liberation

en-noun

liberation (countable and uncountable, plural liberations)

/ˌlɪbəˈɹeɪʃən/

Borrowed from Middle French libération, and from Latin liberatio, liberationem (“a freeing”), from liberare past participle liberatus (“set free”); see liberate.

bor

women's liberation... black liberation... gay liberation...

(politics) The achievement of equal rights and status, particularly as seen as freedom from historic and structural oppression.


engineer

→ Burmese: အင်ဂျင်နီယာ (anggyangniya)

→ Hawaiian: ʻenekinia

→ Hindi: इंजीनियर (iñjīniyar)

→ Japanese: エンジニア (enjinia)

desc

အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Mon: အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Mon: အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Persian:

Dari: اِنْجِنِیر (injinīr)

/ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə/

/ˌɛnd͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/

/ɪnˈd͡ʒɪnɪjə(ɾ)/

The noun is derived from:
* Middle English enginour (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence, etc.; machine designer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enginour, engigneour [and other forms], and Middle French and Old French engigneor, engigneour, engignier (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence; architect; carpenter; craftsman; designer; planner; one who deceives or schemes”) (modern French ingénieur), from engin (“contraption, device; machine; invention; creativity, ingenuity; intelligence; deception, ruse, trickery”) + -eor, -or (suffix forming agent nouns); engin is derived from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature; intelligence, natural capacity; ability, skill, talent; (Medieval Latin) engine; machine”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + gignere (the present active infinitive of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns); and
* from engine + -er (occupational suffix); and
* from engine + -eer (suffix forming nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities), possibly modelled after Middle French ingénieur (a variant of Middle French, Old French engigneour; see above), and Italian ingegniere (“engineer”) (obsolete; modern Italian ingegnere).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Medieval Latin, Late Latin ingeniārius (“engineer”)
* Medieval Latin ingeniator (“one constructing or using an engine”)
* Old Occitan engenhador, enginhador
* Portuguese engenhador (obsolete), engenheiro (“engineer”)
* Spanish engeñero (obsolete), ingeniero (“engineer”)

nb...

(Late Middle English) engyner, (Middle English) engineour, enginer, engyneour, engyneor, engynour, yngynore

engineor, enginere, engineur, enginor, enginur

cog

For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], signature [I4], verso:

For it's amusing to have the engineer / Hoisted into the sky with his own explosive, and if I'm lucky / I will dig one yard below their mines, / And blow them towards the Moon: […]

Novv he began another Trade, and became an Ingenor, hauing got eight Fire-brands of hell more to him, onely of purpoſe to ſet our houſe a fire.

1625, Edmund Scot, “A Discourse of Iaua, and of the First English Factorie there, with Diuers Indian, English, and Dutch Occurrents, […]”, in [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 1st part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, § IIII, page 173:

Cannons vpon their Carriage mounted are, / VVhole Battery Fraunce muſt feele vpon her VValls, / The Engineer prouiding the Petar, / To breake the ſtrong Percullice, and the Balls / Of VVild fire deuis'd to throvv from farre, / To burne to ground their Pallaces and Halls: […]

1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Battaile of Agincourt”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC, page 12:

But your Lordships must have heard with astonishment, that, upon points of law, relative to the tenure of lands, instead of producing any law document or authority on the usages and local customs of the country, he has referred to officers in the army, colonels of artillery and engineers, to young gentlemen just come from school, not above three or four years in the country.

1794 May 28, Edmund Burke, “Trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. Wednesday, 28th May 1794. First Day of Reply.”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume XV, London: […] [Luke Hansard & Sons] for C[harles] & J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1827, →OCLC, pages 63–64:

And she began praising Hereward's valour, his fame, his eloquence, his skill as a general and engineer; and when he suggested, smiling, that he was an exile and an outlaw, she insisted he was all the fitter from that very fact.

1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Earl Godwin’s Widow Came to St. Omer”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 341:

A soldier engaged in designing or constructing military works for attack or defence, or other engineering works.

This is hard welcome, but it was not you, / At whom the fatal enginer did ayme, / My breaſt the levell was, though you the marke, / In which conſpiracie anſwere me Duke, / Is not thy ſoule as guiltie as the Earles?

1599, [Thomas Heywood], “[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044086749090&view=1up&seq=121 The Second Part […]]”, in The First and Second Partes of King Edvvard the Fourth. […], London: […] I. W. for Iohn Oxenbridge, […], →OCLC; reprinted Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: The Rosenbach Company, 1922, →OCLC:

Wit's an unruly engine, wildly ſtriking / Sometimes a friend, ſometimes the engineer.

[1633], George Herbert, “The Church-porch”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 9:

An Author who points his ſatyr at a great man, is to be looked upon in the ſame view with the engineer who ſignalized himſelf by this ungenerous practice.

1716 March 6 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 19. Friday, February 24. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 426:

In war he [the poet] is the most deadly force of the war. Who recruits him recruits horse and foot … he fetches parks of artillery the best that engineer ever knew.

1855 July 4, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: [James and Andrew Rome], →OCLC, page v, column 1:

(obsolete) A soldier in charge of operating a weapon; an artilleryman, a gunner.

(US, firefighting) A person who drives or operates a fire engine (firefighting apparatus).


Zionism

en-noun

Zionism (countable and uncountable, plural Zionisms)

From Zion + -ism, calqued in analogy to German Zionismus, coined by Nathan Birnbaum in 1890.

These investigations indicate that although a large proportion of American Jews call themselves Zionists, their meanings of Zionism are closer to what some investigators have called pro-Israelism. According to the still common Israeli definition of a Zionist as one who views the Diaspora negatively and considers the settlement of Jews in Israel as essential, the vast majority of American Jews would not be considered Zionists.

1996, Gal Allon, Allon Gal, Jerold S. Auerbach, Envisioning Israel: The Changing Ideals and Images of North American Jews, page 151:

(politics) Jewish nationalism, the movement which supported first the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland and now supports the continuation of a Jewish state in Israel.


hyper

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

Mason of Blencogo was a strong fellow, with no great science or action, and how he disposed of Nichol of Bothel, who was one of the best hypers of the day, puzzled not a few.

1868, The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review:


gallery

From Middle English galery, gallerye, from Middle French galerie, gallerie, from Old French galerie, gallerie (“a long portico, a gallery”), from Medieval Latin galeria (“gallery”), of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of Latin galilea (“church porch”), probably from Latin Galilaea, Galilee, region of Israel. More at Galilee.

unk

unknown origin

the galleries of the fort

(fortification) A covered passage cut through the earth or masonry.


cootie

Probably from Malay kutu (“flea, louse”) (and/or Tagalog/Maori). First attested in English in 1917 as British army slang during World War I.

"Tell Rilla I'm glad her war-baby is turning out so well, and tell Susan that I'm fighting a good fight against both Huns and cooties."
"Mrs. Dr. dear," whispered Susan solemnly, "what are cooties?"
Mrs. Blythe whispered back and then said in reply to Susan's horrified ejaculations, "It's always like that in the trenches, Susan."
Susan shook her head and went away in grim silence to re-open a parcel she had sewed up for Jem and slip in a fine tooth comb.

1921, L. M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside:

Pediculus humanus
Pediculus humanus#Translingual

(dated, British Army military slang or Canada, US, colloquial) A louse (Pediculus humanus).


illegal

Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin legalis, by surface analysis, il- + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.

Anna Chapman, whose glamorous appearance won her more publicity in the Western media than all the other illegals combined, was so successfully deceived by a US sting operation that she handed over her SVR laptop to an FBI agent posing as a Russian.

2012, Christopher Andrew, ‘Colder War’, Literary Review, number 399:

Traditionally, illegals have been extremely hard for counterintelligence agencies to find, but in a world of biometric data, facial recognition software and open source investigation possibilities, it has become harder for Russia to keep its illegals below the radar.

2022 August 26, Shaun Walker, “Socialite who charmed Nato staff in Naples was Russian spy, say investigators”, in The Guardian:

(espionage) A spy operating abroad illegally and under non-official cover, without visible ties to his or her country’s authorities.


Blighty

Corruption of the Hindustani विलायती (vilāytī) / وِلائتی (vilā'iyatī, “foreign”), which is related to Arabic ولاية (wilāyah, “state, province”), whence also, through Turkish, vilayet.
Sir Henry Yule and Arthur C. Burnell explained in their Anglo-Indian dictionary, Hobson-Jobson, published in 1886, that the word was used in the names of several kinds of exotic foreign things, especially those that the British had brought into the country, such as the tomato, विलायती बैंगन (vilāytī baiṅgan, literally “foreign aubergine”), and especially to soda water, which was commonly called विलायती पानी (vilāytī pānī, literally “foreign water”).
Blighty was the inevitable British soldier’s corruption of it. But it only came into common use as a term for Britain at the beginning of the First World War in France about 1915. It turns up in popular songs "There’s a ship that’s bound for Blighty", "We wish we were in Blighty", and "Take me back to dear old Blighty, put me on the train for London town", and in Wilfred Owen's poems, as well as many other places.
The sense of a minor wound comes from attributive use of the noun, as in “a Blighty wound,” “a Blighty one,” 1916.
In modern Australian usage, Old has been added, as in Old Country and Old Dart, as a sentimental reference to Britain.

The ones who did get a good Blighty were returned to England.

Well maybe I'll have luck this time in the shape of a decent little “Blighty” as its^([sic]) the only way out of it for a while.

2010, Y.A. Bennett, Kiss the kids for dad, Don’t forget to write, →ISBN:

"Talk about Blighties——” He lifted his bandaged arm.

2016, Ronald Gurner, Pass Guard at Ypres: A Novel, →ISBN:

(military slang) Synonym of Blighty one.


trespass

en-verb

trespass (third-person singular simple present trespasses, present participle trespassing, simple past and past participle trespassed)

trespasses (present singular third-person)
trespassing (participle present)
trespassed (participle past)
trespassed (past)

From Middle English trespassen, borrowed from Old French trespasser (“to go across or over, transgress”), from tres- (“across, over”) + passer (“to pass”).

der

The dean trespassed the streaker from his university.

"You were trespassing on private property when you were taking pictures," he said, with no hint of courtesy. "I must trespass you. Come with me."

1996 April 16, Glenn Campbell, “Another Business Office Found”, in The Groom Lake Desert Rat, number 35, Rachel, NV, archived from the original on 1998-02-23:

The entire police force has in effect been trespassed from a Wellington property to stop officers checking whether a heavy-sleeping offender is complying with an overnight bail curfew.

2012 June 21, Greg O'Connor, “Criminal trespasses police officers”, in Stuff:

(transitive, law enforcement) To decree that a person or group of people shall be arrested for trespassing if they return to someone else's property.


measles

Either from Middle Dutch masels (“blood blisters, measels”) or Middle Low German maselen (“red blemishes, measels”), both from Old High German masala (“blood blister, phlegmon”). Doublet of measlings. Cognate with mazer & mase and Middle Low German masele & māsel. Influenced in pronunciation and some senses by mesel (“leprous, leper”).

measle (alternative)
the measles (alternative)
measels (alternative)

[…] they would prefer having him "die of the measles," as wags at the CIA put it, than be punished by legal means. If there is no convenient way of administering the "measles," they may even favor simply letting him go.

1975, Miles Copeland, Beyond Cloak and Dagger: Inside the CIA, page 204:

Such final solutions, sometimes referred to as termination with extreme prejudice, are known in the CIA as dying of the measles — that is, the death appears to be of natural causes.

1977, Raymond Edward Palmer, The Making of a Spy, page 99:

(US, espionage jargon) A discreet assassination made to look like death from any natural cause.


spook

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

cog

From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?

2009 July 24, “Spies like them”, in BBC News Magazine:

The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks.

2012 October 13, “Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold”, in The Economist:

(espionage, slang) An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.


forces

(rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) -oːɹsɪz

(non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) -oəsɪz


motti

(military) encirclement; pocket, siege, entrapment


outer

From Middle English outre, outer, outter, uttre, from Old English ūtre, ūtera, ūterra (“outer”), equivalent to out + -er. Compare German äußere (“outer”), Danish ydre (“outer”), Swedish yttre (“outer”), Icelandic ytri (“outer”). Piecewise doublet of utter.

(military, firearms) The fourth circle on a target, outside the inner and magpie.


outer

inner

antonym(s) of “one who supports leaving the EU”

The 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent victory of the "outers" broke the back of the Labour government.

2013 January 25, Jon Cruddas, “Au Revoir, Europe: What If Britain Left the EU? by David Charter”, in The Independent:

2015 May 7, Guy Faulconbridge, “Britain's EU "outers" see opportunity in wake of Greece's "No"”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2015-12-22:

Meanwhile, outers are disporting themselves on TV in luminous green ties, hand-woven by first years at the Dronefield Academy for the Sartorially Challenged.

2016 February 16, Robert Shrimsley, “Gimme a Brexit break”, in Financial Times:

(UK politics) One who supports leaving the European Union.


yessir

yessuh (alternative)
yessiree (alternative)
yessirree (alternative)

Japanese: イエッサー (slang)

(informal or military) Used to express assent, especially to a male superior.

نَعَم سَيِّدِي

used to express assent, especially to a superior


laager

From South African Dutch lager (“camp”) (modern Afrikaans laer), from German Lager, from Middle High German leger, from Old High German legar, from Proto-Germanic *legrą. Doublet of lager and lair.

(military) A temporary formation of armoured vehicles for resupply.


uncover

en-verb

uncover (third-person singular simple present uncovers, present participle uncovering, simple past and past participle uncovered)

uncovers (present singular third-person)
uncovering (participle present)
uncovered (participle past)
uncovered (past)

From Middle English uncoveren, equivalent to un- + cover.

(military, transitive) To expose (lines of formation of troops) successively by the wheeling to right or left of the lines in front.


scope

en-noun

scope (countable and uncountable, plural scopes)

→ Irish: scóp

From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-. Etymologically related to skeptic and spectrum.

Coastie yanked her eye away from the night scope when those big lights were caught by it and amplified in intensity. Her entire view had gone white in an instant. “I can't see!” Temporarily blinded, she let touch become her primary sense, dropped the M40, and grabbed her alternate weapon, an M16 with an ACOG day scope that was already registered for the same distance.

2014, Sgt. Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis, On Scope: A Sniper Novel, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN:

(weaponry) A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.


exuviae

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

Learned borrowing from Latin exuviae, from exuō (“cast off, undress”).

(historical, military) Among the Ancient Romans, weaponry and equipment stripped from the person of a foe; booty.


sight radius

sight radius (plural sight radiuses or sight radii)

sight radiuses (plural)
sight radii (plural)

(firearms) The distance between the front and rear sights of a firearm.


lock time

lock times (plural)
lock-time (alternative)

(firearms) The time, usually measured in milliseconds, from when the trigger is pulled until the firing pin strikes the primer.


SMLE

Short Magazine Lee Enfield
w:Short Magazine Lee Enfield

Initialism of Short Magazine Lee Enfield: any of a series of bolt action rifles used by British and Commonwealth forces during the first half of the 20th century, normally made in .303 calibre.


foxhole

foxholes (plural)
fox-hole (alternative)

From Middle English foxhol, from Old English foxhol, equivalent to fox + hole.

The statement made during the Second World War that “there are no atheists in foxholes” is absurd. Foxholes teem with atheists—who, to be sure, frequently infringe the Third Commandment in their desperation.

1962, Hoxie Neale Fairchild, Religious Trends in English Poetry: 1880-1920: Gods of a Changing Poetry, Columbia University Press, page 378:

Four pilots from the St. Lo, returning from a strike, land at the Dulag Airstrip and are promptly handed carbines, given a foxhole, and told to help repel a Japanese infantry counterattack. With that job done, with the aid of some stacked boxes and buckets full of petrol, they rearm and repair their aircraft, and then head back out to land on other ships.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 36:27 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

(military) A small pit dug into the ground as a shelter for protection against enemy fire.


lines

(fortifications) Dispositions made to cover extended positions, and presenting a front in but one direction to an enemy.


capitalize

en-verb

capitalize (third-person singular simple present capitalizes, present participle capitalizing, simple past and past participle capitalized)

capitalizes (present singular third-person)
capitalizing (participle present)
capitalized (participle past)
capitalized (past)
capitalise (alternative)

From capital + -ize, the first element ultimately from Latin capitālis (“of the head”).

(transitive, accounting, taxation) To treat as capital, not as an expense.


peep sight

(firearms) On some rifles, a type of sight where the shooter looks through a small aperture on the rear sight.


pork-barrelling

pork barrelling (alternative)
porkbarreling (alternative)
pork-barreling (alternative)

政治分肥

practice of giving favours or money for support

(politics) The practice of giving favours or money to voters in connection with a candidate for a current or future election, in order to sway enough voters so that the candidate will win.

(politics) The practice of an elected politician giving favours or money to some or all voters in the politician's electorate, or to certain organizations, as compensation or payback for support from those voters or organizations in the past.


Damascus barrel

en-noun

Damascus barrel (plural Damascus barrels)

(firearms) A gun barrel formed by twisting and welding strips of metal around a hard die; no longer commonly used now due to its inability to handle high cartridge pressure on modern ammunition.


lame duck

lame ducks (plural)
lame-duck (alternative)

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

Exchange Alley
London Evening Post
London Stock Exchange
lame duck (politics)

Equivalent to lame + duck. First use appears c. 1761, in the London Evening Post. Derived from the situation in which a person who had defaulted in the London Stock Exchange was said to waddle out of Exchange Alley like a lame duck. Verbal form first appears c. 1910.

Congressman Jones was a lame duck and did not vote on many issues that were important to his constituents.

This is a lame duck administration, and if it is going to pass out political favors worth multimillions of dollars per year, it must move.

1968 October 3, Congressional Record, page 29513, column 2:

The “lame duck” Johnson Administration, in its final fortnight in office, grappled last week with a diplomatic hot potato in the form of the latest Soviet proposal for a “just and lasting” Middle East peace settlement.

1969 January 12, Benjamin Welles, “A Hot Potato for Nixon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

So it is quite possible that there will be a Biden bounce in the last six months of his presidency, even if he is a lame duck. The question is, what will he do with it?

2024 July 22, Ed Pilkington, “Can lame duck Joe Biden give legs to Harris campaign in final six months?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US, politics) An elected official who has lost the recent election or is not eligible for reelection and is marking time until leaving office.


multilateral

a multilateral negotiation

Canada has continued to work within this agency to promote a multilateral solution to the problems of narcotrafficking and narcoterrorism.

1993, James Rochlin, Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America, page 223:

That is a sore point for the U.S. President Trump. He has in the past spoken against multilateral trade agreements. He argued that the deals give too much advantage to America's trading partners and lead to job losses in the U.S.

2017 February 22, Ivana Kottasova, “$1 trillion free trade agreement enters force”, in CNN Business:

(politics) Involving three or more parties or nations.


multilateral

(politics) A group with representatives from three or more parties or nations.


plebe

From Latin plēbs (“the plebeian class”), probably via Middle French plebe (“plebeians, commoners, the rabble”) and possibly later understood as a clipping of plebeian. Cognate with Italian plebe, Spanish plebe, Portuguese plebe.

der

My drill master, a young stripling, told me I was not so ‘gross’ as most other pleibs, the name of all new cadets.

1834 October, Military & Naval Magazine, page 85:

"But is a plebe forbidden to stroll here?"
"If a plebe did have the brass to try it," replied Anstey slowly, "I reckon he would have to fight the whole yearling class in turn."

1910, H. Irving Hancock, Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point, page 84:

Plebes spend their first summer at Cadet Basic Training — Beast Barracks — where they get soldierized.

2014, David Lipsky, Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point, page 8:

“You went to The Citadel?” her mother chimed in. “I’ve heard so many great things about that institution. Did you go through a plebe year?” I told her I did and that we called it the knob year because freshman cadets had to shave their heads bald to resemble the butt end of a door knob and keep it that way for an entire ten months while going through the process of being broken down, only to be built back up.

2018 October 26, Joe Crochet, My Winning Seasons: Discovering the Champion Within, page 3:

(US, military, slang) A freshman cadet at a military academy.


separation

en-noun

separation (countable and uncountable, plural separations)

/ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

/ˌsep.əˈɹæɪ.ʃən/

Attested in the 15th Century C.E.; from Middle English separacioun, from Old French separacion, from Latin separatio, separationem. Morphologically separate + -ion.

(military) Departure from active duty, while not necessarily leaving the service entirely.


democratic

en-adj

democratic (comparative more democratic, superlative most democratic)

more democratic (comparative)
most democratic (superlative)
Democratic (alternative)
democratick (alternative)

/ˌdɛməˈkɹætɪk/

/ˌdɛməˈkɹætɪk/

From Middle French democratique (“pertaining to democracy, democratic”) (modern French démocratique), and its etymon Late Latin democraticus (“pertaining to democracy, democratic; democrat”), from Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐκός (dēmokrătĭkós, “of or for democracy; favouring or suited for democracy”), from δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā, “democracy”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix with the sense ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives). Δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (Dēmokrătĭ́ā) is derived from δῆμος (dêmos, “the common people; free citizens, sovereign people; popular assembly; popular government, democracy”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide; to share”)) + -κρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (-krătĭ́ā, suffix meaning ‘government; rule’) (from κρᾰ́τος (krắtos, “might, strength; dominion, power”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kret- (“insight, intelligence; strength”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns)). By surface analysis, demo- + -cratic or democrat + -ic.

der

δημοκρᾰτῐκός

Mount Vernon is run by a strong democratic party organization.

(US, politics) Alternative letter-case form of Democratic (“of, pertaining to, or supporting the Democratic Party”).


Ulster

Possibly from Old Norse Uladztir, itself from Old Irish Ulaid (“Ulstermen”). More at Ulster.

(politics, proscribed) The six counties that make up Northern Ireland.


smurf

Peyo
The Smurfs
fr:Les Schtroumpfs
nl:De Smurfen

Borrowed from Dutch smurf (via the Belgian comic De Smurfen, a translation of French Les Schtroumpfs), from French schtroumpf, a word that was created by Peyo based on German Strumpf (literally “stocking, sock”), either simply because it sounds funny to the French ear or based on a regional German use for “idiot”. Armand van Raalte was an employee for the Belgian publisher of Peyo's stories who felt that schtroumpf would not have the same effect in Dutch, so he tried to find a simple word that could be used both as a noun and a verb. The result was smurf. In other languages, the term was similarly altered; compare the translations below.

der

Each smurf goes to different banks and purchases cashier's checks in denominations of less than $ 10,000, thus bypassing the reporting requirement.

1998, Michael D. Lyman, Gary W. Potter, Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control, page 202:

Once the checks and money orders were purchased, the smurfs delivered them to Barrera, who arranged deposits of multiple checks and money orders into bank accounts that he controlled for further transfer to accounts in Panama, Colombia, and elsewhere.

2001, Robert E. Grosse, Drugs and Money: Laundering Latin America's Cocaine Dollars, page 73:

The local cooks would get some smurfs to buy boxes of Sudafed at all the drugstores in a hundred-mile radius, then pay them off in product.

2020, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts, page 22:

(law enforcement, drugs, slang) One member of a team, each of whom acquires a small amount of money or ingredients for manufacturing drugs, keeping the transactions too small in order to not raise suspicion.


smurf

en-verb

smurf (third-person singular simple present smurfs, present participle smurfing, simple past and past participle smurfed)

smurfs (present singular third-person)
smurfing (participle present)
smurfed (participle past)
smurfed (past)

(law enforcement, banking) To split a large financial transaction into smaller ones so as to avoid scrutiny; to carry out structuring.


SAR

en-noun

SAR (countable and uncountable, plural SARs)

special administrative region
special administrative region#English

(politics, China, North Korea) Acronym of special administrative region.


taps

From tap (noun) + -s. Sense 1 (“signal for extinguishing all lights in soldiers’ quarters and retiring to bed”) is from the fact that the signal was originally made using a drum.

(military) A signal, by drum or trumpet, for extinguishing all lights in soldiers' quarters and retiring to bed, usually given about a quarter of an hour after tattoo; the signal is sometimes also given during the funeral of a soldier.


missile

From Latin missile (“thrown weapon, projectile”), neuter of missilis (“throwable, capable of being thrown”), from mittere (“to send”). From 1611. Compare Middle French missile (“projectile”), from 1636.

bor

That missile is explosive enough to kill hundreds.

(military) A self-propelled projectile whose trajectory can be adjusted after it is launched. [from 20th c.]


hull-down

(military) Of a tank: stopped with its hull protected by ground to the front, so that its occupants or weapons have a line of sight forward.


ville

The fighting holes and trenches scattered in and around each ville indicate battle after battle - some only planned, others fought. We move toward a tree-lined ville.

1989, Ernest Spencer, Welcome to Vietnam, Macho Man: Reflections of a Khe Sanh Vet, page 247:

On Halloween, this real hot spooky night, the dude paints up his body all different colors and puts on this weird mask and hikes over to a ville and goes trick-or-treating almost stark naked, just boots and balls and an M-16.

1990, Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried:

(US, military, historical) A Vietnamese village.


crew-served weapon

en-noun

crew-served weapon (plural crew-served weapons)

A heavy machine gun, anti-materiel rifle, or rocket launcher might be a crew-served weapon.

(military, notably USMC) Any weapon system that requires a crew or more than one individual to function due to its high operational complexity.


Vulcan cannon

Originally coined by General Electric for their electric gatling guns.

(military, slang) Any electric Gatling gun.


console

Borrowed from French console (“bracket”, noun), from consoler (“to console, to comfort”, verb).
Sense of “bracket” either due to a bracket alleviating the load, or due to brackets being decorated with the Christian figure of a consolateur (“consoler”), itself perhaps a pun on the first sense (alleviating load).
Originally used for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables (mounted with a bracket), then for free-standing tables placed against a wall. Use for control system dates at least to 1880s for an “organ console”; use for electrical or electronic control systems dates at least to 1930s in radio, television, and system control, particularly as “mixer console” or “control console”, attached to an equipment rack. This was popularized in computers by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954) in terms such as “operator’s console” or “console typewriter”, and then generalized to any attached equipment, particularly for user interaction. The automotive sense harks back to earlier use as “support”.

On an attractive console with two winged putti as supporters [...] is a marriage coat of arms : Dexter, the Paoli arms : Gules (base), a bend azure charged with five lilies gules, and or (chief); Sinister, the[…]

1919, Allan Marquand, Robbia Heraldry, page 60:

The only authentic reference for the tincture of the shield still in existence is the armorial console in Jacques Coeur's chapel[…]

1994, James H. Marrow, François Avril, The Hours of Simon de Varie, Getty Publications, →ISBN, page 134:

(heraldry) A decorative frame or support (in architecture, drawings, etc) around a heraldic shield.


Judy

(military) Aircrew has radar/visual contact on the correct target, has taken control of the intercept, and only requires situation awareness information.


thermonuclear

thermonuclears (plural)
thermo-nuclear (alternative)

China detonated her first thermonuclear in June 1967.

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon


CP

CP (countable and uncountable, plural CPs)

(law enforcement) Initialism of containment perimeter.

(UK politics, since 2019) Initialism of command paper.


quango

From the initial letters (the first two letters for the first word) of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization. Coined by American president of the Carnegie Foundation Alan Pifer in 1967.

coinage

The strongest link to the State, however, occurs with quangos, (quasi-NGOs), and the many umbrella groups that also thrive on State support. Many of the new parties realized after their Sturm und Drang years that they still needed regular contacts with the 'civil' world and that their civilian support base had been seriously eroded.

1998, Ferenc Miszlivetz; Katalin Ertsey, “Hungary: Civil Society in the Post-Socialist World”, in Alison van Rooy, editor, Civil Society and the Aid Industry: The Politics and Promise, London: Earthscan, OCLC ISBN 978-1-85383-553-7; republished as Civil Society and the Aid Industry (Earthscan Library Collection, Aid and Development; 3), London; Stirling, Va.: Earthscan, 2013, ISBN 978-1-84971-042-8, page 78

Various state committees and quangos had had stands; government and opposition ministers had attended.

2009, China Miéville, The City & The City:

(UK, government, often derogatory) An organization that, although financed by a government, acts independently of it.

autorité administrative indépendante

квазиавтономная неправительственная организа́ция

полуавтономная неправительственная организа́ция


gunfire

en-noun

gunfire (usually uncountable, plural gunfires)

Killing people became much easier and faster once armies started using gunfire.

(chiefly military) The use of gunpowder-type weapons, mainly cannon, as opposed to swords or bayonets.

Art. 33. All Plying boats, with the exception of two which are to be weekly appoin[t]ed by the Chief Commissary of Police and Harbour Master, and at gunfire in the evening to be placed in a tier alongside of the Quay or at a place to be pointed out by these Officers and fastened by a claim and a padlock, the key of which is to be kept by the Porter on duty or by the Police Guard who is to release them at gunfire in the morning.

1851, W. Draper Bolton, Bolton's Mauritius almanac, and official directory:

The grand event on the 14th was the shooting for the second stage for the Queen's prize. This commenced punctually at gunfire in the morning : the men being divided into four squads at the long ranges on the north side of the common.

1864, Edmund Burke, editor, The Annual Register; A review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1863:

(military) The time of firing of the morning gun or the evening gun.

鳴炮時間 /鸣炮时间

They had only in them the rolled mattresses, the neatly piled bed-boards and the empty tea-buckets of the orderly-men, empied of their last gun-fire.

(army slang) Tea, a cup of tea, especially one served early in the morning before first parade.


GFE

GFE (countable and uncountable, plural GFEs)

(Google): Introduced by sex columnist Dan Savage.

(US, military) Initialism of government-furnished equipment: equipment in the possession of or acquired directly by the government, and subsequently delivered to or otherwise made available to the contractor.


municipality

Borrowed from French municipalité (Edmund Burke), from municipal + -ité, from Latin municipalis, from municipium (“free city, township”), from municeps (“citizen of a free city or township”), from mūnus (“duty, service”) + -ceps (“taker, catcher”). Equivalent to municipal + -ity.

municipal presidents
municipal president

(politics) In the Philippines and in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, second-level administrative divisions that may house one or more cities or towns whose head of government may be called mayors or, in Mexico, municipal presidents.


cyclic

en-adj

cyclic (comparative more cyclic, superlative most cyclic)

more cyclic (comparative)
most cyclic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek κυκλικός (kuklikós). Possibly from cycle + -ic.

On it came, closer and closer, and as it did so it became clear that the pilot, if he was alive, had terminal intentions. Though the torpedo somehow missed, the plane itself did not. To those watching helplessly from other stations, the ship's antiaircraft gunners, in their final moments, were an inspiration: eyes focused through iron sights on the plane as it sped at them, weapons hot, going cyclic, hunched down and never flinching until the Betty struck high on the mainmast, killing them all.

2011, James D. Hornfischer, “26: Suicide”, in Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-12-17, page 256:

(firearms, of an automatic weapon) Firing at its full cyclic rate.


smoke explosion

en-noun

smoke explosion (plural smoke explosions)

(firefighting) An explosion of flue gases accumulated inside a burning building.


rebus

rebus (plural rebuses or (rare) rebusses or (hypercorrect, rare) rebi)

rebuses (plural)
rebusses (plural rare)
rebi (hypercorrect plural rare)

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

Gilles Ménage
Oxford English Dictionary
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Princess Beatrice
Sarah, Duchess of York

From French rébus (“rebus (puzzle); ambiguity; word used in an oblique sense; unintelligible remark”), or directly from its probable etymon Latin rēbus, the ablative plural of rēs (“object, stuff, thing; issue, matter, subject, topic”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”). The connection between the English word and its Latin etymon is unclear.
further etymology
The following possibilities have been suggested, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary are problematic:
* According to the French scholar Gilles Ménage (1613–1692) in Les origines de la langue françoise (The Origins of the French Language, 1650), it is taken from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur (“concerning the things that are taking place”) which was used in 16th-century Picardy as the name for satirical writings on contemporary subjects containing picture-riddles that were composed for an annual carnival. However, the term rebus de Picardie is first attested later than the word rébus, and so could simply refer to rebuses popular in Picardy at the time.
* Alternatively, it could be from the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus meaning “not by words but by things”, but this “encounters difficulties in the chronology of the senses in French”.

der

The prior [Will Bolton] used to come out here to hunt in summer and recreate himself, and his rebus—a barrel or tun shot through with a crossbow bolt—is set into the garden walls.

2020 March 5, Hilary Mantel, “Salvage: London, Summer 1536”, in The Mirror & the Light, London: 4th Estate, →ISBN, page 122:

(specifically, heraldry) An arrangement of pictures on a coat of arms which suggests the name of the person to whom it belongs.


fire alarm

A four fire-alarm fire ripped through a row of 2.5 story frame dwellings during the early morning hours

(firefighting) An emergency response to a fire by the fire department with manpower and equipment.


fire truck

fire trucks (plural)
firetruck (alternative)

(firefighting, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A ladder truck, a vehicle used by firefighters to gain access to the upper stories of a building. Typically, a fire truck has a hydraulic system which operates a large, heavy-duty ladder mounted on top of the truck body, space for portable ladders to be stored and compartments for holding other tools that may be needed. Unlike a fire engine, trucks do not have pumps or carry water.


backdraft

backdrafts (plural)
back draft (alternative)
back draught (alternative)
backdraught (alternative)

(American spelling, firefighting) Sudden, dangerous recombustion that occurs when there is a rapid reintroduction of oxygen to an enclosed space containing a fire.

a different extreme fire behavior phenomenon


impresa

impresas (plural)
imprese (alternative)
impress (alternative)

1613, John Webster, “A Monumental Column, A Funeral Elegy” in Three Elegies on the most lamented Death of Prince Henrie, London: William Welbie,
My impresa to your lordship; a swan
Flying to a laurel for shelter.

[…] or to describe Races and Games,
Or tilting Furniture, emblazon’d Shields,
Impreses quaint, Caparisons and Steeds;

1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_(1674)/Book_IX), Book 9, lines 33-35:

(heraldry) A device on a shield or seal, or used as a bookplate etc.


grass roots

(politics) People and society at the local (most basic) level rather than at the national centre of political activity.


incapacitate

en-verb

incapacitate (third-person singular simple present incapacitates, present participle incapacitating, simple past and past participle incapacitated)

incapacitates (present singular third-person)
incapacitating (participle present)
incapacitated (participle past)
incapacitated (past)

Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French incapaciter.

Wilson's principal motivation for situation-oriented policies was the desire to change the real world by proposing politically practicable policies. And his principle prescription was to incapacitate a larger number of habitual offenders.

2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order:

To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.

(law enforcement) To imprison a potential offender and thereby prevent them from offending.

令癱瘓 /令瘫痪

to put out of action, to render ineffective


tactics

(military) The military science that deals with achieving the objectives set by strategy.

(military) The employment and ordered arrangement of forces in relation to each other.


tanker

Without the KC-46 tankers orbiting in friendly airspace, our fighters would've run out of fuel long before reaching the combat zone.

On Friday night, eight US Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers took off from Altus, Oklahoma, according to data from FlightRadar24. Over Kansas the tankers refueled two groups of planes, identified on air traffic control audio by their callsigns MYTEE11 FLT and MYTEE21 FLT. The callsign MYTEE has previously been associated with special activity flights by B-2 bombers, and multiple flight trackers on social media said the planes being refueled were B-2 bombers out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

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

(aviation, usually military) An aircraft carrying a large supply of jet fuel or avgas for aerial refueling of other aircraft, plus equipment allowing the in-air transfer of fuel.

While our ground teams cut firebreaks in the brush, the tankers kept the fire in the mountains at bay with frequent drops of water and retardant.

(aviation, firefighting) An aircraft built or modified to carry water and/or fire retardant for dropping on wildfires.

On February 19, 1943, American tankers felt the full wrath of the German Army in North Africa when its tank-led spearhead punched a 2-mile-wide hole through American lines at Faid Pass in Tunisia, […]

2014, Michael Green, American Tanks & AFVs of World War II, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 70:

(military) Member of a tank crew, or of an armoured unit.


fire hydrant

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

(firefighting) A device used by firefighters to obtain water from the main supply, consisting of a barrel, connections for hose and a valve assembly.

صُنْبُور حَرِيق

a device used by firefighters to obtain water from the main


battle honours

(naval) The names of battles and actions in which a warship (or a previous namesake) has taken part, usually displayed on a board in a prominent position


fighter plane

(aircraft, military) A military aircraft primarily designed to attack enemy aircraft. Frequently shortened to fighter.


fighter-bomber

(military aviation) A military aircraft designed to operate in combined roles of attacking enemy aircraft and bombing targets; usually faster and more maneuverable than a traditional bomber.


Grand Slam

(military) A ten-tonne earthquake bomb used by the Royal Air Force in World War II; see Grand Slam (bomb) on Wikipedia.


epicentre

epicentres (plural)
epicenter (alternative US)

/ˈɛpɪˌsɛntɚ/

/ˈɛpɪˌsɛntə/

From epi- (“over, on top”) + centre, from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí, “on”) + κέντρον (kéntron, “centre”).
Sense of “center of an activity (particularly a disaster)” (1908) by generalization from earthquakes, possibly influenced by epidemic.

(military) The point on the surface of the earth directly above an underground explosion.


hat trick

hat tricks (plural)
hattrick (alternative)
hat-trick (alternative)

From hat + trick (“element of a magician’s or variety entertainer’s act; entertaining and difficult physical action”, noun). Sense 2 (“achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls”)—the original sporting sense—refers to the commemorative hat formerly given as a prize to the bowler by his club.

driekuns

three achievements in a single game, competition, season, etc.

שלושער m (shloshá'ar, literally “three-gate or goal”)

གསུམ་སྦྲགས (gsum sbrags, literally “pack-of-three”)

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK politics, historical, rare) A means of securing a seat in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament placing their hat upon it during an absence.


billet

From Middle English billet, bylet, belet, billette, from Old French billette, from bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“tree”)).

(heraldry) A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.


cartel

→ Spanish: cártel

In the business sense, borrowed from German Kartell, first used by Eugen Richter in 1871 in the Reichstag. In the political sense, which was the vehicle for this metaphor, the English sense, like the German sense, was borrowed from French cartel in the sixteenth century, from Italian cartello, diminutive of carta (“card, page”), from Latin charta.

(historical, politics) A combination of political groups (notably parties) for common action.


AFK

I'm gonna go AFK in a few mins

(military, video games, Internet slang) Initialism of away from keyboard, i.e. away from one's computer; idle.


bread-and-butter issue

en-noun

bread-and-butter issue (plural bread-and-butter issues)

See the themes covered at bread-and-butter § Etymology and kitchen table issue § Etymology.

(politics) Any issue, such as inflation or prices, that affects ordinary people in their daily lives.


reservation

reservation (countable and uncountable, plural reservations)

/ˌɹɛz.əʴˈveɪ.ʃən/

From Middle French reservation, equivalent to reserve + -ation.

(law, politics) A power of an overseeing authority to suspend legislation in the jurisdiction being overseen pending the approval of a higher authority. Such as a provincial/state governor reserving a bill passed by the state/provincial legislature from assent, pending approval of the federal government; or a federal bill passed by federal parliament being reserved by the viceroy pending approval by the crown.


fistmele

From fist + mele, variant of meal (“measure”), from Old English mæl.

(archery) A traditional unit of distance equal to the width of a clenched fist with the thumb extended (approx. 6½ inches or 16½ centimetres).


doghead

(firearms) That part of a matchlock or flintlock gun or rifle that holds the burning fuse or flint and applies it to the gunpowder.


zip

en-verb

zip (third-person singular simple present zips, present participle zipping, simple past and past participle zipped)

zips (present singular third-person)
zipping (participle present)
zipped (participle past)
zipped (past)

(UK politics) To offer a list of alternately male and female candidates in an attempt to address the shortage of women.


SLR

(firearms) Initialism of self-loading rifle.


herald

From Latin heraldus, from Middle English herald, herauld, heraud, from Anglo-Norman heraud, from Old French heraut, hiraut (modern French héraut), from Frankish *heriwald, from Proto-Germanic *harjawaldaz, a compound consisting of Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”) + *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong”). Doublet of Harold and Harald; compare Walter, which has these elements reversed.

Rouge Dragon is a herald at the College of Arms.

(heraldry) An official whose speciality is heraldry, especially one between the ranks of pursuivant and king-of-arms

သံတော်ဆင့်

an official whose speciality is heraldry


open-source

open source (alternative)
opensource (alternative)

open-source intelligence

The ramifications of disinformation spill on to the streets with tangible, often devastating real-world consequences. These processes were already under way in 2014, when I founded the open-source investigative group Bellingcat.

2023 December 16, Eliot Higgins, “Moment of truth”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:

(espionage) Relying on publicly available information (open sources).


open source

Compound of open + source, coined by Christine Peterson in 1998 for software as an umbrella term to encompass existing concepts such as free software, freedomware, and sourceware.

(espionage) Information that is in the public domain and available to everybody.


MLA

MLAs (plural)
M.L.A. (alternative)
M. L. A. (alternative)

Wanglin Lowangdong, incumbent MLA of Borduria Bogapani trails in the constituency.

2019 May 23, The Hindu Net Desk, “Arunachal Pradesh Assembly results live updates | BJP wins 7 Assembly seats, leads in both LS seats”, in The Hindu, archived from the original on 2022-11-12:

MLAs past and present gathered for an event at Stormont on Friday to mark the agreement's 25th anniversary.

2023 April 7, Chris Andrews, “Good Friday Agreement: Use courage and vision of 1998, says George Mitchell”, in BBC News:

(British, Canada, India, politics) Initialism of member of the legislative assembly.


sarge

From sergeant, q.v. In reference to PUA slang, coined by American writer and television personality Ross Jeffries after the behavior of his cat Sarge.

coinage

(military, colloquial) Clipping of sergeant.


inner

outer

antonym(s) of “One who supports remaining in the EU”

From Middle English inner, ynner, ynnere, from Old English innera, comparative of inne (“within”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en.

(UK politics) One who supports remaining in the European Union.

(military, firearms) The 2nd circle on a target, between the bull (or bull's eye) and magpie.


MLM

Muslim Lives Matter
w:Muslim Lives Matter

(politics) Initialism of Muslim Lives Matter.


defame

From Middle English defamen, from Anglo-Norman defamer (verb), defame (noun), and its source, Latin diffāmō, from fāma (“fame; rumour; reputation”).


I-HAWK

(military) Acronym of Improved homing-all-the-way killer, a type of missile.


mountain unit

(military) A type of military unit armed, equipped and trained to fight in rugged, mountainous terrain.


pragmatist

From Ancient Greek πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “thing”).


pragmatist

en-adj

pragmatist (comparative more pragmatist, superlative most pragmatist)

more pragmatist (comparative)
most pragmatist (superlative)

Historians also suggest that Roosevelt was a pragmatist in foreign affairs, in that his policies were determined by practical consequences rather than by any philosophy.

2013, John Wright, Access to History for the IB Diploma: The Second World War and the Americas, Hodder Education, →ISBN:


mining

en-noun

mining (countable and uncountable, plural minings)

→ Russian: ма́йнинг (májning)

(military) The activity of placing mines (the explosive devices).


bunkum

bunkum (countable and uncountable, plural bunkums)

From buncombe, from “speaking to (or for) Buncombe County, North Carolina”, a county in North Carolina named for Edward Buncombe. In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented the county in the U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address the question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state, his first attempt to speak on the subject after nearly a month of solid debate, right before the vote was to be called. To the exasperation of colleagues, he began a long and wearisome speech, explaining that he was speaking not to Congress but "to Buncombe." He was ultimately shouted down by his colleagues, though his speech was published in a Washington paper and his persistence made "buncombe" (later respelled "bunkum") a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense, at first only in the jargon of Washington and then in common usage (see discussion on talk page).

(politics, dated) Bombastic political posturing or oratorical display designed only for show or public applause.


NAT

(politics) Abbreviation of National Party.


pavilion

From Middle English pavilloun, from Anglo-Norman pavilloun, from Latin pāpiliōnem, form of pāpiliō (“butterfly, moth”) (due to resemblance of tent to a butterfly’s wings), of unknown origin. Doublet of papillon.
Cognate to French pavillon (“pavilion”) and papillon (“butterfly”), and similar terms in other Romance languages.

A flag or ensign carried at the gaff of the mizzenmast.

(heraldry) An ornate tent, used either as a charge or bearing, or surrounding a shield as or atop the mantling.


God botherer

(UK, military slang) A military chaplain.


SAS

The SAS are absolutely charming. Ruthless trained killers are just a phone call away.

2003, Richard Curtis, Love Actually, spoken by Prime Minister (Hugh Grant):

He was the last original member of the SAS, whose exploits were dramatised in the BBC series SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022), based on the 2016 book of the same name by Ben Macintyre.

2024 January 14, Michael Smith, “Mike Sadler obituary”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Special Air Service
Special Air Service#English

(British, Australia, New Zealand, military) Initialism of Special Air Service.


SBS

Special Boat Service
w:Special Boat Service

(UK, military) Initialism of Special Boat Service, an elite unit of the British Royal Marines, similar to the SAS but operating in a naval environment.


spoiler

→ Catalan: espòiler

→ Czech: spoiler

→ French: spoiler

→ Georgian: სპოილერი (sṗoileri)

→ German: Spoiler

→ Italian: spoiler

→ Polish: spoiler

→ Portuguese: spoiler

→ Russian: спо́йлер (spójler)

→ Spanish: spoiler

→ Turkish: spoiler

→ Ukrainian: спо́йлер (spójler)

спо́йлер

automobiles: device to reduce lift and increase downforce

The optimism at the opening of the talks could not be dampened even by a few spoilers.

1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 713:

Several experts do not believe Jorgensen was a Trump “spoiler” in 2020.

2020 November 8, Victoria Bekiempis, “Was Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen a 'spoiler' for Trump?”, in The Guardian:

(US, chiefly politics, sports) A competitor, unable to win himself, who spoils the chances of another’s victory.


dum dum

dum dums (plural)
dum-dum (alternative)
dumdum (alternative)

Named after the Dum Dum arsenal in Calcutta, India.

(informal, firearms) A soft point or hollow point bullet, designed to expand when it hits its target and therefore cause more serious damage.


soft point

(firearms) Of a bullet: having an exposed lead point, designed to expand when it hits its target and therefore cause more damage.


soft point

soft points (plural)
soft-point (alternative)


hollow point

(firearms) A bullet with a small hole drilled or molded in the tip (nose), designed to expand when it hits its target and therefore cause more damage.


muzzle blast

(firearms) A flash of light, heat and smoke at the muzzle of a firearm, caused by escaping gases when a projectile is released.


muzzle brake

(firearms) A device placed at the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the recoil energy by redirecting the escaping gases.


recoil

recoil (countable and uncountable, plural recoils)

From Old French reculer. Further from Latin re- + cūlus.

(firearms) The energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of the weapon, the weight of the projectile, and the speed at which it leaves the muzzle.


recoil

en-verb

recoil (third-person singular simple present recoils, present participle recoiling, simple past and past participle recoiled)

recoils (present singular third-person)
recoiling (participle present)
recoiled (participle past)
recoiled (past)

(weaponry) Of a firearm: to quickly push back when fired.


Nipponism

(politics) The belief that Japan has a higher culture or wider territorial rights.


observer

The only crew-member to survive the crash was the Canadian observer.

(military) A crew member on an aircraft who makes observations of enemy positions or aircraft

We waited till dusk when the observers' vision was poorest.

(military) A sentry etc. manning an observation post


occupy

occupy (third-person singular simple present occupies, present participle occupying, simple past and past participle occupied)

occupies (present singular third-person)
occupying (participle present)
occupied (participle past)
occupied (past)
occupy (infinitive)
occupy (first-person present singular)
occupied (first-person past singular)
occupy (present second-person singular)
occupiest (archaic present second-person singular)
occupied (past second-person singular)
occupies (present singular third-person)
occupieth (archaic present singular third-person)
occupied (past singular third-person)
occupy (plural present)
occupied (past plural)
occupy (present subjunctive)
occupied (past subjunctive)
occupy (imperative present)
occupying (participle present)
occupied (participle past)

From Middle English occupien, occupyen, borrowed from Old French occuper, from Latin occupāre (“to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ”), from ob (“to, on”) + capiō (“to take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to seize, grab”). Doublet of occupate, now obsolete.

der

The Japanese can occupy but cannot hold, and what they can hold they cannot hold long, was the opinion of General Pai Chung-hsi, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, […]

1940, The China monthly review, volumes 94-95, page 370:

Rupert, with his usual untamable energy, was scouring the country — but at first in the wrong direction, that of Aylesbury, another keypoint in the outer ring of Oxford defences, which he occupied but could not hold.

1975, Esmé Cecil Wingfield-Stratford, King Charles and King Pym, 1637-1643, page 330:

One of the rebel marksmen, who had taken up position on a boulder, was knocked off it by the recoil of his weapon every time he fired. Again the attack achieved nothing. Positions were occupied, but could not be held.

1983, Arthur Keppel-Jones, Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe, 1884-1902, page 462:

Germany occupied France for three years while France struggled to make payments that were a condition of surrender.

1991, Werner Spies, John William Gabriel, Max Ernst collages: the invention of the surrealist universe, page 333:

Spain occupied, but could not populate, and its failure to expand Florida led Britain to consider the peninsula a logical extension of its colonial holdings.

2006, John Michael Francis, Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, page 496:

(military) To have, or to have taken, possession or control of (a territory).


red card

→ Japanese: レッドカード (reddo kādo)

→ Korean: 레드카드 (redeukadeu)

(US, firefighting) A card indicating a firefighter's qualifications and specialties.


nav

Standing and moving to under one of the lights by the nav station I could see a dark blue-red mark across the right side of my rib cage. Prodding gently I realised I had just cracked or broken one or more ribs.

2013, Crispin Latymer, Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, page 48:

(transport, military, Internet) Navigation. Often used attributively, as in nav beacon.


Janet

→ Welsh: Sioned

From Jane + -et, q.v. Chiefly Scottish until the 19th century.
Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.

doublet

(US, military slang) A highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft used to transport the military and contractors.


revolver

→ Catalan: revòlver

→ Chuvash: ляворвăр (ljavorvăr)

→ Crimean Tatar: revolver

→ Danish: revolver

→ Dutch: revolver

→ Esperanto: revolvero

→ Finnish: revolveri

→ French: revolver

→ Gagauz: livorver

→ Galician: revólver

→ German: Revolver

→ Hungarian: revolver

→ Italian: revolver

→ Japanese: リボルバー (riborubā)

Norwegian:

→ Norwegian Bokmål: revolver

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: revolver

→ Polish: rewolwer

→ Portuguese: revólver

→ Russian: револьвер (revolʹver)

Serbo-Croatian:

→ Cyrillic script: револвер

→ Latin script: revolver

→ Spanish: revólver

→ Swedish: revolver

→ Urum: levorver

→ Yiddish: רעוואָלווער (revolver)

From revolve + er, coined by American inventor Samuel Colt in 1835.

coin

(firearms) A handgun with a revolving chamber enabling several shots to be fired without reloading.


PNR

National Revolutionary Police Force
w:National Revolutionary Police Force

(law enforcement) Initialism of National Revolutionary Police Force.


drawdown

en-noun

drawdown (countable and uncountable, plural drawdowns)

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

The presidential drawdown authority, a US foreign policy tool, allows for the speedy delivery of DoD stocks to foreign countries in crisis.

2023 December 27, “US to provide Ukraine with up to $250m in arms and equipment”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

The act of reduction or depletion (including through withdrawal or utilization).

(US, military, law, in particular) The withdrawal of weapons, ammunition and other supplies from US stocks, and provision of it to another nation.


on message

en-adj

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

more on message (comparative)
most on message (superlative)

(colloquial, politics) Publicly reiterating and supporting the official party policy; conforming to the party’s agreed policies.


dragoon

Battle of Cerro Gordo
Battle of Jena–Auerstedt
Mexican–American War
Smithsonian Institution
Édouard Detaille

The noun is borrowed from French dragon (“dragon (mythological creature); type of cavalry soldier, dragoon”) (originally referring to a soldier armed with the firearm of the same name (sense 1.1)), ultimately from Latin dracō (“dragon; kind of serpent or snake”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drắkōn, “dragon; serpent”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Doublet of Draco, dracone, and dragon.
The verb is either derived:
* from the noun; or
* from French dragonner (“to force (someone) into doing something, coerce; to torment (oneself)”), from dragon (noun) (see above) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

ref

From the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., United States.

From the collection of the Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum) in Paris, France.

der

[A] Lieutenant of a Troupe of compleat armed French Piſtoliers, is reputed better in degree then a Captaine of an hundred Foot, a Lieutenant of the late inuented Dragoones (being not aboue ſixteene inche Barrell, and full Muſquet bore) the Foot-Captaines equall, and the Lieutenant of a Troupe of Harquebuſsiers or Carbines his immediate younger brother.

1622, Francis Markham, “Epist[le] 5. To the Right Honorable William Lord Peter of Writtle. The Argument. Of the Captaine of Horse.”, in Five Decades of Epistles of Warre, London: […] Augustine Matthewes, →OCLC, decad 4, pages 137–138:

(weaponry, historical) Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).

dragon

[T]he Lovv-countries haue produced another ſort of Horſe-men, vvhich their experience there haue found out to be of notable vſe, and they call them Dragoons, vvhich I knovv not vvhether I may tearme them Foot-Horſe-men, or Horſe-Footmen: for they are Muſquetiers on horſebacke, and are imployed for the taking and maintaining, or at leaſt for preuenting the enemy from taking of Paſſages or Foords vvhich leade ouer Riuers: […]

1622, Francis Markham, “Epist[le] 1. To the Right Honourable William Lord Evers. The Argument. Of the Officers of Caualarie.”, in Five Decades of Epistles of Warre, London: […] Augustine Matthewes, →OCLC, decad 3, page 83:

[Y]oung Emir-Hamza-mirza Abbas his eldeſt on (inheriting his Uncles vertue as vvell as name) vvith a ſtrong body of Horſe and Dragoons confronting the Baſſa near to Sultany gave him ſuch a bruſh that the Turk retreated as far back as Van: […]

1677, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. […], 4th edition, London: […] R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J[ohn] Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 287:

The French persecution more inhuman than ever. The Protestants in Savoy successfully resist the French dragoons sent to murder them.

1686 June 12 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 June 1686]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 629:

No man ſhall ever perſuade me, no not the Biſhop of Meaux [Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet] vvith all his Eloquence, that Priſons and Tortures, Dragoons and the Galleys, are proper means to convince the Underſtanding, and either Chriſtian or Human methods of converting men to the true Religion.

1692 November 6 (Gregorian calendar), John Tillotson, “Sermon XLI. A Thanksgiving-sermon for the Late Victory at Sea. Preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall, October 27. 1692. Jer[emiah] IX. 23, 24.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], 8th edition, London: […] T. Goodwin, B[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton, […]; J. Round […], and J[acob] Tonson] […], published 1720, →OCLC, page 416:

A German Dragoon as I thought him, gave me a rude Blovv vvith the Stock of his Piece on the Side of my Head, and vvas juſt going to repeat it, vvhen one of my Men ſhot him dead.

[1720], [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in Memoirs of a Cavalier: Or A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England; from the Year 1632, to the Year 1648. […], London: […] A. Bell […], J. Osborn […], W[illiam] Taylor […], and T. Warner […], →OCLC, page 126:

Near the capital lay also the corps which is now designated as the first regiment of dragoons on the English establishment. […] A single troop of dragoons, which did not form part of any regiment, was stationed near Berwick, for the purpose of keeping the peace among the mosstroopers of the border. For this species of service the dragoon was then thought to be peculiarly qualified. He has since become a mere horse soldier. But in the seventeenth century he was accurately described by Montecuculi as a foot soldier, who used a horse only in order to arrive with more speed at the place where military service was to be performed.

1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 294–295:

I have served as a Dragoon in my day; and a comrade of mine that I was once rather partial to, was, if I don't deceive myself, a brother of yours.

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Steel and Iron”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 602:

If you want a receipt for that popular mystery, / Known to the world as a Heavy Dragoon, / Take all the remarkable people in history, / Rattle them off to a popular tune.

1881 April 23 (first performance), W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, librettist; Arthur Sullivan, composer, “Solo—Colonel, & Chorus of Dragoons (No. 3)”, in […] Patience or, Bunthorne’s Bride, New York, N.Y.: Hitchcock Publishing House […], published 1881, →OCLC, Act I, page 23:

His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “A Dream Ends”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 43:

(by extension) Originally (historical), a soldier armed with a dragoon musket (sense 1.1) who fought both on foot and mounted on a horse; now, a cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets.

dragonder

soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets


dragoon

en-verb

dragoon (third-person singular simple present dragoons, present participle dragooning, simple past and past participle dragooned)

dragoons (present singular third-person)
dragooning (participle present)
dragooned (participle past)
dragooned (past)

She [Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné] appears to have exulted in the extirpation of protestantism in Provence, by the power of her son-in-law, count de Gregnan [i.e., François Adhémar de Monteil, Comte de Grignan]; she even speaks with levity of the sufferings of the huguenots, dragooned into the bosom of the true church.

1803, Mary Hays, “The Marchioness de Sevigne”, in Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries. […], volume VI, London: […] Richard Phillips, […] by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, page 401:

This was the pious lady [Ninon de l’Enclos] who, in after times, expiated the faults of her youth by dragooning Huguenots into Catholics.

1845 June, “Art. V.—Lives of Men of Letters and Science who Flourished in the Time of George III. By Henry Lord Brougham. Knight and Co. [book review]”, in The Westminster Review, American edition, volume XLIII, number LXXXV, New York, N.Y.: Leonard Scott & Co., […], →OCLC, footnote *, page 191, column 1:

(Christianity, French politics, historical) To subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades (“a policy instituted by Louis XIV of France in 1681 to intimidate Protestant Huguenots to convert to Roman Catholicism by billeting dragoons (noun sense 1.2) in their homes to abuse them and destroy or steal their possessions”).

antaa dragonnadeille

to subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades

He [Samuel Wilson] says, for example, that he is opposed to locking men up without trial, but he refrains from pledging himself to releasing the suspects. He says nothing about the necessity for dragooning the Irish for abolishing trial by jury.

1881 December 3, “The issues in Derry”, in The Pall Mall Gazette: An Evening Newspaper and Review, volume XXXIV, number 5233, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 1, column 1:

(military, historical) To cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons.

usuttaa rakuunat

to cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons


military intelligence
military intelligence

(military, intelligence, US) army military intelligence officer position at the division level and higher


(military, slang) gear-to, gear up; to gear up and get ready for battle, movement, or any type of action.


SWAT

en-noun

SWAT (countable and uncountable, plural SWATs)

(chiefly US, law enforcement) Acronym of special weapons and tactics, the area of expertise of police officers trained and equipped to neutralize armed or entrenched criminals.

special weapons and tactics

"This situation is out of control. We need a SWAT," the policeman said.

(chiefly US, law enforcement) A SWAT team.


ramrod

(firearms) Device used with muzzleloaders to push the projectile up against the propellant.


malparry

(fencing) A parry that insufficiently removes the incoming blade from the target area.


RAF

(military, aviation) Initialism of Royal Air Force, the British RAF.

This paper discusses ongoing military reforms in the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and tries to determine[…]

Russia's military intervention in the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Crimea and the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) display of military might[…]

2019 August 9, Yi Edward Yang, Challenges to China's Economic Statecraft: A Global Perspective, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 26:

While the military was pulled into power conflicts between Gorbachev and his opponents inside the communist nomenclature in 1991, and between Yeltsin and the Duma in 1993, the Russian Armed Forces (RAF) did not develop an organizational[…]

2023 March 1, David Kuehn, Aurel Croissant, Routes to Reform: Civil-Military Relations and Democracy in the Third Wave, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 123:

Russian Armed Forces
w:Russian Armed Forces

(military, rare) Initialism of Russian Armed Forces (To avoid confusing with the preceding sense, the Russian Armed Forces are more often abbreviated in other ways, like RuAF.)


order of the day

order of the day (plural orders of the day)

(military) The general directive of a commander in chief or the specific instructions of a commanding officer.


FOB

FOB (countable and uncountable, plural FOBs)

FOBs (plural)
F.O.B. (alternative)
F. O. B. (alternative)
fob (alternative)

forward operating base
w:forward operating base

(military) Initialism of forward operating base.

It seemed at times that everyone was an FOB — everyone, that is, who'd emerged from the ivyest groves of academia […]

2007, David Lebedoff, The Uncivil War: How a New Elite Is Destroying Our Democracy, page 133:

(US, politics) Initialism of friend of Bill: a supporter of Bill Clinton.


smokeless

I run home, jumped in the bed,
Laid a forty-four smokeless under my head.

1971, Thomas G. Burton, Ambrose N. Manning, editors, Folksongs II, Research Advisory Council of East Tennessee State University, page 19:

(firearms) (Of a gun) that does not produce smoke when fired.


outpatient

An empty shop at Birmingham New Street station has been converted into an NHS outpatient clinic, to enable patients to have routine blood tests away from hospital.

2020 April 8, “Network News: NHS outpatient clinic at New Street”, in Rail, page 13:

(healthcare) A patient who receives treatment at a hospital or clinic but is not admitted overnight; a receiver of ambulatory care.


outpatient

MR. MILLER: It is more outpatient than it is inpatient.

1991, United States Commission on the Future Structure of Veterans Health Care, Proceedings of the Commission on the Future Structure of Veterans Health Care, page 1174:

The changes are necessary because "health care is going more outpatient than inpatient," Whitacre said.

1994 June 6, “Huntington Hospital Plans Renovation Project Construction is Expected to be Completed within Two Years”, in Fort Wayne News Sentinel:

It is outpatient and prepaid.

1998 August 23, “Public Health Officer Warns of Risks of Liposuction”, in Los Angeles Times:

(healthcare) Provided without requiring an overnight stay by the patient.

амбулато́рны

provided without requiring an overnight stay by the patient


gore

Gore (fabrics)
Gore (heraldry)
Gore (road)
Gore (segment)
Gore (surveying)

From Middle English gore (“patch (of land, fabric), clothes”), from Old English gāra, from Proto-Germanic *gaizô.

inh

(heraldry) A charge, delineated by two inwardly curved lines, starting respectively from the middle base corner and one of the two chief corners and meeting in the fess point.


USS

“We are aware that there has been an unauthorized release of video footage from flight deck cameras onboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) of the F-35C Lightning II crash that occurred Jan. 24, in the South China Sea. There is an ongoing investigation into both the crash and the unauthorized release of the shipboard video footage,” Cmdr. Zach Harrell, spokesperson for Commander, Naval Air Forces, said in an email.

2022 February 7, Brad Lendon and Ivan Watson, “Newly leaked video shows F-35 crashing in flames on aircraft carrier”, in CNN:

(nautical, military) Initialism of United States Ship.


overt

From Middle English overt, uverte (“open, uncovered; unfastened; accessible, unobstructed; clear, manifest”), from Anglo-Norman overt, Middle French ouvert, Old French overt, ouvert, uvert (“opened”) (modern French ouvert), past participle of Anglo-Norman, Old French ovrir, ouvrir, uvrir (“to open”), from Late Latin operire, variant of Latin aperīre (“to open”), from aperiō (“to open, uncover”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; from”) + *h₂wer- (“to cover, shut”). The English word is a doublet of apert and ouvert.

der

Arg. an eagle rising wings overt inverted sa. armed or. HILTOFTE, V.

1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, page 298:


overture

/ˈəʊvətʃ(ʊ)ə/

/ˈoʊvəɹt͡ʃəɹ/

From Middle English overture, from Anglo-Norman, Middle French overture, from Old French overture. Doublet of aperture.

Crest : A falcon, wings overture.

1887, Edmund Farrer, The Church Heraldry of Norfolk, page 74:

It may be with wings close, i.e. closed, or it may be with its wings elevated, or it may be with wings disclosed, i.e. somewhat open, but inverted, and pointing downwards (and this is practically the same as the expression overt, written sometimes overture). [...]
Argent, an eagle recursant wings overture sable - BACK.
Argent, an eagle rising, wings overt inverted gules, standing on a baston raguly in bend vert - William PORTER.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 215:

[...] charged with a cross patty gules, and perched thereon a bird contourne reguardant, its wings overture, of the second; […]

1992, Donald R. Mandich, Joseph Anthony Placek, Russian Heraldry and Nobility, Dramco:

(heraldry, nonstandard) Overt, that is, disclosed.


aide

Borrowed from French aide ("aid; assistant", as in aide-de-camp (“field assistant”)). More at aid.

gloss

"aid; assistant", as in <i class="Latn mention" lang="fr">aide-de-camp</i> (“field assistant”)

(military) An officer who acts as assistant to a more senior one; an aide-de-camp.


perdu

Borrowed from Middle French perdu, originally after sentinelle perdue.

a perdue captain

c. 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Loyal Subiect”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene i:

(obsolete, military) Stationed in an exposed or hazardous position; hidden in ambush. Originally as sentinel perdu.


keyhole

en-verb

keyhole (third-person singular simple present keyholes, present participle keyholing, simple past and past participle keyholed)

keyholes (present singular third-person)
keyholing (participle present)
keyholed (participle past)
keyholed (past)

(firearms) To strike a target after wobbling in flight so that the long axis of the bullet does not follow the line of flight, typically due to insufficient spin resulting from the rifling in the barrel.


kipper

From Old English cypera (“male salmon”), perhaps related to Old English coper (“reddish-brown metal”) (see copper), on resemblance of color. Another theory connects it to kip (“sharp, hooked lower jaw of the male salmon in breeding season”), from Middle English kippen (“to seize, snatch”), but OED doubts this.

inh

Kipper, I discovered, was airman's slang for a fishing boat. The chief function of this particular station was the escorting of convoys and fishing fleets, and the section which had the latter duty to perform was known as the ‘Kipper Patrol’.

Kipper-kites, aircraft engaged on convoy escort duties over the North Sea and usually giving protection to the fishing-vessels.

1943, J. L. Hunt, A. G. Pringle, Service Slang, page 42:

(military, RAF World War II code name) A patrol to protect fishing boats in the Irish and North Seas against attack from the air.

As she was only crawling along I aimed my first ‘kipper’ just a fraction ahead of her bows.

I evaluate its firing power at eighteen torpedoes—I think kipper is a distressing piece of naval slang—in thirty minutes.

'Fancy running the risk of getting a kipper [a torpedo] to go with his grub.'


kitbag

kitbags (plural)
kit bag (alternative)
kit-bag (alternative)

Besides, whilst he had been in hospital, practically the whole of his equipment had disappeared from his kitbag – including Sylvia's two pair of sheets! – and he had no money with which to get more.

1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 371:

Others have abandoned their vehicles and have set off back towards the Russian border on foot, lugging their weapons and kitbags, videos suggest.

2022 March 4, Luke Harding, “Demoralised Russian soldiers tell of anger at being ‘duped’ into war”, in The Guardian:

(military, UK) A large cylindrical holdall.


touché

Borrowed from French touché, past participle of toucher (“to touch”). More at touch.


knock down

en-verb

knock down (third-person singular simple present knocks down, present participle knocking down, simple past and past participle knocked down)

knocks down (present singular third-person)
knocking down (participle present)
knocked down (participle past)
knocked down (past)

(transitive, firefighting) To reduce the burning of (a fire), as by cooling it with water or dirt.


clodhopper

Compound of clod + hopper (agentive form of the verb hop). Perhaps affected by analogy with grasshopper. Attested in the sense of "peasant" since the seventeenth century; the extended sense of "boot" or "shoe" dates from the nineteenth century.

Smiling Jim Mead of New York tries on his GI clodhopper boots. He decided to return them "because we couldn't make any altitude with those aboard."

1943 August 16, “Senators go global: Five will fly to all fronts”, in LIFE Magazine:

(military slang) United States Navy ankle length work shoes, distinct from dress shoes or combat boots.


casualty

en-noun

casualty (countable and uncountable, plural casualties)

casualties (plural)
casuality (alternative obsolete)

From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.

der

(military) A person in military service who becomes unavailable for duty, for any reason (notably death, injury, illness, capture, or desertion).


walkover

walkovers (plural)
walk-over (alternative)

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

(Singapore, politics) An uncontested election.

(boxing) A match whose winner is declared because the other boxer does not appear in the ring within one minute of the official time.


redskin

en:Native American name controversy#Controversial terminology

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

The Red & Anarchist Skinheads, a left‐wing splinter of the SHARP group, formed in 1993. It grew out of influences from the redskin culture in England.

(anarchism, communism) An anticapitalist skinhead.


warrant officer

en-noun

warrant officer (plural warrant officers)

(military) An officer holding rank by virtue of a warrant rather than a commission.

The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.

1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162:

(law enforcement) An officer assigned to execute warrants and other writs.


VPN

Vietnam People's Navy
w:Vietnam People's Navy

(military, nautical) Initialism of Vietnam People's Navy.


pullover

→ Bulgarian: пуловер (pulover)

→ Catalan: pul·lòver

→ Danish: pullover

→ Esperanto: pulovero

→ French: pull-over

→ Gulf Arabic: بلوڤر (blōvar)

→ German: Pullover

→ Hungarian: pulóver

→ Greek: πουλόβερ (poulóver)

→ Italian: pullover

→ Japanese: プルオーバー (puruōbā)

→ Georgian: პულოვერი (ṗuloveri)

→ Korean: 풀오버 (purobeo)

→ Polish: pulower

→ Portuguese: pulôver

→ Russian: пуло́вер (pulóver)

→ Sicilian: pullover

→ Spanish: pulóver

→ Swedish: pullover

I followed my training in the academy regarding vehicle pullovers.

2010, D. E. Gray, The Warrior in Me, page 23:

(chiefly law enforcement) An instance of a vehicle being pulled over.


cold turkey

Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.

(US military slang, World War I– World War II) Something exposed as a target due to surmountable defense.


watcher

From Middle English wacchere, wachere, wacher, equivalent to watch + -er.

(US politics) A political representative aligned with a candidate sent to observe elections to report on irregularities. A scrutineer.


watchword

From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word.

com

a Watchword sufficient for him that is wiſe

(military, security) A prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard; a password or signal by which friends can be known from enemies.

նշանաբան

a prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard


situate

en-adj

situate (comparative more situate, superlative most situate)

more situate (comparative)
most situate (superlative)
scituate (alternative)

Borrowed from Late Latin situātus, past participle of Medieval Latin situō (“to locate, place”), from Latin situs (“a site”).

der

[...] graunted unto ye sayd Arthure Herrys for his Creast on the heaulme a Stagges head losengy couppe siluer & gules horned gold situate on a wreathe gold & azure mantelled gules doubled siluer which togither w ye sayd ancient Armes viz[…] In the yere of our Lord God MCCCCClxxviij […]

1917, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, page 218:

The arms of the College of Surgeons in Endinburgh, I fancy, afford the only instance of what is presumably a corpse, the blazon being: "Azure, a man (human body) fesswise between a dexter hand having an eye on the palm issuing out of a cloud downward and a castle situate on a rock proper, within a bordure or charged with several instruments peculiar to the art (sic); on a canton of the first a saltire argent surmounted of a thistle vert, crowned of the third."

2013, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide To Heraldry, →ISBN:


tactic

tactics (plural)
tactick (alternative obsolete)

Borrowed from New Latin tactica, from Ancient Greek τακτικός (taktikós, “fit for ordering”), from τάσσω (tássō, “to order, to arrange”).

(military) A maneuver used against an enemy.

taktikë

military manoeuvre used against an enemy


tactic

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War
Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo
All sciences that speed Bellona's car,
All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

1831, Thomas Campbell, The Power of Russia:

(dated, military) Tactical; of or relating to the art of military and naval tactics.


counter

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

[ˈkʰaʊ̯.ɾ̃ɚ]

Always know a counter to any hold you try against your opponent.

(martial arts) A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.

vastaliike

martial arts: proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to one's opponent


counter

en-verb

counter (third-person singular simple present counters, present participle countering, simple past and past participle countered)

counters (present singular third-person)
countering (participle present)
countered (participle past)
countered (past)

[ˈkʰaʊ̯.ɾ̃ɚ]

His left hand countered provokingly.

1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

(boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.

vastata

boxing: to return a blow while receiving one


freestyle

en-noun

freestyle (countable and uncountable, plural freestyles)

freestyles (plural)
free-style (alternative)

自由式

(sports) A sports event where competitors can choose their own method of participation.

(wrestling) A style of wrestling in which any non-injurious holds are permitted.


SAC

(military) Acronym of senior aircraftman.


SAC

(US, military) Acronym of Strategic Air Command.


TAC

TAC (countable and uncountable, plural TACs)

(US, military) Acronym of tactical air command.

Darrell S. Mudd, The Boys of Chattahoochee: Sons of the Greatest Generation
There were six tactical officers (TACs) in 95th Company, each in charge of a platoon of 40 officer candidates. TACs were not responsible for classroom or field instruction, as their title might suggest, […]

The TACs were commissioned officers; most were infantry officers and OCS graduates. They were lieutenants and called “sir.”

2017, John R. Oreskovich, SCUMBAG: The Education of an American Officer, page 40:

tactical officer
tactical officer#English

(US, military) Clipping of tactical officer.


POTUS

Phillips Code abbreviation, 1895. In more common usage since the 1990s.

The medical history of the principal is extremely important in assessing risk in any given protective detail for a myriad of activities of the protectee [34]. Once again, using the example of the POTUS or former POTUSs (the POTUS has Secret Service protection for life), the range of health status is from extremely healthy and physically active to relatively sedentary with significant medical problems, including endocrine, metabolic, and/or cardiac, with an implantable automatic defibrillator in one protectee.

2001, Richard Carmona, Christopher M. Grande, Dario Gonzalez, “Trauma Care Support for Mass Events, Counterterrorism, and VIP”, in Eldar Søreide, Christopher M. Grande, editors, Prehospital Trauma Care, New York, N.Y.; Basel: Marcel Dekker, Inc., →ISBN, part D (Transportation and Specific Problems), page 732:

Isumbras does not seem to be returning to the place he came from and Jack Bauer keeps leaving his job and returns to it several times – he always tries to lead a “normal” life and is never given such a possibility. Assuming however, that even partial re-integration carries the force of a closure, Bauer is rewarded with friendships among the high and mighty (successive POTUSs of the series feature, Isumbras fares better than Jack, as he receives “more welthe thenne evere he was” (l. 761)⁴⁸.

2016 April 13, Liliana Sikorska, “Sir Isumbras Meets Jack Bauer, or on the (Re)Reading of Medieval Saracen Romances”, in Sławomir Wacewicz, Przemysław Żywiczyński, editors, Theoria et Historia Scientiarum, volume XII (2015), Toruń: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 105:

It makes sense that ex-POTUSes don't tend to make it onto juries.

2017 October 28, Gabrielle Bruney, “Some Lucky Accused Criminal Could Have Obama on Their Jury”, in Esquire, Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., retrieved 2020-02-23:

It felt like every Asheville restaurant had a framed photo of Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeline^([sic]) Stowe dining in their establishment, taken when the pair resided in a downtown hotel during the 1991 filming of The Last of the Mohicans. If not those two, then there was a pic of another duo, James Garner and Jack Lemmon, who marched through the streets of Asheville in a scene when they (as former POTUSs) accidentally crash a gay pride parade in My Fellow Americans.

2023, Ryan McGee, “Fifth Inning: The Blues Brothers, Macaulay Culkin, and the Circuit Rider”, in Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN:

(US politics) Acronym of President of the United States.


souped-up

en-adj

souped-up (comparative more souped-up, superlative most souped-up)

more souped-up (comparative)
most souped-up (superlative)
souped (alternative)
souped up (alternative)
suped-up (alternative)

Uncertain; the fact that the earlier senses seem to be the horse racing cant and United States Navy slang ones suggests a derivation from soup (“liquid food item”), connoting a horse or a person being filled with a liquid.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a modified clipping of supe(r), with reference to an aeroplane or automobile engine being supercharged: see, for example, the 1925 quotation. This sense appears to post-date the horse-racing and navy slang senses.

If you have had any experience at all with the effect that it has upon these people when they are in situations of violence, you can understand that you cannot send these persons who are souped up on drugs to perform a delicate mission […]

1968, Melvin M. Belli, Trial and Tort Trends: Belli Seminar, page 253:

(US, naval slang) Intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.


IR

en-noun

IR (countable and uncountable, plural IRs)

international relations
international relations#English

(politics) Initialism of international relations.

(law enforcement) Initialism of incident report.


stump

From Middle English stumpe, stompe (“stump”), from or akin to Middle Low German stump (“stump”) or Middle Dutch stomp, from Old Saxon or Old Dutch *stump, from Proto-West Germanic *stump, from Proto-Germanic *stumpaz (“stump, blunt, part cut off”).
Cognate with Middle Dutch stomp (“stump”), Old High German stumph (“stump”) (German Stumpf), Old Norse stumpr (“stump”). More at stop.

der

(politics) The place or occasion at which a campaign takes place; the husting.

трибуна

politics: place where campaigning takes place


tawny

en-noun

tawny (countable and uncountable, plural tawnies or tawnys)

From Middle English tauni, tawne (“brownish-orange colour; cloth of this colour; sweet beverage of this colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“tan colour; cloth of this colour”), from tané (verb): see further at etymology 1.
Sense 2.1 (“Eurasian bullfinch”) is due to the brown colour of the female.

kellanruskea

something of a light brown or brownish orange colour

[T]he Herehaught [herald] muſt have a ſinguler reſpect to the face of him that ſhould haue the Armes, vvhere he ſhal vvel perceiue in vvhat ſeaſõ of the yere, his ovvn complexion vvill ſerue him to do beſt ſeruice in: […] If in Somer, either a Hound or Salamandra, or ſome part of them, of the colour Bruske, vvhich is betvveene Geules and tavvney.

1597, Gerard Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh], The Accedence of Armorie, London: […] Henrie Ballard […], →OCLC, folio 116, verso:

Tavvny (ſaith Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh]) is a Colour of vvorſhip, and of ſome Heralds it is called Bruske, and is moſt commonly borne of French Gentlemen, but very fevv doe beare it in England. In Blazon it is knovvne by the name of Tenne. It is (ſaith he) the ſureſt colour that is (of ſo bright a hevv being compounded) for it is made of tvvo bright Colours, vvhich are Red and Yellovv: […]

1632, John Guillim, “Sect[ion] I. Chap[ter] III.”, in A Display of Heraldrie: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Badger for Ralph Mab, →OCLC, page 21:

Tenne, vvhich is the tavvny or Orange colour, is marked by diagonal lines dravvn from the Siniſter to the Dexter ſide of the Shield, traverſed by perpendicular lines from the Chief; […]

1765, Mark Anthony Porny [pseudonym; Antoine Pyron du Martre], “Of the Essential and Integral Parts of Arms. Article II. Of the Tinctures.”, in The Elements of Heraldry, […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, section I (Of Colours), page 17:

Some heraldic writers extend the number of tinctures to seven, by the addition of sanguine or murrey, dark blood or mulberry-colour, and tenné, tawny, or orange-colour; while others who admit them into the catalogue declare them, at the same time, to be stainant, or disgraceful; but, as I have stated in my notice of Abatements (p. 171), it is very improbable any one would bear arms so degraded; and the strongest proof that no such opinion with respect to these two colours existed in the days of chivalry is, that the livery colours of the house of York were murrey and blue, and that tawny was apparently much affected by the retainers of the nobility and Church dignitaries.

1859 April, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Appendix”, in The Pursuivant of Arms; or, Heraldry Founded upon Facts. […], new edition, London: Robert Hardwicke, […], →OCLC, page 209:

A light brown to brownish orange colour.

(specifically, heraldry) Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”).