solve

From Middle English solven, from Latin solvō.

The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 69”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

KEVIN: I decided a long time ago that just because I love Raymond, doesn't mean I have to love the people he works with. Good solve, Detective.

2014 February 4, The Party, Gil Ozeri and Gabe Liedman (writers), Michael Engler (director), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 1, episode 16

“Hey, Mr. Quilt Bandit.”
 Ian smiled. “Nice solve, Nancy Drew.”

2017, Elodia Strain, The Dating Experiment, →ISBN:

(now rare, chiefly law enforcement) A solution; an explanation.


formation

en-noun

formation (countable and uncountable, plural formations)

/fɔːˈmeɪʃən/

/fɔɹˈmeɪʃən/

/foːˈmæɪʃən/

From Middle English formacioun, formation, borrowed from Old French formacion, from Latin fōrmātiō, from fōrmō (“form”, verb); see form as verb.
Morphologically form + -ation

(military) A grouping of military units or smaller formations under a command, such as a brigade, division, wing, etc. [from 18th c.]

تَشْكِيلَة

military: grouping of units under a command

(military) An arrangement of moving troops, ships, or aircraft, such as a wedge, line abreast, or echelon. Often "in formation".

تَشْكِيلَة

military: arrangement of moving troops, ships, or aircraft


rack

en-verb

rack (third-person singular simple present racks, present participle racking, simple past and past participle racked)

racks (present singular third-person)
racking (participle present)
racked (participle past)
racked (past)
rack (infinitive)
rack (first-person present singular)
racked (first-person past singular)
rack (present second-person singular)
rackest (archaic present second-person singular)
racked (past second-person singular)
rackedst (archaic past second-person singular)
racks (present singular third-person)
racketh (archaic present singular third-person)
racked (past singular third-person)
rack (plural present)
racked (past plural)
rack (present subjunctive)
racked (past subjunctive)
rack (imperative present)
racking (participle present)
racked (participle past)

From Old English reċċan (“to stretch out, extend”).

inh

(firearms) To (manually) load (a round of ammunition) from the magazine or belt into firing position in an automatic or semiautomatic firearm.

(firearms) To move the slide bar on a shotgun in order to chamber the next round.


ninja

Enter the Ninja
Eric Van Lustbader
Hokusai Manga
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
ninja

A romanized borrowing of Japanese 忍者 (ninja), popularized within Japanese by manga after World War II and in English by Eric Van Lustbader's 1980 novel The Ninja and the 1981 movie Enter the Ninja, of uncertain derivation but with an underlying sense of secret or hidden person.
The “Mongolian miner” sense arose from the supposed resemblance of the bowls used to wash ore with mercury to the shells of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Juggalo slang sense arose via influence from AAVE nigga.

The men... are now learning to be ninja or ‘stealers-in’.

1964, Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice, page 126:

Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.

(martial arts) A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.


adjutant

From Latin adiūtō, frequentative of adiuvō (“assist”). First attested in 17th century. Or from Latin adiuvāns, present participle of adiuvō, from iuvō (“help”). Doublet of adjuvant.

(military) A lower-ranking officer who assists a higher-ranking officer with administrative affairs.


meteor

From Middle French météore, from Old French, from Latin meteorum, from Ancient Greek μετέωρον (metéōron), from μετέωρος (metéōros, “raised from the ground, hanging, lofty”), from μετά (metá, “in the midst of, among, between”) (English meta) + ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift, to heave, to raise up”).
The original sense of “atmospheric phenomenon” gave rise to meteorology, but the meaning of "meteor" is now restricted to extraterrestrial objects burning up as they enter the atmosphere.

(martial arts) A striking weapon resembling a track and field hammer consisting of a weight swung at the end of a cable or chain.


garb

From French gerbe; akin to German Garbe. Doublet of gerbe.


tierce

From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.

[W]e behold two men with lion-look, with alert attitude, side foremost, right foot advanced; flourishing and thrusting, stoccado and passado, in tierce and quart; intent to skewer one another.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

(fencing) The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.

(heraldry) An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.


clout

en-noun

clout (countable and uncountable, plural clouts)

→ Irish: clabhta

From Middle English clout (“piece of cloth”), from Old English clūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gelewdos, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). The influence sense originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread.
Cognate with Old Norse klútr (“kerchief”), Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German klōz (“lump”), whence German Kloß, and dialectal Russian глуда (gluda). See also cleat.

der

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

For kings are clouts that euery man ſhoots at,
Our Crowne the pin that thouſands ſeeke to cleaue.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:

A’ must shoot nearer or he’ll ne’er hit the clout.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

(archery) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.


riband

en-noun

riband (countable and uncountable, plural ribands)

(heraldry) A narrow diminutive of the bend, thinner than a bendlet.


roll

en-verb

roll (third-person singular simple present rolls, present participle rolling, simple past and past participle rolled)

rolls (present singular third-person)
rolling (participle present)
rolled (participle past)
rolled (past)

From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source.

rol

to move, or cause to be moved, upon rollers or small wheels

(transitive, martial arts) To engage in sparring in the context of jujitsu or other grappling disciplines.


charge

en-noun

charge (countable and uncountable, plural charges)

From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

Pickett's Charge; the Charge of the Light Brigade

(military) A ground attack against a prepared enemy.

(firearms) A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.

Near-synonym: emblem

(heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon.

紋章 /纹章

heraldry: image displayed on an escutcheon

to bring a weapon to the charge

(weaponry) A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.


charge

en-verb

charge (third-person singular simple present charges, present participle charging, simple past and past participle charged)

charges (present singular third-person)
charging (participle present)
charged (participle past)
charged (past)

desc

→ Cantonese: 叉廚 /叉厨 (caa¹ cyu⁴), 叉 (caa¹)

→ Dutch: chargen

→ Kashubian: czardżowac (United States)

→ Malay: caj, cas

→ Sranan Tongo: tyars

→ Swahili: chaji

yükləmək

to place a burden upon, to assign a duty

yükləmək

to load equipment with material required for its use

I'm charging you with assault and battery.

(transitive, criminal law, law enforcement) To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.

اِتَّهَمَ

criminal law, law enforcement: to formally accuse of a crime

He charges three roses.

(transitive) To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.

He charges his shield with three roses or.

The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.

My Lord, we haue diſcouered the enemie
Readie to Charge you with a mightie army.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

(intransitive) To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.

(military, transitive and intransitive) To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.

هَاجَمَ

military: to attack by moving forward quickly


reaction

reactions (plural)
reäction (alternative rare)

Inherited from Middle English reaccion, from Old French reaction, from Latin reāctiō, from the verb reagō, from re- (“again”) + agō (“to act”); more at re-, action; equivalent to react + -ion.

(politics) Reactionary politics; a period in which reactionary thought or politics is resurgent or dominant.


cleavage

en-noun

cleavage (countable and uncountable, plural cleavages)

A voting bloc in Congress can represent a long-standing alliance or can be created anew as a result of the increased saliency of a particular issue, such as war or a severe economic downturn. A division between voting blocs is called a cleavage and because voting blocs are impermanent, dominant cleavages are always changing.

2011, Scot Schraufnagel, “Voting bloc”, in Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress, Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 235:

The Kremlin has appointed graduates of the federal "Time of Heroes" programs to high level positions in the Russian federal, regional, and local governments -- likely to militarize Russian society and prevent veterans from becoming a disenfranchised political cleavage that could pose a risk to the Kremlin’s regime security.

2025 March 24, Christina Harward, Angelica Evans, Grace Mappes, Olivia Gibson, Daria Novikov, George Barros, Nate Trotter, “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 24, 2025”, in Ukraine Project, Institute for the Study of War:

(politics) The division of voters into voting blocs.


bounce

bounce (countable and uncountable, plural bounces)

From Middle English bounsen, bunsen (“to beat, thump”), cognate with Scots bunce, bonce (“to bounce”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative, related to bump, or related to Middle English bonchen (“to pound, beat”) and Dutch bonken (“to bump”).
Compare Saterland Frisian bumzje (“to pound, bang, bounce”), West Frisian bûnzje (“to throb, bounce, pulsate”), Dutch bonzen (“to thump, knock, throb, bounce”), German Low German bunsen, bumsen (“to beat, bounce”), German bumsen (“to thud, bang, pound”).

unc

uncertain

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

(politics, informal) An increase in popularity.


rap

From RAP (“record of arrest and prosecution”).

(US, law enforcement) Acronym of record of arrest and prosecution.


halecret

halecrets (plural)
allecret (alternative)
hallecret (alternative)

First attested in English in 1536 as halkrig and 1540 as halkrik, taken to be from Middle French halecret, itself first attested in 1488 as aldecrez (plural) and 1489 as hallecretz (plural), of uncertain origin. Compare Breton halacred. Perhaps from Middle Dutch halscleet (“gorget”) (see hals (“neck, throat”), cleet (“piece of clothing”)), or related to German Halskragen.

The halecret was a kind of corcelet of tvvo pieces, one before and one behind, it was lighter than the cuiraſs.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 19:

(military, historical) A kind of light armour protecting the bust, used in the 16th century, usually thought to have been a corselet or light cuirass.


zoot suit

zoot suits (plural)
zootsuit (alternative)
zuit suit (alternative)

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

Zoot may be a Caló slang pronunciation of suit, thus making the term a tautology and reduplication.

Before his nap, Kaplan had put on all his clothes, including the wool-lined waterproof double-zippered survival suit nicknamed the zoot suit.

2019, Ellin Bessner, Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military, and World War II:

(UK, military, slang) Synonym of goon suit (“waterproof rubber suit for pilots”).


gusset

From Middle English gusset, gysset, from Old French gosset, gousset (“the hollow of the armpit”), diminutive of gose, gosse (“bean pod, hull, husk”).

(heraldry) An ordinary on a coat of arms, resembling a gusset (see usage notes).

gousset

heraldry: an abatement or mark of dishonor in a coat of arms


shield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

noncog

Meronyms: field, charge, emblem

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

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

A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.

(heraldry) The escutcheon on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms.

The chief put something in his hand and Bosch looked down to see the gold detective's shield.

2005, Michael Connelly, The closers: a novel:

(colloquial, law enforcement) A police badge.


target

→ Japanese: ターゲット (tāgetto)

From Middle French targette, targuete, diminutive of targe (“light shield”), from Old French, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), akin to Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)), Spanish tarjeta (“card”).

cog

The fourth field is also party per pale, and for the dutchy of Genevois, contains chequered Or and azure: The sinister for the dutchy of Montserat, a target, gules. The point Or is a black eagle of the county of Maurienne.

1762, Anton Friedrich Büsching, A New System of Geography: In which is Given, a General Account of the Situation and Limits, the Manners, History, and Constitution, of the Several Kingdoms and States of the Known World, page 12:

(heraldry) A bearing representing a buckler.

A kind of shield:
A bearing representing a buckler.


roundel

roundels (plural)
roundle (alternative archaic)

From Middle English roundel, rundel, rondel, from Old French rondel (“something round and flat”), a diminutive of rond (“round”). More at round.

der

(heraldry) A circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle.

koek

heraldry: a circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle


cannonball

From cannon + ball from being a round ball that is fired from a cannon.

A spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon.

kanonkoeël

An explosive-filled hollow iron sphere fused through a hole and intended to explode at a calculated distance rather than explode on impact.


Caucasus

Via Latin Caucasus, from Ancient Greek Καύκασος (Kaúkasos).

(geopolitics) A geopolitical region in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, deriving its name from the aforementioned mountains.


bracer

From Middle English bracer, from Old French braceure; equivalent to brace + -er.

To prevent the bow string from hanging on the left arm, it is covered with a piece of smooth leather, fastened on the outside of the arm, this is called a bracer.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34:

(archery) A covering to protect the arm of the bowman from the vibration of the string.


morris

Another kind of pike called a morris, that is a Moorish pike, was much in fashion about the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 49:


fascine

The noun is borrowed from French fascine (“bundle of kindling; bundle of branches used to build defences, fill in ditches, etc.; logs arranged horizontally between piles on the banks of a watercourse as an erosion barrier”), from Old French faissine, from Latin fascīna (“bundle of sticks”), from fascis (“bundle of sticks, faggot, fascine; bundle, package; burden, load”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“band; bundle”)) + -īna (the nominative, vocative, or ablative feminine singular of -īnus (suffix forming nouns)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

Our forces being landed and ſtationed as I have already mentioned, ſet about erecting a faſchine battery to cannonade the principal fort of the enemy, and in ſomething more than three vveeks, it vvas ready to open.

1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XXXII, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 284:

Halberts differ very little from the bill, being like them conſtructed both for puſhing and cutting: a halbert conſiſts of three parts, the ſpear, or ſometimes a kind of ſvvord blade for puſhing, an ax, or hatchet for ſtriking and cutting, and a flook or hook for pulling down faſcines, in the attack of trenches, or temporary fortifications.

1786, Francis Grose, “Morris Pikes”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 51–52:

Verily the man must feel as though he were in a dream; only a short time before, at a shoemaker's ordinary work, the knocking of his hammer mingling with the sighs of a sick wife, and now, fascine knife on hip, helmet on closely cropped head, officers' commands in ear, crowds of people, drums, music, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive!—to march far away to Bohemia; […]

1889, Cornelia McFadden, chapter V, in The Seamstress of Stettin, Cincinnati, Oh.: Curtis & Jennings; New York, N.Y.: Eaton & Mains, →OCLC, pages 141–142:

armoured fighting vehicle
armoured fighting vehicle

(specifically, military fortification) A similar bundle of sticks of wood or plastic pipes used for filling in ditches for armoured fighting vehicles to drive over, and for making parapets, raising batteries, and strengthening ramparts.

фашина

cylindrical bundle of small sticks of wood bound together, used for strengthening purposes; (military fortification) similar bundle of sticks of wood or plastic pipes used for filling in ditches for armoured fighting vehicles to drive over, and for making parapets, raising batteries, and strengthening ramparts


mallet

From Middle English malet, maylet, from Old French mallet, maillet (“a wooden hammer, mallet”), diminutive of mal, mail (“a hammer”), from Latin malleus (“a hammer, mall, mallet”).

The Mallet of arms, according to the representation of it given by Father Daniel, exactly resembles the wooden instrument of that name, now in use, except in the length of the handle, it was like the hammer of arms, to be used with both hands, indeed it differed very little from that weapon in its form.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 51:

(weaponry) A weapon resembling the tool, but typically much larger.


morning star

en-noun

morning star (countable and uncountable, plural morning stars)

morning stars (plural)
morningstar (alternative)

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

From morning + star. Compare West Frisian moarnstjer, Dutch morgenster, German Morgenstern, Swedish morgonstjärna, Icelandic morgunstjarna. Application to Satan derives, like the corresponding sense of Lucifer (which see), from what is probably a misinterpretation of Isaiah 14:12 (NIV: "How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!").

Contrivances like these, except that the balls were armed with spikes, were long carried by the pioneers of the trained bands, or city militia, they are generally called morning stars.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 55:

(countable, weaponry) A weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, in contrast to a flail.


representative

From Middle English (implied in representatyfliche), from Old French representatif. By surface analysis, represent + -ative; See representation.

All representatives face re-election every two years.

(US, politics) Specifically, a member of the United States House of Representatives.


trick

From Middle English trikke, from Old Northern French trique (related to Old French trichier (“to defraud, act dishonestly, conceal, deceive, cheat”); > modern French tricher), itself possibly from Middle High German trechen (“to launch a shot at, play a trick on”), or one of its derivatives (e.g. Middle High German ūftrechen (“to do something to someone, hurt someone”), vertrechen (“to conceal, get over on someone”), zuotrechen (“to obtain falsely or deceitfully, wangle, finagle”), etc.); yet the Old French verb is equally likely to be derived from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Late Latin tricāre, from Latin trīcor, trīcārī (“dodge, search for detours; haggle, quibble”).
The term has been connected to Middle Dutch treck, trec (“draw, line, desire, game move, cord, stratagem, ruse, trick”), from Middle Dutch trekken, trēken (“to pull, place, put, move”), from Old Dutch *trekken, *trekan (“to move, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *trakjaną, *trekaną (“to drag, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”). If they are related, trick would be cognate with Low German trekken, Middle High German trecken, trechen, Danish trække, and Old Frisian trekka, Romanian truc and other Romance languages.
Compare track, treachery, trig, and trigger.

der

Heraldic Collections of various Heralds and others, containing Arms blazoned and in trick, grants of arms, pedigrees, etc.

1892, George Gatfield, Guide to Printed Books and Manuscripts Relating to English and Foreign Heraldry, page 12:

The trick […] might be meant for a lion passant or for one rampant embelif […]

2009, Thomas Daniel Tremlett, Hugh Stanford London, Rolls of Arms, Henry III., page 132:

(heraldry) A representation of arms that is drawn as an outline with labels to indicate colors.


trick

en-verb

trick (third-person singular simple present tricks, present participle tricking, simple past and past participle tricked)

tricks (present singular third-person)
tricking (participle present)
tricked (participle past)
tricked (past)

The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, / Black as his purpose, did the night resemble / When he lay couched in the ominous horse, / Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd / With heraldry more dismal; head to foot / Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd / With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons […]

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

They forget that they are in the statutes: […] there they are trick'd, they and their pedigrees.

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I:

(heraldry) To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).


naissant

From Middle French naissant (literally “being born”). Doublet of nascent.

bor

(heraldry) Having only its forepart shown, especially if because it is issuing from an ordinary or division of the field. (Compare issuant.)


loot

R-run over an' wake up th' loot at th' station.

1898, Finley Peter Dunne, Mr. Dooley in Peace & War, page 11:

(US military slang, dated) Clipping of lieutenant.


click

From Middle English cleken, a variant of clechen (“to grab”), perhaps from Old English *clēċan, *clǣċan, a byform of clyċċan (“to clutch”). More at clutch.

inside click; outside click; cross click


LC

en-noun

LC (countable and uncountable, plural LCs)

lactation consultant
w:lactation consultant

(healthcare) Initialism of lactation consultant.

The lord chancellorship certainly needed reform and sadly Lord Irvine resisted taking the sensible steps of creating an independent judicial appointments commission and ending the nonsense of the LC having the right, should he choose, of sitting himself as a judge on cases.

2016 July 27, Helena Kennedy QC, “Letters: Charlie Falconer to blame for lord chancellor folly”, in The Guardian:

(UK politics) Initialism of lord chancellor.


immediate

en-adj

immediate (comparative more immediate, superlative most immediate)

more immediate (comparative)
most immediate (superlative)

From Old French immediat (French immédiat), borrowed from Late Latin immediātus (“without in-between, moderation”), from Latin in + mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to halve, to be in the middle”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from medius (“middle”). By surface analysis, im- + mediate.

der

Bravo Three, this Bravo Six. Immediate! We are coming under fire from the north from an unknown enemy, over!

(procedure word, military) Used to denote that a transmission is urgent.

Hotel Two-Niner, this is Bravo Six. Immediate suppression at grid November-Kilo four-five-three two-one-five. Danger Close. I authenticate Golf Echo, over.

(procedure word, military) An artillery fire mission modifier for two types of fire mission to denote an immediate need for fire: Immediate smoke, all guns involved must reload smoke and fire. Immediate suppression, all guns involved fire the rounds currently loaded and then switch to high explosive with impact fused (unless fuses are specified).


smelly

A comical pronunciation of the initials SMLE.

(firearms, informal) a Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle or one of its derivatives.


bayonet

From French baïonnette, named after the French town of Bayonne, where the plug bayonet was invented.

Fig. 3. Its bayonet, to be fixed by sticking the handle into the muzzle of the musquet.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page xvi:

“Well, the proper way to kill a man with a bayonet is this: First you thrust it in under the ribs—here.”

1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, →ISBN, page 515:

(military) A blade mounted to the end of a long gun, originally with a handle inserted into the bore, now usually attached underbarrel.


lance

From Middle English launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

(military) A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.

(military) An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.

Harpune mit Sprenggeschoss

(military) instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordinance


hermaphrodite

From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who merged bodies with a naiad, thereafter having both male and female qualities.

deledash

organism having both male and female gonads

(World War I military, historical) An armoured fighting vehicle having features of both male tanks and female tanks.


fusil

From Middle English fusill, from Old French fusel, fuisel, from a late Latin diminutive of Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

(heraldry) A bearing of a rhomboidal figure, originally representing a spindle in shape, longer than a heraldic lozenge.


resort

→ Japanese: リゾート (rizōto)

→ Korean: 리조트 (rijoteu)

→ Portuguese: resort

→ Spanish: resort

→ Thai: รีสอร์ท (rii-sɔ̀ɔt)

From Middle English resorten, from Old French resortir (“to fall back, return, resort, have recourse, appeal”), back-formation from sortir (“to go out”).

(government) A subdivision of Suriname; a division of the country's districts.


bounty

en-noun

bounty (countable and uncountable, plural bounties)

From Middle English bounte (“goodness, virtue; beauty; strength; chivalry, valour; excellence; kindness, mercy; good deed; generosity”) [and other forms], borrowed from Anglo-Norman bounté and Old French bonté, bontet, bunté (modern French bonté (“goodness, kindness”)), from Latin bonitās.

nb...

bonte, bontie, bount, bounte, bountee, bountie, bownte, bunte, bwnte

It was in the army to which bounties were thus given to privates, that the memorialists were officers; and gallant officers the history of that war amply proves they were. If the soldiers of that army and even the heirs of those who volunteered their services for a given and short period, but who were killed or died in service, had such large recognized claims on the bounty of the nation, it is not, [...] easily to be perceived why their officers, [...] have not claims equally strong.

1831 March 1, “[Appendix to the Register of Debates in Congress.] Lands to Officers in the Late War.”, in Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the Second Session of the Twenty-first Congress: […], volume VII, Washington, D.C.: Printed and published by Gales and Seaton, →OCLC, page cxvii, column 1:

There is, in this case, not a particle of evidence tending even to show that the soldier ever received any bounty or gratuity on account of any or all of his service except $66.66, two-thirds of the amount of bounty payable under the act of July 22, 1861, [...]

1904 March 23, M. W. Miller, “Evidence—Burden of Proof—Joint Resolution July 1, 1902—Practice. Catherine A., Widow of Isaac P. Brown, alias Albert B. Cole.”, in John W. Bixler, editor, Decisions of the Department of the Interior in Appealed Pension and Bounty-land Claims; […], volume XIV, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 377:

(countable) A reward for some specific act, especially one given by an authority or a government.

(military, historical) Money paid to a person when becoming a member of the armed forces, or as a reward for some service therein.

prime

money paid to a person when becoming a member of the armed forces, or as a reward for some service therein


clay

en-noun

clay (usually uncountable, plural clays)

soul

antonym(s) of “material of the human body”

From Middle English cley, clay, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaij, from Proto-Germanic *klajjaz (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to glue, paste, stick together”).
Cognate with Dutch klei (“clay”), Low German Klei (“clay”), German Klei, Danish klæg (“clay”); compare Ancient Greek γλία (glía), Latin glūten (“glue”) (whence ultimately English glue), Russian глина (glina, “clay”). Related also to clag, clog.

der

We went shooting clays at the weekend.


octave

From Latin octavus (“eighth”). Doublet of octavo, ochava, and oitava.

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

If they always do a lateral parry quarte, and never a semicircular octave, that gives you an opening.

2009, Ray Finkleman, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(fencing) The eighth defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword out straight at knee level.


salient

en-adj

salient (comparative more salient, superlative most salient)

more salient (comparative)
most salient (superlative)

The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.

a lion salient

(heraldry, usually of a quadruped) Depicted in a leaping posture.

a salient angle

(often military) Projecting outwards, pointing outwards.


salient

sally

to leap forth; cognate; both of these military terms come from a verb meaning but in different ways

On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier salient on the Picardy battlefront.

1919, “General Pershing's Story”, in Americans Defending Democracy: Our Soldiers' Own Stories, World's War Stories, Inc., page 9:

The battlefronts were often no more than a few hundred yards wide, and the salients never more than a few miles deep.

1978, Jan Morris, chapter 9, in Farewell the Trumpets, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 193:

(military) An outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.


spy

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”).
The noun displaced native Old English sċēawere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced Old English sċēawian, which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show.

ncog

The dead leap at the throat, destroy
The meaning of the day; dark forms
Have scaled your walls, and spies betray
Old secrets to amorphous swarms.

1941, Theodore Roethke, “Feud”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4:

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

(espionage) A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).


presentation

en-noun

presentation (countable and uncountable, plural presentations)

presentations (plural)
præsentation (alternative)

/ˌpɹɛzənˈteɪʃən/

From Old French presentation (French présentation), from Latin praesentātiōnem, accusative singular of praesentātiō (“representation, exhibition”).
Morphologically present + -ation

(fencing) Offering one's blade for engagement by the opponent.


repeat

en-verb

repeat (third-person singular simple present repeats, present participle repeating, simple past and past participle repeated)

repeats (present singular third-person)
repeating (participle present)
repeated (participle past)
repeated (past)

From Middle English repeten, from Old French repeter, from Latin repetō, repetere, from the prefix re- (“again”) + peto (“attack, beseech”).

Add 100, left 50. Repeat, over.

Use "say again" instead of repeat on the radio. Repeat will bring in artillery fire.

(procedure word, military) To call in a previous artillery fire mission with the same ammunition and method either on the coordinates or adjusted either because destruction of the target was insufficient or missed.


minority

en-adj

minority (comparative more minority, superlative most minority)

more minority (comparative)
most minority (superlative)

From Middle French minorité, and its source Late Latin minōritās, from Latin minor.
Morphologically minor + -ity

minority government

(attributive, politics, of a party, government, etc.) Empowered by or representing a minority (usually a plurality) of votes cast, legislative seats, etc., rather than an outright majority thereof.


parapet

From Middle French parapet, from Italian parapetto.

Obviously if you have only a few days in which to train a soldier, you must teach him the things he will most need; how to take cover, how to advance across open ground, how to mount guards and build a parapet – above all, how to use his weapons.

1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter I, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

(military) A fortification consisting of a wall.


prime

composite

prime element of a mathematical structure

From Middle English prime, from Old French prime and its etymon, Latin prīmus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo and primus.
The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" originates from the fact that the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.

der

(fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.


return

en-verb

return (third-person singular simple present returns, present participle returning, simple past and past participle returned)

returns (present singular third-person)
returning (participle present)
returned (participle past)
returned (past)
returne (alternative obsolete)
retvrn (alternative Internet)

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

der

(fencing) To give a thrust or cut after parrying a sword-thrust.


return

en-noun

return (countable and uncountable, plural returns)

returns (plural)
returne (alternative obsolete)
retvrn (alternative Internet)

Hand in your return within 90 days of the end of the tax year.

(taxation, finance) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return.


speedball

speedball (countable and uncountable, plural speedballs)

speedballs (plural)
speed ball (alternative)
speed-ball (alternative)

(military, aviation) An improvised adhoc airdrop resupply pack, composed of ammo, food and water, and other supplies, stuffed into a body bag or duffle bag.

(boxing) Synonym of speed bag (“type of punching bag”).


dance

Related to dancy, dancetté, French danché.

Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Estuary, Jamaica

The fact appears to have been that Simon de Montacute bore two coats; the one, Argent, three fusils, which it is most probable was a corruption of a fess dancette, or a dance, Gules; and the other, Azure, a griffin segreant[…]

1828, Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Walter (of Exeter), The Siege of Carlaverock in the XXVIII Edward I. A. D. MCCC, page 243:

It is as follows - being headed by a shield of arms in colours - gold with a dance gules between three croslets fitchy gules.

1902, The Ancestor: A Quarterly Review of County and Family History, Heraldry and Antiquities ..., page 85:

Or, a dance gules, in chief 3 lions' faces sable.

1922, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, page 189:

(heraldry) A normally horizontal stripe called a fess that has been modified to zig-zag across the center of a coat of arms from dexter to sinister.


prior

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

der

априорное распределение вероятностей

And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he's got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1966, →OCLC, page 47:

(Canada, US, law enforcement, chiefly in the plural) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.

досие

previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone’s criminal record


command

en-noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander, from Late Latin commandāre, from Latin commendāre. Ultimately from Latin com- + mandō (whence ultimately also commend (a doublet), mandate, and recommend), from manus + -dō.
Compare typologically Russian поручи́ть (poručítʹ), поруче́ние (poručénije), руководи́ть (rukovodítʹ), руководи́тель (rukovodítelʹ) related to рука́ (ruká).

I asked myself what I was to do there, now my boat was lost. As a matter of fact, I had plenty to do in fishing my command out of the river.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:

Filing a complaint against a police officer in New Bedford without the benefit of witnesses is difficult, if not impossible. The police command, from sergeant to chief, is summarily defensive of the actions of police officers.

1977 August 20, David Brill, “Civil Custody Law Harasses New Bedford Gays”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 3:

(military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.


helmet

→ Korean: 헬멧 (helmet)

→ Palauan: hermet

→ Punjabi:

Gurmukhi script: ਹੈਲਮਟ (hailmaṭ)

Shahmukhi script: ہیلمٹ (hailmaṭ)

→ Swahili: helmeti

→ Welsh: helmed

From Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme (Modern French heaume), equivalent to helm + -et. The Old French is itself of Germanic origin (whence Old English helm). Used in English since the 15th century, it has largely displaced helm as the general word.

(clothing) A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

(heraldry) Such a helm when placed above a shield on a coat of arms.


surrogate

→ Dutch: surrogaat

From Latin surrogātus, perfect passive participle of surrogō (“ask”); a variant of subrogō, from sub (“under”) + rogō (“ask”).

(US, politics) A politician or person of influence campaigning for a presidential candidate.


kung fu

kung fu (countable and uncountable, plural kung fu)

kung fu (plural)
gongfu (alternative)
gong-fu (alternative)
gong fu (alternative)
gungfu (alternative)
gung-fu (alternative)
gung fu (alternative)
kungfu (alternative)
kung-fu (alternative)
Kung Fu (alternative)

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 功夫 (gōngfu, “skill, accomplishment, martial art”): kung¹-fu⁵.

bor

Along the way, they meet Master Wong, who teaches them kung fu and imparts nuggets of Chinese philosophy, knowledge and training that they eventually use to defeat their nemesis and save their village.

2021 March 31, Melissa Chen, “Opinion ‘Kung Fu Cavemen’ isn’t racist — just the victim of moral panic by a self-righteous few”, in New York Post:

(martial arts) The Chinese martial arts collectively.


Great Britain

Of the island of Great Britain, to disambiguate Britain from Brittany, i.e. Lesser Britain. From Middle English Great Brittaigne, Grete Britaigne, Grete breteygne, grete Bretayne, grete breteyne, parallelling Anglo-Norman Grande Brettayne and c. 12th-century Medieval Latin Britannia Maior. Equivalent to Great + Britain.
King James VI and I in 1604 proclaimed himself “King of Great Britain, France and Ireland”.

Iso-Britannia

the United Kingdom national team in a sports context

(politics, law) England, Scotland and Wales in combination, to the exclusion of Northern Ireland.


triage

en-noun

triage (countable and uncountable, plural triages)

From French triage, from trier (“to sort”).

Similarly, any group of sidings is known to army railway personnel as a "triage". This word is derived from the French verb trier, which means literally "to sort," and hence "triage" has become the common army expression for a marshalling yard.

1943 September and October, “Military and Civil Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 257:

(rail transport, military, British) A marshalling yard, classification yard.


rider

[ˈɹ̠aɪdə(ɹ̠)]

/ˈɹɑɪ.də(ɹ)/

[ˈɹ̠ʷɑe̯də(ɹʷ)]

[ˈɹ̠aɪɾ(ə)ɹ̠]

[ˈɹ̠əjɾ(ə)ɹ̠]

writer (with flapping but without Canadian raising)

From Middle English ryder, ridere, from Late Old English rīdere (“rider, knight”). Compare Dutch rijder, German Reiter. By surface analysis, ride + -er.

kalorës

one who rides — see also cyclist, driver

допълни́телна кла́уза

politics: additional provision annexed to a bill

дополне́ние

к докуме́нту

(politics) A supplementary clause added to a document after drafting, especially to a bill under the consideration of a legislature.


passenger

/ˈpæsɪnd͡ʒɚ/

/ˈpæsənd͡ʒɚ/

/ˈpæsɪnd͡ʒə/

/ˈpæsənd͡ʒə/

From Old French passagier with intrusive n (see etymology of messenger).

(military) Any of the individual warheads of a MIRV missile.


gob

Well I have taken the oath of allegiance for 4 years service anywhere in the world and am now a real 'gob' in the U. S. Navy.

1918 October 22, Letter of Adlai Stevenson, quoted in John Bartlow Martin, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976), page 53

If it weren't for the Fleet I should scarcely be able to endure it. Gobs are always amusing, as you know.

Full-cut, dashing "gob" slacks with back pocket.

1937, Stella Blum, Everyday Fashion of the Thirties as pictured in Sears Catalogs, published 1986, page 94:

1944 November, Fitting the Gob to the Job, Popular Mechanics, page 18,
For the first time in history, new warship crews are virtually “prefabricated” by modern methods of fitting the gob to the job.

1948 June, Fred B. Barton, Mending Broken Gobs, The Rotarian, page 22,
Taking a safe average of 2,000 rehabilitated young gobs a year, that′s a total of 100,000 years of salvaged manhood, a target worth shooting at.


willy

(espionage) A person who is manipulated into serving as a useful agent without knowing it.


guardian

→ Japanese: ガーディアン (gādian)

/ˈɡɑː.dɪ.ən/

From Middle English gardein, garden, (also wardein, > Modern English warden), from Old French guardein, from the verb guarder, of Germanic origin. Compare French gardien. Doublet of warden. By surface analysis, guard + -ian.

United States Space Force
United States Space Force

(US military) A servicemember of the United States Space Force.


rampant

en-adj

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

more rampant (comparative)
most rampant (superlative)
rampaunt (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).
Alternatively from Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *rampōn, *hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic *hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”).

der

‘I forget your coat of arms.’
‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

(heraldry) Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.


armed

From arm (“the upper limb of the body”) + -ed.

suffix

(heraldry, of animals) Having horns, claws, teeth, a beak, etc. in a particular tincture, as contrasted with that of the animal as a whole.


gorge

From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”). Doublet of gour.

cog

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

Half Moon. An Outwork conſiſting of two Faces, which makes an Angle Salient, the Gorge whereof bends in like a Bow, or Creſcent, and were formerly us'd to cover the Point of a Baſtion, which diſtinguiſhes them from Ravelins, always plac'd before the Curtin; […]

1745, “Half Moon”, in An Introduction to the Art of Fortification. […], London: Printed for and sold by John Brindley, […], →OCLC, column 1:

Ramps lead from the gorges of the bastions down to these outlets into the main ditch. […] To keep open the communication between the bastions, a gallery between their gorges is made along the curtain wall.

1874, D[ennis] H[art] Mahan, “Modifications Proposed in the Bastioned System”, in J. B. Wheeler, editor, An Elementary Course of Permanent Fortification, for the Use of the Cadets of the U.S. Military Academy, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: John Wiley & Son, […], →OCLC, paragraph 236, page 127:

Construction on this massive fort was never completed. […] Only the foundations and a few tiers of stone were completed on the two gorge walls and the gorge bastion. At this point, a significant modification in design was made. […] In this way, the gorge of the fort was closed at minimum expense.

2018 June, John R. Weaver II, “New York City”, in A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816–1867, 2nd edition, McLean, Va.: Redoubt Press, McGovern Publishing, →ISBN, page 164, column 1:

(architecture, military, fortification) The rearward side of an outwork, a bastion, or a fort, often open, or not protected against artillery; a narrow entry passage into the outwork of an enclosed fortification.

The heraldic name for whirlpools is gorges, and a mediaeval family called Gorges bore a whirlpool as its arms.

1966, Charles Mackinnon of Dunakin, chapter 5, in The Observer's Book of Heraldry, London: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., page 77:

(heraldry, usually in the plural) A whirlpool used as a heraldic charge.


blind

blinds (plural)
blinde (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English blynd, from Old English blind, from Proto-West Germanic *blind, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.


coward

en-adj

coward (comparative more coward, superlative most coward)

more coward (comparative)
most coward (superlative)

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda.
The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Unrelated to English cower. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh).

(heraldry, of a lion) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.


TWOC

en-noun

TWOC (countable and uncountable, plural TWOCs)

Initialism of "taken (or taking) without owner's consent". From section 12 of the United Kingdom's Theft Act 1968, which states 'a person shall be guilty of an offence if, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, he takes any conveyance for his own or another’s use or, knowing that any conveyance has been taken without such authority, drives it or allows himself to be carried in or on it'.

[…] women making arrests for aggravated burglary represent 22 per cent of the total and for aggravated TWOCs, 23 per cent […]

2002, Louise Westmarland, Gender and Policing, Routledge, →ISBN:

[…] the reported victimisation rate for TWOC and attempted TWOC (six out of 28 available vehicles victimised, and […])

2010, Anthony Bottoms, Julian Roberts, Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State, Routledge, →ISBN, page 121:

(British, law enforcement) The crime of taking a car without the consent of the owner.

未獲授權而取用運輸工具 /未获授权而取用运输工具

the crime of taking without the consent of the owner

mei6 wok6 sau6 kyun4 ji4 ceoi2 jung6 wan6 syu1 gung1 geoi6


churl

From Middle English churl, cherl, cheorl (“person not of the nobility or clergy; bondsman, serf, villein; peasant; (also figuratively) servant, slave; unlearned or unrefined person, boor, ignoramus; chap, fellow, man; husband”) [and other forms], from Old English ċeorl (“freeman ranking below a þegn but above a thrall; commoner, peasant; countryman, husbandman; man; husband”), from Proto-West Germanic *kerl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old; to mature”). Doublet of carl /carle, ceorl, and karl.
Sense 2.1 (“rough, surly, ill-bred person”) is probably an extension of sense 1 (“free peasant of the lowest rank; person without royal or noble status; bondman, serf”) and sense 2.2 (“countryman, peasant, rustic”). Sense 2.3 (“person who is stingy”) was influenced by Nabal, who is described in the King James Version of the Bible as “churlish and evil in his doings”; when Nabal, a rich man, is asked to give provisions to David’s men, he replies, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?” (1 Samuel 25:3 and 10–11; spelling modernized).
Cognates
* Danish karl (“fellow, young man, farmhand”)
* Dutch kerel (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Low German kerl, kerel, kirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* North Frisian tzierl, tjierl, tsjerl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Old High German charl, charlo (German Kerl (“fellow, man”))
* Old Norse karl (“man”) (Icelandic karl (“man”))
* Polish karzeł (“small man”)
* Scots churl (“a churl; a rustic”)
* Swedish karl (“fellow, man”)
* West Frisian tsjirl (“churl; fellow, man”)

nb...

chærle, charl, cheerl, cherel, cherelle, cheril, cherld, cherle, cherll, cherlle, cherol, cherril, chirl, chorl, chorle, churle

cog

[F]rom this time forvvard I do pardon before God all the vvrongs that they haue done, or ſhall doe vnto me, vvhether they vvere, be, or ſhall be done by high or lovv perſon, rich or poore, Gentleman or Churle, vvithout excepting any ſtate or condition.

1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein is Rehearsed the Vnfortunate Aduenture Hapned to Don-Quixote, by Encountring with Certaine Yanguesian Carriers”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 3, page 116:

A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner.

(feudalism, obsolete except historical)
A bondman or serf.


melee

en-noun

melee (countable and uncountable, plural melees)

melees (plural)
mêlée (alternative)
melée (alternative)

Borrowed from French mêlée, from Old French meslee, feminine past participle of mesler (“to mix”), derived from Latin misceō (“mix”). Doublet of medley.

Honestly, a lot of what this episode did right had more to do with the scenes that surrounded the enormous melee than those hyper-edited clashes of swords.

2019 April 28, Alex McLevy, “Game Of Thrones Suffers the Fog of War in the Battle against the Dead (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2021-05-31:

The attack also afforded Helena to a front-seat view of literal air-to-air melee combat, as one Wildcat pilot of the Cactus Air Force, who was swooping in to help break up the attack, found himself out of machine-gun ammo; instead, he dropped his landing gear, positioned himself above the nearest bomber, and begun beating it to death, in midair, using his landing gear as clubs. After a bit of evasive action that the fighter easily kept up with, the repeated slamming broke something important, and the bomber spiralled down into the sea.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 5:50 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-10-17:

(especially military, gaming) A battle fought at close range, (especially) one not involving ranged weapons; hand-to-hand combat; brawling.

(military, historical) A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume.


salvo

A 1719 alteration of salva (“simultaneous discharge of guns”) (1591) from Latin salva (“salute, volley”) (compare French salve, also from Italian), from Latin salve (“hail”), the usual Roman greeting, imperative of salvere (“to be in good health”).

(military) A concentrated fire from pieces of artillery, as in endeavoring to make a break in a fortification; a volley.


Walt

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Walter Mitty

Clipping of Walter. The derogatory British sense is a reference to the fictional character Walter Mitty from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a mild-mannered pushover who has wild fantasies about his life in various daring roles.

You're just a bloody Walt!

(UK, military, derogatory, slang) Someone who impersonates a veteran (retired member of the armed forces).


RMA

RMA (countable and uncountable, plural RMAs)

Several of the recruits had special leadership responsibilities within the Company, the most significant being the Recruit Chief Petty Officer (RCPO) and the Recruit Master at Arms (RMA). […] The person responsible for being RCPO changed during the end of our training, but the RMA, who was responsible for maintaining good order and discipline, did not make it past the mid point.

2013, David Banagis, Twenty-Three Days at Sea: A Sailor's Story, Bloomington, IN: Abbott Press, →ISBN, page 12:

(US, military) Initialism of recruit master-at-arms; also RMAA.


baton

(military) A ceremonial staff of a field marshal or a similar high-ranking military office.

(weaponry, US) A short stout club used primarily by policemen.

Alternative forms: batune, baston

(heraldry) A bend with the ends cut off, resembling a baton, typically borne sinister, and often used as a mark of cadency, initially for both legitimate and illegitimate children, but later chiefly for illegitimate children.

Bastardfaden

especially when marking illegitimacy; sometimes extending across the shield (without the ends cut off)


bolo

(US law enforcement) A request for law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for a suspect.


chub

en-verb

chub (third-person singular simple present chubs, present participle chubbing, simple past and past participle chubbed)

chubs (present singular third-person)
chubbing (participle present)
chubbed (participle past)
chubbed (past)

The Texas House, where, with the 140-day legislative session nearing an end, the Democratic minority "chubbed" a voter ID bill, and coincidentally more, to death.

2009 May 30, James C[ourtright] McKinley Jr., “The Talk, and the Talk, and the Talk, of Austin”, in The New York Times (Image caption section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

Did You Know? in 2009, House Democrats chubbed to death a bill to require voters to present valid ID at the polls because they feared that it would keep low-income and elderly citizens from voting.

2014, William Earl Maxwell, Texas Politics Today, Boston, M.A.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, published 2013–2014, →ISBN, page 207:

In the House, as the session approached its end, Democrats "chubbed" the bill to death (a tactic similar to filibustering) – and, in the process, killed many other bills that were waiting in line behind it.

2011 January 14, Richard Whittaker, Wells Dunbar, Lee Nichols, Jordan Smith, “This Way to the Big Top!”, in The Austin Chronicle, Austin, T.X.: Austin Chronicle Corp., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-05-17:

(US, Texas politics) To stop a bill from being passed using procedural delays.


couped

(heraldry) Cut off smoothly, as distinguished from erased (used especially for the head or limb of an animal).


crux

→ French: crux

From Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross and crouch (“cross”).


drib

en-verb

drib (third-person singular simple present dribs, present participle dribbing, simple past and past participle dribbed)

dribs (present singular third-person)
dribbing (participle present)
dribbed (participle past)
dribbed (past)

From dialectal English drib (compare also drub), a variant from Middle English drepen (“to hit, strike, slay”), from Old English drepan (“to strike, kill, overcome”), from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to hit, strike”).

inh

(transitive, archery) To shoot directly at short range.

(intransitive, archery) To shoot at a mark at short range.

Not at first sight, nor with a dribbèd shot, / Love gave the wound […]

c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 2, page 519:

(transitive, archery) To shoot (a shaft) so as to pierce on the descent.


fib

en-verb

fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)

fibs (present singular third-person)
fibbing (participle present)
fibbed (participle past)
fibbed (past)

Fib the cove's quarron in the rumpad for the lour in his bung; beat the fellow in the highway for the money in his purse.

1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, published 1788, To Fib:

The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

As Biggs and his party arrived, I heard Hawkins say to Berry, "For heaven’s sake, my boy, fib with your right, and mind his left hand!"

1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Fight at Slaughter House”, in Men's Wives, page 16:

Then there was a wild scuffle and a furious outcry, and all the bargemen for a moment seemed to hug me and themselves too; when, as there was no room to hit out, in the phraseology of the ring, I fibbed at half-a-dozen waistcoats and faces with all my might and main.

1865, Grantley Berkeley, “Eton Boys”, in My Life and Recollections, volume 1, page 311:

Quoth he, "Thou dost surely jest when thou sayest that thou dost not understand such words. Answer me this: Hast thou ever fibbed a chouse quarrons in the Rome pad for the loure in his bung?"

1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part sixth, page 207:

(archaic, thieves' cant, boxing) To punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.


fletch

A modification of fledge (“to acquire feathers”) due to the influence of fletcher (“arrow-maker”). Compare flèche.

(archery) The vane toward the back of an arrow, used to stabilise the arrow during flight.


goer

From Middle English goere, equivalent to go + -er. Compare German Geher (“goer, walker”).

[…] multiple calls on Southwark's ground. From the radio traffic it sounded like they had a goer.

2023, A. J. Taylor, Firefighting: Better than Working for a Living:

(firefighting, slang) A fire incident in progress.


gouge

en-noun

gouge (countable and uncountable, plural gouges)

From Middle English gouge (“chisel with concave blade; gouge”), from Old French gouge, goi (“gouge”), from Late Latin goia, gubia, gulbia (“chisel; piercer”), borrowed from Gaulish *gulbiā, from Proto-Celtic *gulbā, *gulbi, *gulbīnos (“beak, bill”). The English word is cognate with Italian gorbia, gubbia (“ferrule”), Old Breton golb, Old Irish gulba (“beak”), Portuguese goiva, Scottish Gaelic gilb (“chisel”), Spanish gubia (“chisel, gouge”), Welsh gylf (“beak; pointed instrument”), gylyf (“sickle”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

inh

As all naval aviators have learned at one time or another in their careers, “There's plenty of bad gouge out there," and it has, does, and will get the unwary fliers in trouble.

2005, Jay A. Stout, To Be a U.S. Naval Aviator, page 63:

The Marines and “Coasties” (the nickname for Coast Guard students) were reputed to have good gouge on each class's test. Rumor had it that the Marines had inside information on the questions for the next day's FRR test, […]

2013, Douglas Waller, Air Warriors: The Inside Story of the Making of a Navy Pilot, page 89:

(US, military, slang, uncountable) Information.


heeler

The army of hungry heelers who do their bidding.

1886, Theodore Roosevelt, “Machine Politics”, in The Century:

(US, slang, politics, dated) A dependent and subservient hanger-on of a political patron.


impale

en-verb

impale (third-person singular simple present impales, present participle impaling, simple past and past participle impaled)

impales (present singular third-person)
impaling (participle present)
impaled (participle past)
impaled (past)
empale (alternative)

From Middle French, from Medieval Latin impālāre, from Latin palus, whence also pale.

(transitive, heraldry) To place two coats of arms side by side on the same shield (often those of two spouses upon marriage).


leaved

From Middle English leuued, levyd, equivalent to leaf + -ed.

(chiefly in combination, sometimes heraldry) Having a leaf, leaves or folds.


mod

en-noun

mod (countable and uncountable, plural mods)

Dems and GOPers Treat Their Mods Differently [title]

2009 April 29, Marc Ambinder, “Dems and GOPers Treat Their Mods Differently”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 2024-03-25:


nape

RHAH: They got through Alpha Company! Anything behind you don't identify itself, blow it away. Two - air strike's coming in. They gonna lay snake and nape right on the perimeter so stay tight in your holes and don't leave 'em.

1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (film script)


nape

en-verb

nape (third-person singular simple present napes, present participle naping, simple past and past participle naped)

napes (present singular third-person)
naping (participle present)
naped (participle past)
naped (past)

(transitive, military, slang) To bombard with napalm.


pall

From Middle English pal, palle, from Old English pæl, pæll, from Old French paile and Latin pallium (“cloak; covering”) (and thus a doublet of pallium), probably from palla (“piece of cloth worn as apparel”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; hide, skin; cloth”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

der

The flag of South Africa has a green pall

(heraldry) A charge representing an archbishop's pallium, having the form of the letter Y, sometimes charged with crosses.


piker

From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California.

Upstairs in a waiting room there were pikers whose tunics echoed Baudricourt′s gold lion shield painted up and down the rafters.

1974, Thomas Keneally, Blood Red, Sister Rose, page 82:

By 1600, the ratio of pikers to gunmen was roughly 3:2. By mid-century the ratio was only 1:2, and by 1670 there was just one piker to every three gunmen in the French Army.

2008, Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, page 363:

(military, historical) A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman.


rep

en-noun

rep (countable and uncountable, plural reps)

Clippings of various words beginning with rep.

[…] and Henry Riser is still waiting for official casualty reps and family info on Doug Wheless.

1993, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, Assembly, volumes 52, issues 1-3, page 149:

A shell report, or "shell rep," was supposed to be sent in by any man who witnessed the fall of enemy artillery fire.

1996, Don Congdon, Combat World War II, volume 1, page 531:

(military, in combination) Clipping of report.


rick

No turning back now rick, you are the property of the US government now.

(military, derogatory and demeaning) A brand new (naive) boot camp inductee.


ruff

I also used quite a few of the flat-fingered kind of ruff (as used before on the doumbek in the baladi section) to embellish some notes.

2003, Rob Lewis, “3 Camps: Rudimental Drum Solo”, in Crosstraining: A Method for Applying Rhythms and Techniques to Drum Set, Hand Percussion and Mallet Instruments, Pacific, Mo.: Mel Bay Productions, →ISBN, part 6 (Rudiments and Rudimental Solos), page 71:

(music, often military) A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruffle.


ruff

en-verb

ruff (third-person singular simple present ruffs, present participle ruffing, simple past and past participle ruffed)

ruffs (present singular third-person)
ruffing (participle present)
ruffed (participle past)
ruffed (past)

[A] wooden leg and an empty coat sleeve, and fourteen poor pennies a-day, are all that I have got by allowing myself to be seduced by the cursed din of a Scotchman's bagpipe. I was once a good yeoman, in Kent, and in an evil hour went to the fair at Maidstone. The drum ruffed, and the pipe screamed in the market-place, and away I went to see what was to happen. […] I fairly forgot myself, and scarcely ever knew where I was or what I was doing, till I found myself on board a ship, and saw the olive hills and vineyards of Spain, […]

1823 February, Nalla, “Corporal Colville”, in The London Magazine, volume VII, London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 93, Fleet Street, and 13, Waterloo Place, →OCLC, page 136, column 1:

(transitive) To beat a ruff or ruffle, as on a drum.

If anything could have kept me awake, this cracked drum would; and, in truth, I had my fears, when, on entering my room, I heard my hero ruffing it away immediately in front of the window; but they were groundless apprehensions, though his efforts were varied and unceasing, for I undressed to the tune of the "Grenadiers' March," stepped into bed to the "Reveille," and dropped fast asleep to the first part of "Yankee Doodle!"

1836, Tyrone Power, “Trenton Falls”, in Impressions of America, during the Years 1833, 1834, and 1835. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, publisher in ordinary to His Majesty, →OCLC, page 384:

(intransitive) Of a drum, etc.: to have a ruff or ruffle beaten on it.


ruff

"Ruff, ruff!" Around the corner, a little light brown, short-haired dog came running. On seeing the little brown terrier, Annie and Marie looked at one another. Letting out a moan, Annie said, "Oh no, it's JB! I wish Joyce would take him to dog school and have him taught some manners."

2014, Suzan Kayaalp, “The Visitor”, in The Adventures of Lucky the Duck, New York, N.Y.: Page Publishing, →ISBN:


ruff

en-adj

ruff (comparative ruffer, superlative ruffest)

ruffer (comparative)
ruffest (superlative)

The Herb Pantagruelion hath a little Root somewhat hard and ruff, roundish, terminating in an obtuse and very blunt Point, and having some of its Veins, Strings or Filaments coloured with some spots of white, […]

1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], [Peter Anthony Motteux, transl.], “How Pantagruel Did Put Himself in a Readiness to Go to Sea; and of the Herb Named Pantagruelion”, in The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais Doctor in Physick, Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and His Sonne Pantagruel: Together with the Pantagrueline Prognostication, the Oracle of the Divine Bacbuc, and Response of the Bottle: Hereunto are Annexed the Navigations unto the Sounding Isle and the Isle of the Apedefts: As Likewise the Philosophical Cream with a Limosin Epistle all Done by Mr. Francis Rabelais in the French Tongue and Now Faithfully Translated into English […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Privately printed for the Navarre Society Limited, 23 New Oxford Street, W.C., published 1921, →OCLC, book III, pages 57–58:

Up to this time it have been an uphill bisness. The teem was a good one, and the gear all sound, and the waggin greasd, but the rode is perhaps the ruffest in the world.

1873, Bill Arp [pseudonym; Charles Henry Smith], “Nineteenth Paper: Bill Arp Addresses His Feller Citizens”, in Bill Arp’s Peace Papers, New York, N.Y.: G. W. Carleton & Co., publishers; London: S[ampson] Low, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 128:

(colloquial or obsolete) Alternative spelling of rough.


sachem

Borrowed from Narragansett sachem; compare Mi'kmaq saqamaw (“chief”) and Unami sakima (“chief”), all ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *sa·kima·wa. Doublet of sagamore.

The society elects annually thirteen sachems, which represent the original thirteen States. […] The other officers of the society are a Secretary, Treasurer, Sagamore, and Wiskinkie.

1865, R. G. Horton, “The History of Tammany Society, or, Columbian Order. Chapter V. From 1834 to 1840.”, in D. T. Valentine, Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, New York, N.Y.: Edmund Jones & Co. [for the Common Council], →OCLC, page 876:

Aboriginal titles were adopted and the head of each tribe was called a sachem. […] Its proprietor, Abraham Martling, was elected a sachem on several occasions and members of Tammany were often called Martling Men.

1983, Virgil W. Peterson, The Mob: 200 Years of Organized Crime in New York, page 4:

(politics) A high-ranking officer of the Tammany Hall political organization.


sepoy

→ Dutch: sepoy, sipoy

→ Indonesian: sepoy

→ German: Sepoy

→ Italian: sepoy

→ Swedish: sepoy

→ Finnish: sepoy

→ Turkish: sepoy

From Portuguese sipae, from Urdu سِپاہی (sipāhī) / Hindi सिपाही (sipāhī), from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from سِپَاه (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of spahi and sipahi.

der

If our door were in the hands of the Sepoys the place must fall, and the women and children be treated as they were in Cawnpore.

1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Strange Story of Jonathan Small”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 238:

They proved to be the wives of a body of sepoys, also from the 5th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry; the sepoys had perished, and their families been enslaved, when their pattamar had been captured by the Qawasim some months before.

1997, Charles E. Davies, The Blood-red Arab Flag: An Investigation Into Qasimi Piracy, 1797-1820, University of Exeter Press, →ISBN, page 312:

(historical, military) A native soldier of the East Indies, employed in the service of a European colonial power, notably the British India army (first under the British-chartered East India Company, later in the crown colony), but also France and Portugal.


shunt

From Middle English shunten, schunten, schonten, schounten, shont, shonte, shount, shounten, shunte (“to move rapidly or suddenly, jerk; to swerve, turn away; to avoid, dodge, escape, evade”), either:
* possibly a back-formation from Middle English shǒnen (“to decline to do, refuse; to abandon, forsake; to disdain, dislike, hate; to avoid, escape; to be afraid, fear; to be wary of”), from Old English sċunian, sċyniġan; see shun. Or
* an alteration of Middle English shunden, *schunden, *schinden, from Old English sċyndan, sċendan (“to hasten, hurry”) (as in āsċyndan (“to remove, take away”), from Proto-West Germanic *skundijan, from Proto-Germanic *skundijaną (“to compel, drive, push; to accelerate, rush, speed up”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew(n)t- (“to rattle, shake”).
* from unrecorded Old English *sċunettan, a derivative of sċunian (“to shun, avoid”).
The English word is cognate with Danish skynde (“to hasten, hurry, speed”), Icelandic skynda, skunda (“to hasten”), Middle High German schünden (“to compel; to urge; to irritate”), Norwegian skynde (“to hurry, rush”), Swedish skynda (“to hasten, hurry; to scuttle, scurry”). Outside Germanic, compare Sanskrit स्कन्दति (skándati, “to dart, leap, spring, spurt or burst forth, ejaculate, assail, drop, split”), Albanian shkund (“to shake; to swig”).
As regards the noun sense, compare Middle English shunt (“swerve; sudden jerk”), derived from the verb.

cog

In length, this gun was the same as the French, but weighed 9 cwt. less. It was rifled in six grooves on the shunt plan, in the form in which it has been generally applied to large guns, with the difference that some of the angles of the grooving were rounded off. […] To impede fouling, a slightly greater windage was allowed in the chamber of the shunt gun, the diameter there being 0.04 greater than at the mouth of the bore.

1865 October, “Rifled Guns and Missiles”, in Colburn’s United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, part III, number CCCCXLIII, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 170:

The shunt system, of which the 64-pr. is the only example now in the service, has been considered inferior to the Woolwich, because besides being unnecessarily complicated, the grooves which are cut with abrupt sharp angles weaken the gun. […] [I]n the shunt gun, however, in addition to the mere fact of the driving side of the double groove being shallow, and the loading side deep, the two grooves join in one deep one at 2 feet 7.5 inches from the muzzle, […]

1870, Charles Orde Browne, “Section II. Muzzle-loading Armstrong, Shunt System.”, in Ammunition. A Descriptive Treatise on the Different Projectiles, Charges, Fuzes, &c., at Present in Use for Land and Sea Service, and on Other War Stores Manufactured in the Royal Laboratory, part II (Ammunition for Rifled Ordnance), London: Printed under the superintendence of Her Majesty's Stationery Office by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […], →OCLC, page 108:

(firearms) The shifting of the studs on a projectile from the deep to the shallow sides of the grooves in its discharge from a shunt gun.


Tory

From Irish tóraí (“pursuer”), from tóir (“pursuit”). The first recorded use in English is from a 1646 letter by James Butler, Earl of Ormond, to a Colonel O'Brien, describing bandits and thieves on main roadways.

(UK politics) A member or supporter of the Conservative Party, which evolved from Royalist politicians; historically associated with upholding the rights of the monarchy and the privileges of the established Church.

консерватор

a member or supporter of the Conservative Party (UK, Canada)

The latest Tory budget continued the trend begun in 2000 by making further small cuts in family income taxes.

2008, David Mutimer, Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs 2002, page 220:

(Canadian politics) A member or supporter of the Conservative Party of Canada, one of that party's predecessors, or an affiliated provincial political party.


Tory

(UK politics) Of or belonging to the Tory Party or the Conservative Party.

(Canadian politics) Of or belonging to the Conservative Party of Canada, one of that party's predecessors, or an affiliated provincial political party.


oblique fire

en-noun

oblique fire (usually uncountable, plural oblique fires)

(military) Fire whose direction is not perpendicular to the line fired at.


oblique flank

(fortifications) that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered.


oblique step

(military) A step in marching, by which a soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25 degrees.


fuse

From Italian fuso and French fusée, from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

(manufacturing, mining, military) The mechanism that ignites the charge in an explosive device; a detonator.


troop

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French trouppe (from Old French trope (“band, company, troop”)), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *þorp (“assembly, gathering”), from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village, land, estate”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, settlement”).
Doublet of troupe, and possibly also of thorp, dorp, and trip. Cognate with German Dorf (“village”).

der

(military) A small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry.


surrender

en-verb

surrender (third-person singular simple present surrenders, present participle surrendering, simple past and past participle surrendered)

surrenders (present singular third-person)
surrendering (participle present)
surrendered (participle past)
surrendered (past)
surrendre (alternative)

Etymology tree
Middle English surrendren
English surrender
From Middle English surrendren, from Old French surrendre, from sur- + rendre (“render”). Displaced native Old English on hand gān.

etymon

(military, by extension, transitive) To yield (a town, a fortification, etc.) to an enemy.


assault

en-noun

assault (countable and uncountable, plural assaults)

From Middle English assaut, from Old French noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l.

(fencing) A non-competitive combat between two fencers.


ballista

ballista (plural ballistas or ballistae or ballistæ)

ballistas (plural)
ballistae (plural)
ballistæ (plural)

Borrowed from Latin ballista, from Ancient Greek βαλλίστρα (ballístra), from βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”).

(weaponry, historical) An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

عَرَّادَة

crossbow-like military engine for hurling large missiles


banner

From Middle English baner, from Old French baniere (Modern bannière), of Germanic origin. More at band.

(heraldry) The principal standard of a knight.


breech

breech (countable and uncountable, plural breeches)

From Middle English breche, from Old English brēċ, from Proto-Germanic *brōkiz pl, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“clothing for loins and thighs”). Cognate with Dutch broek, Alemannic German Bruech, Swedish brok. Doublet of vraka.

der

(firearms) The part of a cannon or other firearm behind the chamber.


cataphract

From Latin cataphractes (“suit of armour”), from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “suit of armour”), from κατα- (kata-, prefix indicating a great degree or intensity) + φρακτός (phraktós, “protected; fenced in”) (from φράσσω (phrássō, “to fortify, secure; to fence in”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being).

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

Those fighting before the standards, around the standards and (otherwise) in the front line were called principes [i.e. the centurions and the other under-officers]. This was the heavy armament, which had helmets, cataphracts, greaves, shields, large swords called spathae, and other smaller swords called semispathia, [...]

1996, Vegetius [i.e., Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus], “How the Lines of the Legions are Drawn Up”, in N. P. Milner, transl., Vegetius: Epitome of Military Science […] (Translated Texts for Historians; 16), 2nd edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, published 2001, →ISBN, book II (The Ancient Legion), page 47:

Carmine streaks stained their limbs, their tunics and cataphracts; but little of the blood was theirs. They did not move like people with injuries.

2013, Stephen R[eeder] Donaldson, “Shamed Choices”, in The Last Dark (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant; book 4), New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 437:

(military, historical) Defensive armour covering the entire body of a soldier and often the soldier's horse as well, especially the linked mail or scale armour of some eastern nations.

կատափրակտոս

armour for the entire body of a soldier and often for the soldier's horse as well


cataphract

The adjective is derived from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”), from καταφράσσειν (kataphrássein, “to suit in armour”) (see further at etymology 1) + -τος (-tos, “suffix forming adjectives”).
The noun is derived from Latin cataphractus (“wearing armour, mailed”), from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”); see above.

He who lookes you in the face, ſaith he ſees you, though the reſt of your bodie be within your cloathes, and if you, being an ὁωλομάχος a cataphract in your proteſtantiſh πανοπλία [panoplía, suit of armour] should for fear pull downe your beuer before you come into the liſt, your Aduerſarie for all that might light vpon your (  ) vnleſſe you bring with you Giges his ring, ſo to make your ſelf inuiſible; [...]

1635, L. I. [pseudonym; John Lechmere], “The Third Argument was about the Killing Letter; out of Origen, […]”, in The Relection of a Conference Tovching the Reall Presence. Or A Bachelovrs Censvre of a Masters Apologie for Doctour Featlie, Douai: Lavrence Kellam, →OCLC, page 333:

Immediately / Was Samſon as a public ſervant brought, / In thir ſtate Livery clad; before him Pipes / and Timbrels, on each ſide went armed guards, / Both horſe and foot before him and behind / Archers, and Slingers, Cataphracts and Spears.

1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 93–94, lines 615–620:

Lucullus also had these [the cavalry of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia] in his army at the siege of Tigranocerta; and in the battle with Tigranes made choice of them and the Thracian horse to attack the Cataphracts, the choicest of the enemy's cavalry, and to drive them from the ground.

1812, Herodotus, translated by William Beloe, Herodotus, Translated from the Greek, […], 3rd edition, volume IV, London: […] Luke Hansard & Sons, […]; for Leigh and Sotheby; […], →OCLC, footnote 155, page 127:

Ælian calls the heavy-armed infantry, ὁπλίται, hoplitæ; and the heavy horse soldiers, καταφρακτοι, cataphracti;—we denominate the former completely-armed troops, and the latter cuirassiers.— [...] The cuirassiers carried targets and used pikes. The Parthian cataphracts had also bows and arrows.

1814, Henry Augustus, Viscount Dillon [i.e., Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon], “Of the Division of Forces into Distinct Classes”, in Ælian [i.e., Aelianus Tacticus], The Tactics of Ælian, Comprising the Military System of the Grecians; […], London: […] Cox and Baylis, […], for E. Kerby, […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:

Besides the equestrian archers who fought flying, and wearied out an enemy by often renewed assaults, they had heavy cataphracts or cuirassiers clad in the steel of Margiana (a province immediately eastward of Parthia,) armed with long lances, and bearing a wonderful resemblance in all points to the chivalrous warriors of the middle ages.

1820, John Gillies, chapter XXV, in The History of Ancient Greece, Its Colonies, and Conquests: Part the Second; […], new (6th) edition, volume IV, London: […] T[homas] Cadell & W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 119–120:

[...] Tacitus (Hist. I, 79) says that the Sarmatian cataphracts were rather helpless if knocked off their horses, just like the mediaeval knights. The chief difference was, that whereas the mediaeval knight was armoured all over, the cataphract had no thigh armour under his coat, I suppose because he was riding without stirrups and grip was all-important; it may have been this which led to the invention of stirrups.

1930, W[illiam] W[oodthorpe] Tarn, “Lecture II: Cavalry and Elephants”, in Hellenistic Military & Naval Developments, New York, N.Y.: Biblo and Tannen, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 74–75:

The second graffito [...], depicting a cataphract, is unique until now. He is armed with a lance having streamers(?) at its point and is protected by a complete coat of mail. He carries a conical helmet ending in a point from which hangs a piece of mesh protecting his face.

1933, M. Pillet, “General Report of the Campaign of 1930–31”, in P. V. C. Baur, M[ikhail] I[vanovich] Rostoftzeff, A[lfred] R. Bellinger, editors, The Excavations at Dura-Europos: Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters: Preliminary Report of Fourth Season of Work, October 1930–March 1931, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 13:

The heart of the Byzantine army was the cataphract, a missile-shock soldier who functioned from horseback as an armored, mounted lancer or, with his bow, as a mounted archer. [...] The cataphract was also well protected by a casque or conical metal helmet, chain-mail armor from his neck to his thighs, and a small shield strapped to his left arm.

1990, Larry H. Addington, “War in the Middle Ages”, in The Patterns of War through the Eighteenth Century, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 47:

The least numerous, but most impressive cavalry were the cataphracts. A fully equipped cataphract had a bronze or iron helmet, perhaps with neck guard, a lamella, mail, or scale cuirass with arm and thigh guards attached, leg defences of mail or laminated strips, and mail-reinforced gauntlets. The horse wore a caparison of iron or bronze scales with further armour on the neck or head.

1996, Adrian Keith Goldsworthy, “The Opposition”, in The Roman Army at War: 100 BC–AD 200 (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 66:

A party of heavy cataphracts rode up, their horses thundering to a halt amid a cloud of dirt. The men were in full-length lamellar armour which hampered their mobility to no small degree.

2012, Peter Goh, chapter 2, in Eagle in the Land of Dragons, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 43:

(military, historical) A soldier (especially a horseman) covered with a cataphract (etymology 1, sense 1).


champ

Borrowed from French champ m (“field”). Doublet of campus and camp.

If a man, he adds, have taken for his arms 'a low of gules in a champ of silver,'¹ […]
¹A flame (pile wavy) gules in a silver field. Thus the arms of the family of Bataille de Mandelot are, Argent three flames, per piles wavy gules, issuant from the base. Woodward, Heraldry, i. 158. Otherwise one might almost suppose that the word 'low' of the MS. was a misprint or a misunderstanding of the scribe for 'cow'; for the instance in one MS. of the original French is that of a man who took 'une vache de geules et trois estoiles par dessus.'

1914, John Horne Stevenson, Heraldry in Scotland, page 30:

(heraldry, obsolete or rare) The field of a shield.


champ

en-verb

champ (third-person singular simple present champs, present participle champing, simple past and past participle champed)

champs (present singular third-person)
champing (participle present)
champed (participle past)
champed (past)
champe (alternative)

Three of red cloth of gold champed with (with a ground of) velvet. One of white cloth of gold champed with blue velvet. One of red champed with blue velvet.

1559 July 7, The Ancient Church of Scotland, published 1874, page 101:

(heraldry) To set (a surface) with a champ (a contrasting field or background). [with with]


contingent

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

From Middle English, from Old French contingent, from Medieval Latin contingens (“possible, contingent”), present participle of contingere (“to touch, meet, attain to, happen”), from com- (“together”) + tangere (“to touch”).

der

Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians.

2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:


crest

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista.
The informal meaning “design, logo” (sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

inh

I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(heraldry) A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.


crusader

1998, Osama Bin Ladenhttps://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) An American, especially a soldier or leader who wages war against Islamist militants.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) (either attributively or in the plural) The United States and its Western allies.


decapitation

en-noun

decapitation (countable and uncountable, plural decapitations)

The decapitation of the Foreign Secretary was a significant publicity coup for the opposition.

The Lib Dem contender hoping to accomplish a bit of pre-emptive decapitation is Andrew Crawford.

2005, Simon Henig, Lewis Baston, Politico's Guide to the General Election 2005, page 223:

Some also thought that the Lib Dem decapitation strategy had kept him cornered in his constituency during the campaign, unable to play a wider role.

2009 May 1, Andrew Denham, Kieron O'Hara, Democratising Conservative leadership selection: from grey suits to grass roots, page 108:

Nearing 2.30, stoking fears of a disastrous night for the Lib Dems, the Tories achieved their first "decapitation" ‑ a visibly shocked Lembit Opik, in once-safe Montgomeryshire ‑ while evading their own biggest risk of high-profile embarrassment: Oliver Letwin held Dorset West.

2010 May 7, Oliver Burkeman, “UK election results 2010: A war of words deep into the night”, in The Guardian:

(politics) The unseating of a senior politician.


dehors

(fortification) All sorts of outworks in general, at a distance from the main works; any advanced works for protection or cover.


depend

en-verb

depend (third-person singular simple present depends, present participle depending, simple past and past participle depended)

depends (present singular third-person)
depending (participle present)
depended (participle past)
depended (past)

From Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre and Latin dependeō, from Latin dē- + pendeō (“to hang”). In this sense, displaced native Old English hangian (“to hang or depend”).

ncog

The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows.

In the centre is an Imperial Crown, from which depend a Harp of gold and the Badge.

1893, John Edwin Cussen (1837–1899), Handbook of Heraldry, 4th edition, London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, via Internet Archive (UC Berkeley), page 247:

Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low, slightly vaulted ceiling, and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls without windows, representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in medieval costumes.

He had prepared a sort of collar of leather with many straps depending from it.

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

Besides, if you worked up to be a cadet officer, you got to wear a Sam Browne belt, from which depended a nifty saber.

(now literary, heraldry) To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge, decoration, or element is suspended from another part of an achievement of arms.


punitive

en-adj

punitive (comparative more punitive, superlative most punitive)

more punitive (comparative)
most punitive (superlative)

From Middle French punitif, from Medieval Latin pūnitīvus, from pūniō (“I punish”).

Beijing imposed punitive sanctions on Canada.

The jury awarded $10,000 in punitive damages.

(law, military) Inflicting punishment; punishing.