is capable of vertical takeoff and landing as well as hovering, and, in some cases, also capable of becoming airborne in a conventional manner by gaining airspeed on a runaway.


free vote

Westminster parliamentary system
Westminster parliamentary system

(politics) In a Westminster parliamentary system and other democratic systems, a vote by members of a legislative body in which the members are permitted by their respective political parties to vote as they individually see fit, without direction from their political leaders.


whipped vote

Any minister who failed to support it in a whipped vote would be expected to resign.

2008 March 24, “PM Under Fire Over Hybrid Embryo Row”, in Sky News, UK, retrieved 2011-05-31:

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has called for a whipped vote, and the party says all 77 Liberals will vote to kill the bill.

2010 September 13, “Pro-gun registry side gains another NDP vote”, in CBC News, Canada, retrieved 2011-05-31:

The lowest part of her political career was following the Liberal government's whipped vote to limit compensation to hepatitis C victims in 1998.

2011 May 2, Kate Malloy, “Advice from a veteran politico”, in Hill Times, Canada, retrieved 2011-05-31:

(politics) In the Westminster parliamentary system, a vote by members of a legislative body in which the members are strictly required to vote as directed by the leadership of their political party.


party whip

(politics) Within a legislative body, a member appointed by a political party and given the authority to ensure that all members of that party participate in voting and vote strictly as directed by the party in all votes where adherence to a party line is required.


neopopulism

President Chávez has been buying and selling against this idea, continuing to practice the kind of neopopulism that will reach its limit only when the country receives what economists call an external shock.

2007 December 1, RAÚL ISAÍAS BADUEL, “Why I Parted Ways With Chávez”, in New York Times:

(politics) A cultural and political movement, mainly in Latin American countries, distinct from twentieth-century populism in radically combining classically opposed left-wing and right-wing attitudes and using electronic media as a means of dissemination.


zero option

(US, politics, historical) A 1980s plan whereby all Soviet and American nuclear weapons would be mutually withdrawn from Europe.


Johnsonian

en-adj

Johnsonian (comparative more Johnsonian, superlative most Johnsonian)

more Johnsonian (comparative)
most Johnsonian (superlative)

/d͡ʒɒnˈsəʊnɪ.ən/

(US politics) Of or pertaining to Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973), American politician and president of the United States from 1963 to 1969.

To stop no-deal, MPs must adopt some Johnsonian ruthlessness and be ready to bring down the prime minister and put someone else, probably Jeremy Corbyn, in his place.

2019 August 29, “The Guardian view on Johnson v parliament: an unelective dictatorship”, in The Guardian:

(UK politics) Of or pertaining to Boris Johnson (born 1964), English politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022.


counterair

(military) Attacking the air force of an opposing power.


segregationism

Mr. Rollins, for his part, traced Mr. Huckabee's political lineage back to George Wallace in 1968 (without the segregationism). Mr. Wallace and, later, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot appealed to the same blocs of working-class voters and socially conservative white Southerners that the Republican Party began trying to court in Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign.

2007 December 30, David D. Kirkpatrick, “Shake, Rattle and Roil the Grand Ol' Coalition”, in New York Times:

(politics) A belief in (usually racial) segregation.


minimumweight

The Japanese boxer Yutaka Niida stopped the challenger José Varela of Venezuela in the sixth round on in Tokyo to defend his W.B.A. minimumweight title.

2008 March 2, The Associated Press, “Niida Wins in Title Defense”, in New York Times:

(boxing) The lowest weight class in professional boxing, where boxers may weigh no more than 105 pounds (48 kg).

szalmasúly

the lowest weight class in professional boxing


strawweight

en-noun

strawweight (countable and uncountable, plural strawweights)

(mixed martial arts) the weight class of 106-115 lbs, above atomweight and below flyweight


pivotman

pivotmen (plural)
pivot man (alternative)

(military) A pivot; the soldier around whom a body of troops wheels.


hypercapitalism

Perhaps Americans will finally choose to stop living in an economic Wild West and at last reject the boom-and-bust cycle of turbocharged hypercapitalism in favor of a more humane, livable society.

2008 March 30, “Letters”, in New York Times:

CCRU members disavowed the leftist pieties of their peers and fused cybernetics, metallurgy, bacteriology, chaos theory, science-fiction and the occult to explore, often in deliriously opaque language, what it meant to be alive in an age of hypercapitalism.

2015 November 16, Sukhdev Sandhu, “How dub master Kode9 became the hero of zero”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Under hypercapitalism, the most beautiful things are the surest signs of impending crisis. The nap seems like a luxury, or even a sign of weakness, a regression into infantlike torpor.

2018 December 1, Stephen Marche, “The $25 Nap Is Worth It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The collapse of the Soviet Union and Communism at the beginning of the 1990s was very good news, but it had the unfortunate effect of making almost any left critique of America’s new hypercapitalism seem not just quixotic but also kind of corny and quaint.

2020 August 7, Kurt Andersen, “College-Educated Professionals Are Capitalism’s Useful Idiots”, in The Atlantic:

However, the politics are much different. Silicon Valley’s libertarian, technocratic ideals – themselves a curious mutation of the California counterculture – could extend the darker aspects of hyper-capitalism.

2021 February 5, Matt Shaw, “Billionaire capitalists are designing humanity's future. Don't let them”, in The Guardian:

(capitalism) Extreme capitalism at the expense of traditional values.


PFLP

Israeli jets had strafed the main road during the day and PFLP guerrillas on the coast road were stunned to see the five men, all dressed in jackets and ties, hurtling down the highway towards them in the early hours.

2001 [1990], Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 410:

w:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

(Palestinian politics) Initialism of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.


neoimperialism

neoimperialism (usually uncountable, plural neoimperialisms)

neoimperialisms (plural)
neo-imperialism (alternative)

PIE word
 *h₁én
From neo- (prefix meaning ‘contemporary; new’) + imperialism.

affix

[T]he Turkish Government should from now on recognize and act upon the assumption that Russian neo-imperialism is a definite threat to the safety and independence of Turkey.

1939 November 9 (date written), J. V. A. MacMurray, “Activities of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, and Soviet Relations with the Belligerent Powers: III. Activities of the Soviet Union in the Balkans; the Seizure of Bessarabia: The Ambassador in Turkey (MacMurray) to President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt”, in Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers: 1940 […] (Department of State Publication; 6818), volume I (General), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1959, →OCLC, page 450:

From the moment this word [Geopolitik] was seized by the Germans, it became the best descriptive term of the guiding philosophy of German neoimperialism.

1947 fall, Harry A. Sachaklian, “Geopolitics versus Geologistics”, in Air University Quarterly Review, volume I, number 2, Maxwell Field, Ala.: Air University, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 53–54:

[T]he Afro-Asian peoples common basic mission is to continue their present battle against the old and neoimperialisms and to win and secure national independence.

1963 December 23, “[United Arab Republic] UAR–CPR Joint Communique”, in Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts, number 247, [Washington, D.C.]: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, →OCLC, page B-7:

After World War II, European powers like Britain and France adopted a strategy of neoimperialism. Financially depleted by years of warfare, and facing intensified popular resistance from within the Third World itself, they reluctantly decided that indirect economic hegemony was less costly and politically more expedient than outright colonial rule. […] Furthermore, under neoimperialism the native government takes up the costs of administering the country while the imperialist interests are free to concentrate on accumulating capital, which is all they really want to do.

1995, Michael Parenti, “Imperialism 101”, in Nancy J[oyce] Peters, editor, Against Empire, San Francisco, Calif.: City Light Books, →ISBN, page 16:

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Western powers put aside the indirect forms of neo-imperialism and opted for direct colonialism.

2000, Michael Parenti, “Bosnia: New Colonies”, in To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia, paperback edition, London: Verso, published 2002, →ISBN, page 57:

In his 1958 autobiography, he [Edgar Snow] described Marxism as a 'heretical' descendant of Western Judeo-Christianity that was an imperfect fit as an ideology for anti-colonial revolutions in Asia. The old empires were crumbling but were being replaced by neo-imperialisms.

2023, John Sexton, “Red Star and Paper Tiger”, in Red Friends: Internationalists in China’s Struggle for Liberation, London; Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Verso, →ISBN, page 150:

To survive Russia's neo-imperialism, Europe's democracies must find a balance between their desire for peace and their own defence[.]

2023 October 17, Volodymyr Yermolenko, “Europe seeks peace, not war. But will it be ready if war comes to Europe?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-02-16:

(politics) A contemporary form of imperialism; modern imperialistic practices by a country, such as using influence and power to dominate smaller countries.


fleet in being

fleets in being (plural)
fleet-in-being (alternative)

First used in 1690 by British Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, in defending his strategy of keeping his fleet in port until reinforcements arrived, rather than engaging with the superior French force.

In point of fact command of the sea and a fleet in being are mutually exclusive terms.

1895, “The Armada”, in The Quarterly Review, volume 182, number 363, John Murray, page 6:

But even for that navy, with its strong tradition of offensive action, there were occasions when the fleet-in-being strategy was prudent and effective.

1994, Colin S. Gray, The Navy in the Post-Cold War World: The Uses and Value of Strategic Sea Power, page 85:

Lines of communication in space, on the other hand, move physical elements, but they are also used to move non-physical elements as well, such as data and information. Consequently, the space equivalent to "fleet in being" should recognize this fundamental difference. […] Whereas the naval fleet in being strategy uses ships to dispute command of the sea, a space strategy employing a force in being may use physical assets as well as non-physical means.

2006, John J. Klein, Space Warfare: Strategy, Principles, and Policy, page 122:

It should instead have been saved as a reserve force, a fleet in being, as long as possible, and then committed in a Riskflotte operation at a key juncture, striking a decisive blow even if it involved its sacrifice.

2007, James B. Wood, Japanese Military Strategy in the Pacific War: Was Defeat Inevitable?, page 81:

(military, navy, countable) A naval fleet which exerts an influence while remaining in port.


antikidnapping

In the capital on Friday, a city police commander, Esteban Robles Espinosa, 52, who once headed the department’s antikidnapping division, was shot and killed as he left his house at 7:30 a.m.

2008 May 10, James C. Mckinley Jr., “Caught in a Swirl of Drug Violence, Mexico Vows to Fight Back”, in New York Times:

(law enforcement) Preventing or countering kidnapping.


antikidnap

He was never seen again, and the case remains unsolved today. Its haunting aftermath produced new antikidnap legislation[…]

2002, Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings, page 187:

A first step in a company's defense against executive kidnapping is to develop a policy and obtain approval of an antikidnap plan.

2010, John Fay, Contemporary Security Management, page 359:


politiquera

“I’ve been a politiquera for 20 years,” Ms. Espinoza said in an interview last week outside her trailer in the town of Pharr.

2008 May 13, Michael Luo, “A Usually Legal Practice That Wears Black Eyes”, in New York Times:

(US politics) One who is paid by an election campaign to issue fliers to householders and encourage them to go and vote for a particular candidate.


postprimary

Barack Obama is having the first postprimary crisis, a moment in which the only conceivable response is: what was he thinking?

2008 June 12, Gail Collins, “Barack’s Bad Day”, in New York Times:


quality of life

en-noun

quality of life (countable and uncountable, plural qualities of life)

جَوْدَة الْحَيَاة

general well-being of individuals and societies

In July 1994, New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and police commissioner William Bratton began implementing an order-maintenance policing strategy emphasizing proactive and aggressive enforcement of misdemeanor laws against quality-of-life offenses such as graffiti writing, loitering, public urination, public drinking, aggressive panhandling, turnstile jumping, and prostitution.

2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order:

The general well-being of something or someone.


exit strategy

desc

→ German: Exit-Strategie (partial calque)

Near-synonym: exit policy

Seeking an exit strategy before sailing in harm's way is smart, but it must be related to the mission's goal.

1993 October 18, Michael Kramer, “The Political Interest It's All Foreign to Clinton”, in Time:

"But most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there."

2005 February 1, David E. Sanger, Steven R. Weisman, “In U.S., White House and the Democrats Seek an Edge”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-06-30:

Mergers, acquisitions and IPOs are no longer a reliable exit strategy with capital markets tanking and buyers wary.

2009 February 26, David Lawsky, “Silicon Valley: down but not out?”, in Forbes, retrieved 2011-06-30:

“If your question is, ‘Do I think we should be more aggressive with Belarus,” my answer is no,” he said, emphasizing that Western leaders needed to offer Mr. Lukashenko an “exit strategy.”

2023 June 22, Valerie Hopkins, quoting Emmanuel Macron, “Belarus Is Fast Becoming a ‘Vassal State’ of Russia”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(usually military, politics or business) A well-defined plan for bringing involvement in a mission, activity, or commitment to an acceptable conclusion.


Rothbardian

en-adj

Rothbardian (comparative more Rothbardian, superlative most Rothbardian)

more Rothbardian (comparative)
most Rothbardian (superlative)

Economists familiar with the Rothbardian tradition have taken the analysis even further, persuasively arguing that Somalia is much better without a state than it was with one.

2011, Robert P. Murphy, Mises Daily, Anarchy in Somalia:

(politics, economics) Of or pertaining to American economist, libertarian and anarcho-capitalist political philosopher Murray N. Rothbard, his work, or his theories.

rothbardiano

of or pertaining to Murray N. Rothbard or his theories


Rothbardian

The standard statist put-down — "If you Rothbardians like anarchy so much, why don't you move to Somalia?" — misses the point.

(politics, economics) A proponent of the political and/or economic philosophy championed by Murray N. Rothbard.


amtrac

(military) An amphibious vehicle of a class introduced in World War II.


landing vehicle tracked

en-noun

landing vehicle tracked (plural landing vehicles tracked)


LVT

landing vehicle tracked
landing vehicle tracked#English

(military) Initialism of landing vehicle tracked.


Atlanticism

From Atlantic + -ism, from the name of the Atlantic Ocean between the two continents.

Dugin’s main argument in Foundations came straight from Haushofer’s pages: the need to thwart the conspiracy of “Atlanticism” led by the United States and NATO and aimed at containing Russia within successive geographic rings of newly independent states.

2016 July 27, Charles Clover, “The Unlikely Origins of Russia's Manifest Destiny”, in Foreign Policy:

(politics) A philosophy of cooperation among Western European and North American nations.


democratic deficit

democratic deficit (plural democratic deficits)

First used by the Young European Federalists in their Manifesto in 1977.

The euro was launched with a fundamental democratic deficit, which didn’t trouble the European elite behind it because they had come to believe in a version of manifest destiny.

2011, John Lanchester, Once Greece goes…:

(politics) A situation when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions (particularly governments) are seen to be falling short of fulfilling the principles of the parliamentary democracy in their practices or operation where representative and linked parliamentary integrity becomes widely discussed.

demokratiavaje

situation in which principles of parliamentary democracy are not fulfilled


supply depot

(military) A facility used by armies to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to army units.


armor-piercing shot

armor-piercing shot (plural armor-piercing shots)

(military) An armor-piercing solid metal projectile having no bursting charge, in use mainly during World War II, abbreviated AP, or simply "shot".


dancetté

From French danché, related to dent (“tooth”).

dancettée (alternative)
dancetty (alternative)

A fess dancetté has only three teeth in the whole width of the escutcheon.

(heraldry) Deeply indented; having large teeth.


nomocracy

nomocracy (countable and uncountable, plural nomocracies)

(politics) A political system under the sovereignty of rational laws and civic rights.

nomokratia

political system under the sovereignty rational laws and civic rights


lioncel

lioncels (plural)
lioncelle (alternative)

(heraldry) A small lion, when one of several in a coat of arms.


useful idiot

Vladimir Lenin
it:L'Umanità (quotidiano)

The earliest known usage in Western media is in a 1948 article in the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanità – as cited in the New York Times article on Italian politics (see quotations). Often misattributed to Vladimir Lenin.

L'Umanita said the Communists would give the “useful idiots” of the left-wing Socialist party the choice of merging with the Communist party or getting out.

1948 June 21, Arnold Cortesi, “Communist Shift Is Seen In Europe”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page 14:

During the 1930s and ’40s and ’50s, the right had derided liberal writers and editors as Communists’ “useful idiots,” unwittingly doing the Communists’ propaganda work; it looks in retrospect as if, starting in the 1970s, a lot of them—of us—became capitalists’ useful idiots.

2020 August 7, Kurt Andersen, “College-Educated Professionals Are Capitalism’s Useful Idiots”, in The Atlantic:

(historical, derogatory, politics) A Communist sympathizer in Western countries, from the perspective of the political right.

But what should the Obama Cult do now? The man has turned off the switch on the "Hopenosis" and has revealed the "Change Brigade" for the useful idiots they were.

2009 January 22, Alex Knepper, “Obama's cabinet appointments contradict with message”, in The Mirror (Fairfield University), volume 34, number 15, page 3:

“President Trump should be considered to be a useful idiot and a fellow traveler, which makes him an unwitting agent of Putin,” he says.

2020 September 14, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Alexander Vindman, “Alexander Vindman: Trump Is Putin’s ‘Useful Idiot’”, in The Atlantic:

(derogatory, politics) One who unwittingly supports a malignant cause through naive attempts to be a force for good.


number nine

A number nine pill was all they could hope for if they went sick.

1930, Siegfried Sassoon, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, London: Faber and Faber, page 310 (Faber Paper 1972 edition):

(dated, British Army military slang) A laxative pill.


MGySgt

Master Gunnery Sergeant
w:Master Gunnery Sergeant

(US, military) Abbreviation of Master Gunnery Sergeant.


BBA

balanced budget amendment
balanced budget amendment#English

(US, politics, finance, law) Initialism of balanced budget amendment.


Number Ten

No 10 (alternative)
Number 10 (alternative)

10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street#English

(UK politics, colloquial) Synonym of 10 Downing Street.


soft power

soft power (countable and uncountable, plural soft powers)

Coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s and popularized in the 1990 book “Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power”.

coined

Soft power is a country's cultural and ideological appeal. It is the ability to get desired outcomes through attraction instead of force.

1999 March 8, Joseph S. Nye Jr., “The Challenge of Soft Power”, in Time:

The bank often provides the hard currency for Chinese soft power aspirations: In Africa, China ExIm has handed out more than $7 billion in loans in recent years.

2007 May 23, Jim Yardley, “Blocked by U.S., China finds it own way to space”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-07-16:

India will set up cultural centres in five more countries to showcase its soft power and acquire a global footprint for its rich diversity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Saturday.

2011 January 8, “More Indian cultural centres to showcase soft power: PM”, in Indiaweb123.com, retrieved 2011-07-16:

His bid to popularize Mr. Liu’s novels was a rare attempt to export Chinese popular culture — something that has eluded China as its government yearns to wield the same soft power the United States commands with its movies, music and sports stars.

2024 April 1, David Pierson, “The Bizarre Chinese Murder Plot Behind Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

But for all its contemporary soft power — the “Emily in Paris” tie-in, the medals displayed in Louis Vuitton trunks — these Paris Olympics will also be a throwback.

2024 July 25, Jason Farago, “Why the Olympics’ Parade of Nations Is the World’s Costume Party”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(politics) Political influence that is extended by means of diplomacy, media, international assistance, cultural exchanges, etc., rather than by such "hard" means as military intervention or punitive economic measures.

القُوَّة النَّاعِمَة

political influence that is extended by means of diplomacy, international assistance, cultural exchanges, etc.


SecDef

Secretary of Defense
w:Secretary of Defense

(US, government, military) Abbreviation of Secretary of Defense, civilian head of the US Department of Defense.


read off

en-verb

read off (third-person singular simple present reads off, present participle reading off, simple past and past participle read off)

reads off (present singular third-person)
reading off (participle present)
read off (participle past)
read off (past)

He also knows that he has a tendency towards being overweight and watches his diet carefully, and he can tell you everything there is to know about every man in his platoon. Yet, more than once, I've read him off for being partial to a couple of obvious earbangers, and the simplest problem can make him indecisive.

(transitive, US, military, slang) To scold or reprimand.


stand-to

en-noun

stand-to (plural stands-to or stand-tos)

stands-to (plural)
stand-tos (plural)
stand to (alternative)

"Stand-to" at dusk for about an hour, work all night, "stand-to" for an hour before dawn. That's the general programme.

1915, Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That, (1929), Penguin Modern Classics 1960, p. 86

(military) A state of readiness assumed by ground troops at dawn and dusk in wartime.


stand-to

en-verb

stand-to (third-person singular simple present stands-to, present participle standing-to, simple past and past participle stood-to)

stands-to (present singular third-person)
standing-to (participle present)
stood-to (participle past)
stood-to (past)
stand to (alternative)

I passed the word along the line for the company to stand-to arms. The N.C.O's whispered hoarsely into the dug-outs: ‘Stand-to, stand-to,’ and out the men tumbled with their rifles in their hands.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 141:

(military) To assume such a state of readiness.


double action

(firearms, primarily of revolvers) Requiring only a trigger pull to both cock and fire.


double action

double actions (plural)
double-action (alternative)

(firearms) A trigger mechanism requiring a single pull to both cock and fire.


BCT

brigade combat team
brigade combat team#English

(military) Initialism of brigade combat team.

battalion combat team
battalion combat team#English

(military) Initialism of battalion combat team.


hidden tax

(taxation) A tax that is not visible to the consumer at the point of retail, having been levied on intermediate products, such as inputs to a finished product, or outputs from raw material production.


first order of the day

en-noun

first order of the day (plural first orders of the day)

...from the Commons should be the first Order of the day.

1699, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords, The Manuscripts of the House of Lords: Volume 4, page ix:

(politics) An item of business that will be discussed before any other item on a particular day when a legislature is sitting.


SCT

SCT (countable and uncountable, plural SCTs)

(military) Abbreviation of squad combat team.


Kingo

(UK, military, slang) A member of the King's Liverpool Regiment, later the King's Regiment.


cultural Marxism

Coined by Trent Schroyer's The Critique of Domination: The Origins and Development of Critical Theory (1973).

She said: “We are engaging in many battles right now. As Conservatives we are engaged in a battle against cultural Marxism, where banning things is becoming de rigueur, where freedom of speech is becoming a taboo, where our universities – quintessential institutions of liberalism – are being shrouded in censorship and a culture of no-platforming.”

2019 March 27, Benjamin Kentish, quoting Suella Braverman, “Conservative MP condemned for repeating far-right, antisemitic conspiracy theory about ‘cultural Marxism’”, in The Independent:

A Conservative MP has claimed the UK’s low birthrate is the most pressing policy issue of the generation and is caused in part by “cultural Marxism” stripping young people of any hope, at the start of a populist-tinged conference in London.

2023 May 15, Peter Walker, Pippa Crerar, quoting Miriam Cates, “Low birthrate is UK’s top priority, Tory MP tells rightwing conference”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(politics) A perceived Marxist conspiracy controlling modern progressive politics, mass media, and academia.

اَلْمَارْكْسِيَّة ثَقَافِيَّة

conspiracy theory that cultural elements that were perceived to be propagating undesirable Marxist ideas by the Frankfurt School


social safety net

social safety net (plural social safety nets)

CBS News used emotion-charged tales to make the case that some of the nation's truly needy are falling through the social safety net.

1982 May 3, “The White House vs. CBS”, in Time:

We can have a social safety net that protects our retired citizens from poverty and makes sure they can afford adequate health care.

2005 February 10, “Editorial: When Math Is Worse Than Fuzzy”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-07-24:

Canadians are happy to tell anyone who will listen what makes this country great is our safe streets, health care and social safety net.

2007 January 26, Murray Waldman, “Rights are a gift from the good guys”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 2011-07-24:

(politics, social policy) A set of governmental programs, entitlements, or benefits providing citizens and residents with a minimum level of financial protection, food, access to public infrastructure, or medical services.


whizz-bang

whizz-bangs (plural)
whiz-bang (alternative)

Some other new chaps started blazing away, too. Fritz retaliated with machine-guns and whizz-bangs. No casualties.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 139:

(British, military slang, historical) A small calibre shell from World War I.


Maxim gun

After the inventor, Sir Hiram Maxim (1840-1916).

Maxim (alternative)
maxim (alternative)
maxim gun (alternative)

(firearms) A British machine gun of various calibres used by the British army from 1889 until World War II.

(firearms) A machine gun which derives after some manner from the patented gun mechanism of Sir Hiram Maxim

(firearms, informal, obsolete) A machine gun


municipalidad

(government) The governing body of a territory in various Latin American countries.


denticulated

(heraldry, of a bordure, very rare) Embattled, but with only the projecting portions visible, so that the bordure appears non-contiguous (but the spaces are part of the field, unlike compony).


SLD

Scottish Liberal Democrats
w:Scottish Liberal Democrats

(UK politics) Initialism of Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Social and Liberal Democrats
w:Social and Liberal Democrats

(UK politics) Initialism of Social and Liberal Democrats, the former name of the Liberal Democrats.


tertiate

en-verb

tertiate (third-person singular simple present tertiates, present participle tertiating, simple past and past participle tertiated)

tertiates (present singular third-person)
tertiating (participle present)
tertiated (participle past)
tertiated (past)

Borrowed from Latin tertiāt-, the perfect passive participial stem of Latin tertiō, from tertius (“third”).

(firearms) To examine, as the thickness of the metal at the muzzle of a gun; or, in general, to examine the thickness of, as ordnance, in order to ascertain its strength.


centesimation

en-noun

centesimation (countable and uncountable, plural centesimations)

From the Latin centēsimātiō, from centēsimō, from centēsimus (“hundredth”); compare quintation, septimation, decimation, vicesimation, and tricesimation.

CENTESIMATION, a milder kind of military puniſhment, in caſes of deſertion, mutiny, and the like, when only every hundredth man is executed.

1763, A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, second edition, page 522:

Sometimes the criminals were decimated by lot, as appears in Polybius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Appian, Dio, Julius Capitolinus, who also mentions a centesimation.

1897, The Columbian Cyclopedia VI, “centesimate”
To inflict the punishment of centesimation.

Centesimation…carries only one-tenth the sensation value of “decimation”.

1980, Stephen Spender, Irving Kristol, editors, Encounter, LIV, page 71:

Decimate, to select by lot and put to death every tenth man of (a captured army or body of prisoners or mutineers) […] Compare 1/100: centesimation.

1992, Laurence Urdang, Three Toed Sloths and Seven League Boots, page 151:

(military history, rare) The selection by lot of every hundredth man (of an army or group of prisoners or mutineers) for execution.

quintation (1

proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part


veepstakes

veepstakes (plural)
Veepstakes (alternative)

Blend of veep (“(informal) Vice President of the United States”) + sweepstakes (plural of sweepstake (“lottery in which the prize or prizes constitute all the money paid by the participants”)).

blend

The candidate for the challenging party was undergoing a veepstakes.

What America needs now is comedy—so hurray, we're getting ready to elect a Vice-President! Sure, we elect a Boss Man too, but it'll be the Veepstakes that'll provide the laughs.

1952 May 13, Earl Wilson, “It happened last night: Veepstakes provide laughs even in serious campaign”, in W. E. Christenson, editor, Evening World-Herald, number 222, Omaha, Neb.: World Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 25, column 3:

[Barbara] Mikulski, who is 47, is the least chic of the women mentioned in the veepstakes. Barely 4 feet 11 inches tall, she barrels through the halls of Congress like a small tank. Her facial expressions swing from a pugnacious frown to an impish grin.

1984 June, Kaye Northcott, “Campaign 84: Only a Heartbeat Away: Will the Next Vice President of the United States be a Woman?”, in Deirdre English, editor, Mother Jones, volume IX, number V, San Francisco, Calif.: Foundation for National Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40, columns 1–2:

If [Spiro] Agnew abandoned his inflammatory rhetoric during the 1972 campaign, he did not abandon his corrosive wit altogether. The more restrained Agnew twitted Sargent Shriver, the Democratic candidate in the Veepstakes, on his personal wealth.

1994, Gerald [Clifford] Gardner, “Campaign 1972: So I Made a Mistake”, in Campaign Comedy: Political Humor from Clinton to Kennedy (Humor in Life and Letters), Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, →ISBN, page 194:

He laughed again and we talked vividly, I recall, on the topic of how many people in Washington are obsessed with where they rank, how they’re perceived. It’s a particularly acute concern in television and politics—ratings, veepstakes, poll numbers, the kind of things that mean everything and nothing in Washington.

2008 June 15, Mark Leibovich, “Tiny town: Washington after a fall”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-01:

Mr. [Chuck] Todd, whose ubiquity as a running-mate handicapper at his network is akin to Mel Kiper Jr.’s as an N.F.L. draft expert on ESPN, said that all the time and energy devoted to the veepstakes these days is well spent.

2008 June 22, Mark Leibovich, “The great American float”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

The above is worth remembering as the presidential race turns the corner into its most feverishly speculative, excessively breathless phase: the veepstakes.

2012 April 2, Frank Bruni, “And now, the veepstakes”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-17:

Harris’s choice will come down to “who can have the hard conversations”, a former Harris aide turned US senator said as the “veepstakes” neared their conclusion.

2024 August 3, Martin Pengelly, “Crunch time in ‘veepstakes’ as Kamala Harris prepares to choose running mate”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US politics, slang, humorous) The process by which candidates for the Presidency of the United States choose a running mate to become the Vice President if elected.


OPV

optionally piloted vehicle
optionally piloted vehicle#English

(military, aviation, US) Initialism of optionally piloted vehicle.


optionally piloted vehicle

en-noun

optionally piloted vehicle (plural optionally piloted vehicles)

(US, military, aviation) An aircraft that may be manned or unmanned, able to function in either mode without modification.


XO

XOs (plural)
X.O. (alternative)
X.O (alternative)
X. O. (alternative)
X.O. (alternative)
X. O. (alternative)

executive officer
executive officer#English

(military, nautical) Initialism of executive officer.


flypaper theory

(military) The idea that it is desirable to lure one's enemies into a single country or area where they can be more effectively dealt with.


domino theory

An allusion to a row of dominoes in which the fall of one leads to a cascade of falling pieces.

(politics, historical) Synonym of domino effect.


MCC

Monitored Command Code
Monitored Command Code


Cleggmania

Before the debate the Daily Telegraph, a Conservative-leaning newspaper, had tried to prick the Cleggmania bubble by running a story alleging that Clegg had received payments from party donors directly into his private bank account.

2010, John Bartle, Nicholas Allen, Britain at the Polls 2010, page 192:

Cleggmania briefly hit Orpington but we need to call our voters and tell them to stick to the blue corner[…]

2011, Rachel Johnson, A Diary of The Lady: My First Year As Editor:

(UK politics, informal) Enthusiasm for British Liberal Democrat politician Nick Clegg.


pseudodemocracy

pseudodemocracies (plural)
pseudo-democracy (alternative)

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

It has long been an article of faith that these pseudodemocracies are inherently unstable.

2009 March 22, Kenneth Roth, “Ballots and Bullets”, in New York Times:

(politics) A government that holds elections but restricts civil liberties.

pseudodemokratia

a government that holds elections but restricts civil liberties


pseudodemocratic

en-adj

pseudodemocratic (comparative more pseudodemocratic, superlative most pseudodemocratic)

more pseudodemocratic (comparative)
most pseudodemocratic (superlative)

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

(politics) Of or pertaining to pseudodemocracy.


backstrap

(firearms) The rearmost surface applied to the grip especially of a pistol below a possible beavertail.


CDP

en:Constitutional Democratic Party (disambiguation)

(politics) Initialism of Constitutional Democratic Party.


HillaryCare

Hillarycare (alternative)
Hillary-care (alternative)
Hillary Care (alternative)

Blend of Hillary + healthcare, after Hillary Rodham Clinton, chair of the task-force that developed the plan.

(US politics, chiefly derisive) The Clinton health care plan of 1993.


bootneck

(UK, slang, military) A member of the Royal Marines.


meat safe

meat safes (plural)
meatsafe (alternative)

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

“[…] but Bob ’e jumps inside an’ ’e lets ’im ’ave it plumb square on the meat safe as ’ard as ever the Lord would let ’im put it in.”

1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 10, in Rodney Stone,, London: Smith, Elder, page 172:

[…] with him carryin’ his guard high, and leavin’ the way to his meat safe open half the time, it was all I could do to hold myself back.

1908, Sewell Ford, chapter 14, in Side-Stepping with Shorty, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 221:


antiliberal

antiliberal (comparative more antiliberal, superlative most antiliberal)

more antiliberal (comparative)
most antiliberal (superlative)
anti-liberal (alternative)


antiliberal

antiliberals (plural)
anti-liberal (alternative)


antisubversive

antisubversive (comparative more antisubversive, superlative most antisubversive)

more antisubversive (comparative)
most antisubversive (superlative)

(politics) Opposing or countering political subversion.

ანტისუბვერსიული

opposing or countering political subversion


antilibertarian

antilibertarian (comparative more antilibertarian, superlative most antilibertarian)

more antilibertarian (comparative)
most antilibertarian (superlative)


antiking

antikings (plural)
anti-king (alternative)

From anti- + king. Calque of German Gegenkönig.

The political opposition in Germany carried on regardless, electing Rudolf of Rheinfelden as the first ever anti-king at an assembly in Forchheim on 15 March 1077.

2016, Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Penguin, published 2017, page 58:

(politics) One who declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch, especially in an electoral monarchy.

tegenkoning

one who declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch


antiair

anti-air (alternative)
anti air (alternative)

(military, aviation) Synonym of antiaircraft.


antisurface

(military) Attacking military units that are on the surface of the ocean.


antilaundering

(law enforcement) Countering money laundering.


cybercommand

The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital networks.

2009 May 29, David E. Sanger, “Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Wars in Cyberspace”, in New York Times:

(military) A facility capable of launching attacks in cyberspace.


put over

en-verb

put over (third-person singular simple present puts over, present participle putting over, simple past and past participle put over)

puts over (present singular third-person)
putting over (participle present)
put over (participle past)
put over (past)

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling slang) To increase the popularity or prove the legitimacy of another wrestler, usually by losing to them.


taihoa

Borrowed from Maori taihoa (“wait; do not hurry”).

He found in office that the taihoa policy was not the creation of his predecessor, but was imposed by the fundamental conditions of the problem to which every Native Minister has to address himself.

1970, James A. Clifton, Applied anthropology: readings in the uses of the science of man:

The main aim of the Liberal government had always been pakeha land settlement, even through the taihoa period.

2004, Richard S. Hill, State authority, indigenous autonomy, page 101:

(New Zealand politics) Slow and cautious; gradual.


principalist

“The principalists have shown to the people what serving the people really means,” he said, using a word he prefers to “fundamentalists.”

2009 June 8, Robert F. Worth, “In Iran, Harsh Talk as Election Nears”, in New York Times:


PBI

(military) Initialism of poor bloody infantry, the infantry of the British Army.


antiparty

en-adj

antiparty (comparative more antiparty, superlative most antiparty)

more antiparty (comparative)
most antiparty (superlative)

As in the whole country, cadres and poor and lower-middle peasants in our Taning County, inspired by the spirit of the National Conference on Learning From Tachai in Agriculture, were greatly stimulated and high in spirits and resolved to fight hard in the movement of learning from Tachai in agriculture and building Tachai-type counties everywhere.
In the face of the excellent situation, the anti-party clique of the "gang of four,"--Wang, Chang, Chiang and Yao--stepped up their antiparty activities and strengthend their attacks on the party.[…]
Today the party Central Committee headed by Chairman Hua Kuo-feng, carrying on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and representing the basic interests of hundreds of millions of the revolutionary cadres and poor and lower-middle peasants, has smashed the intrigues of the antiparty clique of the "Gang of four" to usurp the party and seize power and sent the scoundrels--Wang Hung-wen, Chang Chun-chiao, Chiang Ching and Yao Wen-yuan--into the dock of history.

1976 November 5 [1976 November 2], “The 'Gang of Four' Sabotaged the Campaign to Learn From Tachai in Agriculture in a Vain Attempt to Restore Capitalism”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 215, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Taiyuan Shansi Provincial Service, translation of original by Taning County CCP Committee (in Mandarin), →ISSN, →OCLC, pages K 4, K 5:

"They said that I had contacted foreign media and called me anti-China, antipeople and antiparty."

2009 January 9, Edward Wong, “Police in China Halt Parents Seeking Investigation Into School Collapses”, in New York Times:

(politics) Opposing a particular political party.


antiparty

Differences arise over what kinds of organization are desirable (eg, political parties or antiparties, professionalized organizations, decentralized networks, communes, grassroots groups) and over tactical questions of what is to be done[…]

1999, Douglas Torgerson, The promise of green politics: environmentalism and the public sphere, page 46:

(politics) A political party that shuns or rejects the mainstream political establishment.

ანტიპარტია

a political party that shuns or rejects the mainstream political establishment


countervair

(heraldry) A heraldic fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures: succeeding rows are reversed instead of staggered, so the bases of the panes of each tincture are opposite those of the same tincture in adjoining rows.


Montreal Metropolitan Community

Greater Montreal Area
Greater Montreal Area

(government) the supramunicipal level of government for the Greater Montreal Area formed in 2002 to replace the MUC.


caveating

Caveating is so necessary a motion in fencing, that without it there could be scarcely any offensive part, or pursuit.

(fencing) Shifting the sword from one side of an adversary's sword to the other.


antiworker

antiworker (comparative more antiworker, superlative most antiworker)

more antiworker (comparative)
most antiworker (superlative)
anti-worker (alternative)

Sitting in his conference room, which looks across Lafayette Park to the White House, he said, “We had eight years of an antiworker administration,” a comment on the years under Mr. Bush.

2009 September 13, Steven Greenhouse, “Labor Leader Is Stepping Down Both Proud and Frustrated”, in New York Times:


antimonarchy

antimonarchy (comparative more antimonarchy, superlative most antimonarchy)

more antimonarchy (comparative)
most antimonarchy (superlative)

The agency, the Charity Commission, has asked the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment to explain its relationship with Prince Charles after an antimonarchy group, called Republic, filed a complaint that said the prince was using the foundation to enforce his “personal tastes.”

2009 September 16, “A Prince’s Charity Is Investigated”, in New York Times:

(politics) Opposing a specific monarchical system or monarchy in general.


uncase

en-verb

uncase (third-person singular simple present uncases, present participle uncasing, simple past and past participle uncased)

uncases (present singular third-person)
uncasing (participle present)
uncased (participle past)
uncased (past)

(transitive, military) To display, or spread to view, as a flag, or the colors of a military body.


triphibious

(military) Involving land, air and sea forces.


crossbody

(wrestling) a move in which a wrestler jumps onto his opponent and lands horizontally across the opponent's torso, forcing them to the mat.


fire service

en-noun

fire service (countable and uncountable, plural fire services)

(firefighting) Service in a fire department or other firefighting organization, whether as a chosen career, or as a result of volunteering or a form of prison labor.


pair off

en-verb

pair off (third-person singular simple present pairs off, present participle pairing off, simple past and past participle paired off)

pairs off (present singular third-person)
pairing off (participle present)
paired off (participle past)
paired off (past)

(intransitive, politics, dated) To agree with one of the opposite party or opinion to abstain from voting on specified questions or issues.


PNP

Philippine National Police
w:Philippine National Police

(Philippines, law enforcement) Initialism of Philippine National Police.


PEP

Come a survey like last week’s PEP report on the extent of race prejudice, and another such wave looks like jogging the Government into introducing legislation dealing with housing and employment.

1967, “Researchers find widespread discrimination and prejudice against immigrants to Britain”, in The Observer:

Political and Economic Planning
w:Political and Economic Planning

(UK politics, historical) Initialism of Political and Economic Planning, a British policy think tank.


LHD

en-noun

LHD (countable and uncountable, plural LHDs)

amphibious assault ship
amphibious assault ship

(nautical, military, aviation) Initialism of landing, helicopter, dock: A type of amphibious assault ship that has a dock for handling landing crafts, and a deck for handling helicopters.


branch stacking

(Australian politics) The recruitment of members for a branch of a political party in order to influence the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office.


remblai

remblai (countable and uncountable, plural remblais)

Borrowed from French remblai, from remblayer (“to fill up an excavation, to embank”).

(archaic, fortifications or mining) earth or materials made into an embankment after excavation.


wrecking amendment

wrecking amendment (plural wrecking amendments)

Senator Littlebrain's wrecking amendment made the bill nonsensical by deleting the clauses that said what the law would do.

This is such a dumb (and dangerous) idea that it has all the characteristics of a wrecking amendment, added to the Bill just to eat up parliamentary time so that the whole Bill will fall at the dissolution for the upcoming election.

2010 March 11, Richard Clayton, “A wrecking amendment ?”, in Light Blue Touchpaper, archived from the original on 2023-02-04:

(politics) An amendment made in bad faith by a legislator who disagrees with the principles of a bill and seeks to make it useless rather than simply voting against it.


fetus fetishist

fetus fetishist (plural fetus fetishists)

"Defeat the fetus fetishists" and "I am more important than a fetus" were among the placards carried by nearly 100 women […]

1972 October 3, Laurie Johnston, “Respect Life Week Stresses the Unborn”, in The New York Times:

As Campbell announced he supported life, Morgentaler cut him off and shouted, "I'm a pro-choicer and a pro-lifer. You are not a pro-lifer; you are a fetus fetishist."

1988 February 10, “TV Opponents Take Gloves Off Following Debate on Abortions”, in Toronto Star:

(Canada, US, politics, derogatory, dysphemistic) One who supports fetal rights; an antiabortionist.


blaze away

en-verb

blaze away (third-person singular simple present blazes away, present participle blazing away, simple past and past participle blazed away)

blazes away (present singular third-person)
blazing away (participle present)
blazed away (participle past)
blazed away (past)

Scott, somewhat stunned and now worried that everybody might have opened fire at the U.S. destroyers (he presumably missed Laffey and Farenholt merrily blazing away with their own guns into the darkness), ordered all firing to cease after a couple of minutes.

2020 December 9, Drachinifel, 20:18 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Cape Esperance (IJN 1 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

(firearms, intransitive, idiomatic) To fire (firearms) repeatedly.


SPRG

(firearms, with regard to the 30'06 cartridge) Abbreviation of Springfield Armory.


scorched-earth policy

en-noun

scorched-earth policy (plural scorched-earth policies)

scorched-earth policies (plural)
scorched earth policy (alternative)

The Ethiopian Army waged a scorched-earth policy with saturation bombings and destruction of Eritrea's infrastructure.

1993 April 24, Donatella Lorch, “Eritreans Voting on Independence From Ethiopia”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-11-02:

(military) A strategy that involves destroying buildings, crops, and other resources that could be useful to opponents.


scorched earth

Calque from Chinese 焦土 (jiāotǔ, “scorched earth; ravages of war”), originally in reference to the strategy adopted by the Chinese government in the Second Sino-Japanese War. First attested in 1937 as an idiom.

zh-l

(military) Land that has been abandoned, in the face of an advancing enemy, after the destruction of all resources on it.

(military) The strategy of destroying all resources in an area of land in order to deny their use to an advancing enemy.


bec de corbin

Borrowed from Old French bec de corbin (literally “crow's beak”).

bor+

(weaponry, historical) A poleaxe with a modified hammerhead and a spike mounted on the top of the pole.


canned heat

(professional wrestling) Pre-recorded cheering or booing played during a match.


iPod tax

(slang, taxation) A levy or tax on digital storage products (e.g. iPods), levied at a per unit capacity rate, used to compensate content providers for piracy of their goods.


OVP

(US, Philippines, politics) Initialism of Office of the Vice President.


lozengy

(heraldry) Divided into or composed of rhombuses (lozenges).


chrome dome

chrome domes (plural)
chrome-dome (alternative)
chromedome (alternative)

Airman Wheeler, a rebellious sort who did not like his job anyway, disregarded the orders of his superior, Lieut. William Shortt, to get his hair "clipped close from ear to crown, with only a fringe on top of the head"—a haircut variously known as a white sidewall, an Apache, a chrome-dome.

1957 August 5, Carolina A. Miranda, “Armed Forces: Scalped”, in Time:

(US, military) A haircut in which the hair is clipped extremely close to the scalp.


desk pilot

Ever since Sgt. Armstrong got too fat to pass his PT tests, he got promoted to desk pilot.

(US, military) A serviceman relegated to menial deskwork, often due to poor physical and mental abilities.


MAST

(emergency medicine, military) Initialism of military antishock trousers; inflatable trousers that apply pressure to the inferior half of a patient's body to decrease blood loss and prevent the onset of shock, similar to a tourniquet.


flanched

Gules, flanched ermine, on a chief azure three suns in splendour or.

1884, William Harvey, The Visitations of Bedfordshire: Annis Domini 1566, 1582, and 1634, page 99:

Fig. 58, Or, flanched gules.

1898, Edward Singleton Holden, A Primer of Heraldry for Americans, page 127:

(heraldry) Having flanches (often of a specified tincture).


jessant

From Old French gesant. Doublet of jacent.

That night she finds a locket on her pillow. Gold, in the shape of a heart, Cupids jessant round the perimeter.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 61:

(heraldry) Describing a charge which appears over, or covers, another charge as well as the field.


chevronel

chevronels (plural)
cheveronel (alternative)
chevronelle (alternative)

CHEVRONEL, a diminutive of chevron, and as ſuch only containing half a chevron.

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:

(heraldry) A bearing like a chevron, but of only half its width.


outguard

(military) A guard or small body of troops at a distance from the main body of an army, to watch for the approach of an enemy.


état major

Unadapted borrowing from French, from état (“state”) + Latin major (“greater”).

At length seeing the strife between that body and the councils settled, and guessing what would be the issue of it, the General felt that he would lose himself by his silence, without saving Pichegru, and being particularly pressed by his chef d'état Major […]

1814, Paul Svinine, Some Details concerning General Moreau, page 123:

An officer from the dragoons and an officer from the chasseurs joined the état major and were used by the General to take orders to their respective regimental commanders.

1914, Journal of the United States Cavalry Association, page 435:

The key conditions, however, were that Russia had to immediately commence the construction of the strategic lines for which France had long been clamoring, in accordance with plans drawn up by the États-Major of France, and the peacetime preparedness and effectiveness of the Russian army had to be augmented.

2012, Jennifer Siegel, For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service of Tsars and Commissars, page 120:

(military) The staff of an army, including all officers above the rank of colonel, all adjutants, inspectors, quartermasters, commissaries, engineers, ordnance officers, paymasters, physicians, signal officers, and judge advocates, and their noncommissioned assistants.


triparted

a cross triparted


noncontent

(UK, politics, dated or historical) Someone who gives a negative or opposing vote in the House of Lords.


bushfighting

en-noun

bushfighting (usually uncountable, plural bushfightings)

(military) Fighting in a bushy area, i.e. behind bushes, trees, or thickets.


United States of Europe

And let us be clear: anything less than a United States of Europe will not be powerful enough to prevent the looming disaster.

2011, Joschka Fischer, Europeanizing Europe:

United States of America
United States of America

(politics) A name given to several similar hypothetical scenarios of the unification of Europe, as a single nation and a single federation of states, similar to the United States of America.


minjung

From Korean 민중(民衆) (minjung), from Middle Chinese 民眾 (MC mjin tsyuwngH, “common people, the masses”). Compare Mandarin 民眾 /民众 (mínzhòng).

ltc-l

The minjung have learned to dream of a world from which oppression, conflict and suffering have been removed; a world where they are no longer the ruled, but the rulers of their own lives and destinies, and the subjects of their own history.

1996, Sang Taek Lee, Religion and Social Formation in Korea, page 171:

Therefore the theologians' main concern was not dealing with individual poor people but rather to do with social process and the system which prevents the minjung from coming out of their misery.

2008, Sebastian CH Kim, Christian Theology in Asia, page 140:

Jesus was minjung and the friend of the minjung, teaching forgiveness and love of enemies, but Moses was also minjung, political leader of his people against oppression.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 978:

(politics, theology) In South Korea, peasants or working-class people.


LGB

(military) Initialism of laser-guided bomb.


LGB

"[…]The congressman who had an alleged affair with a Chinese spy for several years and inexplicably still sits on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees jumped to Twitter on Christmas Day to attack the Oregon father who delivered the LGB joke during the White House holiday call."

[2021 December 27, Proud Progressive, “Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell Blasts Pathetic Dad Who Said Lets Go Brandon to Biden”, in comp.os.linux.advocacy (Usenet):

Got gas the other day and there were two LGB stickers on the gas pump.

2021 December 27, Frank, “Do you suppose anyone told the venal, senile what LGB means?”, in alt.home.repair (Usenet):

Unfortunately for Brown, the reaction was negative. Despite being a rising NASCAR star, he said it became “extremely difficult” to attract sponsors because major corporations saw his unintentional association with the LGB meme to be divisive.

2022 January 5, “NASCAR rejects ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sponsorship”, in RT:

That represents a 99.5 percent decline over the last 30 days, leaving a singular LGB coin effectively worthless.

2022 February 13, Technobarbarian, “‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Crypto Coin Turns Into Total Dumpster Fire”, in rec.outdoors.rv-travel (Usenet):

The gift shop is rammed. [...] I'm slightly surprised to see an "LGB" clutch above the till, until I realise it stands for "Let’s Go Brandon", code for "Fuck Joe Biden"[.]

2024 March 15, Jemima Kelly, “How the least divided place in America feels about Trump's return”, in Financial Review, archived from the original on 2024-04-09:

let's go, Brandon
let's go, Brandon#English

(Internet slang, US politics) Initialism of let's go, Brandon.


CBRN

weapons of mass destruction
weapon of mass destruction

(military, US, emergency medicine) Initialism of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, used to remember the four types of weapons of mass destruction.


Lumumbist

(politics, historical) A supporter of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961), the first prime minister of Congo after its independence in 1960 from Belgium.