ˈleather-neck, ˈleatherneck slang.
[f. leather n. + neck n.1]
1. A sailor's name for a soldier, from the leather stock he used to wear.
| 1890 Pall Mall G. 24 Jan. 2/1 He [the sailor] despises his friend the leather-neck for a lazy and luxurious dog. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Carry On! 27 A Royal marine is a ‘bullock’, ‘turkey’, or ‘Joey’, while a soldier is a ‘grabby’ or ‘leather-neck’. |
b. A marine. U.S.
| 1914 Dialect Notes IV. 150 Leatherneck, a marine. 1919 A Company, Eleventh Frapper (U.S. Marines) 17 Apr. 1/2 We learn that between 700 and 800 warworn Leathernecks from the famous 5th and 6th Marines..arrived at Camp Covington. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 354/2 ‘Leatherneck’ for a Marine..is derived from the old custom of facing the stiff neck-band of the marine uniform with leather. 1931 Punch 3 June 606/1 I'd just passed the remark to the leather-neck on sentry that we was 'avin' a nice peaceful forenoon when the Admiral's buzzer goes, and I 'ops in to see what 'e wanted. 1955 W. Foster-Harris Look of Old West i. 11 Under this collar, the troopers were supposed to wear an atrocity of a stock, of black leather. This is where the name ‘leather-neck’ came from, since the Marines also had to wear these dog-collar affairs. 1968 R. West Sk. Vietnam ii. 37 The U.S. Marine Corps. These legendary troops, nick⁓named ‘leathernecks’. |
2. = rouseabout 2. Austral.
| 1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3 In a shearing shed: The boss is the ‘finger’, the shearers the ‘brutes’, the rouseabouts ‘leathernecks’. 1899 W. T. Goodge Hits! Skits! & Jingles! 155 And he ‘pinked’ him like a leather-neck when squatters paid a pound! 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. xvi. 286 A leatherneck is a marine in the U.S.; in Australia he is a station handyman. |