▪ I. war, n.1
(wɔː(r))
Forms: 2 uuerre, werre, wyrre, 3 weorre, worre, 3–5 werre, (4 pl. werren), 4–6 werr, 5 guerre, gwerre, 4, 5–6 Sc. wer, 4–5, 6–7 Sc. were, 4 Sc. vere, 4, 7 Sc. weer, 4–6 Sc. veyr, 5 Sc. veir, 5–6 Sc. weire, weyr(e, 4–9 Sc. weir, 6 Sc. wair, wiar, weare, veare, 7 Sc. ware, 8 Sc. wear, 5 waar, 5–7 warr(e, 6– war.
[Late OE. (c 1050) wyrre, werre, a. North-eastern OF. werre = Central OF. and mod.F. guerre, Pr. guerra, gerra, Sp., Pg., It. guerra (med.L. werra, guerra) a. OHG. werra (MHG. werre) confusion, discord, strife, related to the OHG., OS. werran str. vb., to bring into confusion or discord (whence mod.G. wirren wk. vb. to confuse, perplex; the earlier vb. survives in verworren ppl. a., confused), f. Teut. root *werz-, *wers-, whence also worse a.
It is a curious fact that no Germanic nation in early historic times had in living use any word properly meaning ‘war’, though several words with that meaning survived in poetry, in proverbial phrases, and in compound personal names. The Romanic-speaking peoples, who were obliged to avoid the L. bellum on account of its formal coincidence with bello- beautiful, found no nearer equivalent in Teut. than werra. In OE. the usual translation of bellum was ᵹewin, struggle, strife. The continental Teut. langs. later developed separate words for ‘war’: G. krieg (whence Sw., Da. krig), Du. oorlog; Icelandic uses ófriðr ‘un-peace’.]
I. 1. a. Hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers, or between parties in the same nation or state; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power, or against an opposing party in the state.
For civil, intestine, etc. war, see the adjs. war to the knife [after Sp. guerra al cuchillo], see knife n. 1 b; war to the death, see death n. 12 c.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1140, Þer efter wæx suythe micel uuerre betuyx þe king & Randolf eorl of Cæstre. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 20 Ah se wide him weox weorre on euch halue [L. bellis undique consurgentibus]. c 1290 Holy Rood 336 in S. Eng. Leg. 11 Sethþe þare cam an Aumperour þat hiet costantin; In weorre and bataylle he was so muche þat þare-of nas no fin. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1321 Þe..king nis to preisi noȝt Þat in time of worre as a lomb is boþe mek & milde, & in time of pes as leon boþe cruel & wilde. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (James Minor) 462 Iosaphus, prince wes & als ledare of þat towne, bath in pese & vere. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 226 Wote no wighte what werre is þere þat pees regneth. 1421 Lydg. Horse, Goose, Sheep 425 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) trs. 33 Thou Causist werre and seist thu louest pees. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. x. 537 Whanne therupon hangith ceesing of greet werre and making of greet pees. 1462 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914) Oct. 720 The said Erle shal haue the iijrds of all wynnyngs of werre won or gotten by the said Cristofre. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cres. 196 Ane horn he blew..Quhilk all this warld with weir hes maid to wag. 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 36/2 Richarde Duke of Yorke..beganne not by warre, but by lawe, to challenge the crown. 1573 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 218 Except sic change and fortoun of weare as salbe commoun and alike to bayth. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 36 These Gates must not be shut, But in the Night, or in the time of Warre. 1613 J. Saris Voy. Japan (Hakl. Soc.) 54 The prince of Tidore, whoe had beene out in warr, and was retorned with 100 Ternatans heades. 1648 Milton Sonn. to Fairfax 10 For what can Warr, but endless warr still breed, Till Truth, and Right from Violence be freed. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. iii. §16 The State of War is a State of Enmity and Destruction. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 810 Mighty Cæsar, thund'ring from afar, Seeks on Euphrates' Banks the Spoils of War. 1728 Ramsay Lochaber i, The dangers attending on wear. 1759 B. Porteus Death 179 War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. vii. 250 In order to make war completely effectual, it is necessary with us in England that it be publicly declared and duly proclaimed by the king's authority. 1846 Congressional Globe 14 May 808/1 It puts it in the power of any military squad..to put this nation in a state of war. The killing of people is not war. In order to constitute war between nations, that killing must be sanctioned by the war-making power. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. viii. 551 Formerly religion had been the cause of war, and had also been the pretext under which it was conducted. 1871 Mozley Univ. Serm. v. (1876) 101 War is one of these rights, because under the division of mankind into distinct nations it becomes a necessity. |
| Personified. 1563 Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. lvi, Lastly stoode Warre in glitteryng armes yclad, With visage grym. c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 37 Bloody warre, the mistres of debait. 1803 Wordsw. Addr. Kilchurn Castle 1 Child of loud-throated War! |
b. transf. and
fig. Applied
poet. or rhetorically to any kind of active hostility or contention between living beings, or of conflict between opposing forces or principles.
| a 1200 Moral Ode 246 in O.E. Hom. I. 175 Þa þe ledden here lif in werre and in winne. c 1275 On Serving Christ 37 in O.E. Misc. 91 Bi-leueþ oure weorre, warlawes wode. a 1300 Cursor M. 9666 Þes mai nourquar abide Þar hate wons, or werr, or pride. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10570 Þarfore þat tyme was mykyl þro, And ofte was boþe werre and wo. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 234 Who kan conforten now youre hertes werre? c 1386 ― Frankl. T. 29 Ne wolde neuere God bitwixe vs tweyne, As in my gilt, were outher werre or stryf. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 5 Amang the quhilkis is grete discorde discensioun and were. 1624 Quarles Job Milit. xviii. 30 Know'st thou the cause of Snow, or Haile, which are My fierce Artill'ry, in my time of warre? 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. V. 306 Whatever be the motives that thus arrest a flock of birds in their flight, whether they be of gallantry or of war, it is certain that [etc.]. 1817 Byron Manfred ii. ii. 135, I have affronted death—but in the war Of elements the waters shrunk from me. 1912 L. Tracy Mirabel's Isl. ii. (1915) 32 His keen hearing was of no avail in that war of wind and wave. |
c. The
pl. (
esp. with
def. art.) was formerly often used in the same sense as the
sing. to have been in the wars (
colloq.), to show marks of injury or traces of rough usage.
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 22 Whan Theseus with werres longe and grete The aspre folke of Cithe had ouer⁓come. a 1400 R. Glouc. (Rolls) App. Z. 19 Wel fale ȝer þer after þo worres aslakede. 1448–9 J. Metham Amoryus & Cl. 218 And for yowre labour in werris that with vs ye haue be, We þanke yow. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. x. 198 For knyghtes that ben..lecherous shal not be..fortunate vnto the werrys. 1538 Starkey England (1878) 47 So dothe the multytude of pepul..sone, by warrys and iniury of ennemys, wyth⁓out strenghth, lose hys welth. 1549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1569) H iij, After warres it is commonly seene, that a great number of those that went out honest, returne home againe like roisters. 1581 Hamilton in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 74 The miserable estait of your maiesties cuntrie oppressit be famine and intestine vearis. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 31 Is Signior Mountanto return'd from the warres, or no? 1601 ― All's Well ii. iii. 308 Warres is no strife To the darke house, and the detected wife. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Justine iv. 23 Hereupon, the warres by Sea was againe renued. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xxvii. §7. 247 When he was a little boy, there being warres in the country. 1721 Ramsay Richy & Sandy 37 His fame shall last: last shall his sang of weirs. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. x. (1858) 133 Sundry other marks upon his body, that showed him to have been in the wars. |
d. open war: avowed active hostility.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 16 Ȝif þei..conseilen men more to taken vengeaunce bi open werre of here breþren þan to suffren paciently wrongys. 1450 Paston Lett. I. 100 To leve, reise, and make open werr ayenst you. 1487 Cely Papers (Camden) 165 Hytt ys open warre betwyxte Gaunte & the Kynge of Romayns. 1609 Dekker Work for Armourers C ij, That open warre should presently be proclaimed against that arrogant, haughty, ambitious Tyrant Money. 1623 Cockeram ii, Open Warre, Hostilitie. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 41 By what best way, Whether of open Warr or covert guile, We now debate. |
† e. abstinence,
prorogation of war: suspension of hostilities.
Obs.| 1517 in Acts Parlt. Scot. (1875) XII. 38/1 The foresaid prorogacioun of were past concludit and approbate as said is. 1521 Ibid. 39/2 Þat..We may have abstinence of Weire for ane tyme quhill an Ambaxat may be maid Reddy. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 245 b, That an especial abstinence of warre should be kept..betwixte the Realmes of England and Scotland. |
2. In various phrases. (For
declare,
levy,
wage war, see the
vbs.)
a. (to be) at war,
† at wars,
† in war,
† in wars: engaged in war.
lit. and
fig. So
at open war,
† wars.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 222 Buxomenesse and boste aren euer-more at werre, And ayther hateth other in alle manere werkes. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 58 When twa rewmes er at were and owþer party ensegez citee, toune or castell. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 1936 For to sette hem al at werre. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 22 Kyndomes and prouynces wern at werre. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 3 Men kennyis almaist na realme in cristyndom bot it is in were. 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 29 The Britannes being free from all foraine warres, fell at warres with in them selues and to all other myscheifes. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 26 All Christin men tak tent and leir, How saull and body ar at weir. 1573 L. Lloyd Pilgr. Princes 12 When Turnus and Aeneas were in wars for the mariage of Lauinia. 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 235 The Iesuits doe mightily disagree, and are often at open warres. 1614 R. Wilkinson Paire of Serm. etc. 30 So wee are, indeed, at warres with God, and at warres with one another. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 215 King Gustavus Adolphus..hath taken Elbing..from the Polander, with whom he is still in warres. 1637 J. Battiere in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 489 This Kingdom being now in Wars on all sides, doth not afford any great Design for the advancement of Learning. 1677 Govt. Venice 91 Nine times have they been at Wars together. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 352 When England was at Wars with Portugal. 1780 Mirror No. 82 We have been two years at war with France. 1792 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 387 Sentiments of liberty which were not at war with order, virtue, religion, and good government. 1816 Byron Stanzas to Augusta ii. ii, And when winds are at war with the ocean. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 171 Man, in his powerlessness, at war with Omnipotence! 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. ii. xiv, In that moment..Cyril felt at war with everybody and everything. 1884 Graphic 23 Aug. 186/3 Teetotallers and moderate drinkers will probably be at war on this point..as long as the world lasts. |
b. to go to war or † wars: to enter on hostilities.
to go to the war(s (
arch.): to go abroad as a soldier.
| c 1450 J. Capgrave St. Aug. xxxix. 50 Þat he schuld neuer councell man to go to werre. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV iii. ii. 196 Come, thou shalt go to the Warres in a Gowne. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 66 Would we had all such wiues, that the men might go to Warres with the women. 1807 Moore Minstrel Boy 1 The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone. 1871 Mozley Univ. Serm. v. (1876) 117 The aim of the nation in going to war is exactly the same as that of the individual in entering a court; it wants its rights, or what it alleges to be its rights. |
† c. to have war: to be at war (
with,
to).
to hold war,
keep war or wars: to be continuously at war.
| a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1116, Se cyng Henri fylste his nefan..þe þa wyrre hæfde toᵹeanes his hlaforde þam cynge of France. c 1275 Lay. 4347 To holde werre [c 1205 To halden comp] and eke fiht. 13.. Northern Passion 154/218* Agaynes kynge pharoo he helde werre. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vi. 64 Thei han often tyme werre with the Soudan. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 167 Thai..nouthir had were to him, na he to thame. c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden No. 29) 32 [They] beganne to keepe warre against their neighbours. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 37 They kepe warre against their borderers. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Chron. 310 b, Englande hath oftentymes kepte warre with Scotlande. 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 342 These Ilandes were wont to haue warre the one with the other. |
d. to make war: to carry on hostilities.
lit. and
fig. Const.
on,
upon,
with; also
against, and
† to,
unto, or dative.
| c 1205 Lay. 170 Weorre makede Turnus. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6095 His folc made euere uaste worre ȝut after is deþe. 1439 Rolls of Parlt. V. 17/2 The seide Phelip..hath contynuelly..made werre unto the seide John. 1515 in Archæologia XLVII. 302 In caace the duke or any other lordes wol make garriable werr ayeinst the castell. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon lvii. 193 When yuoryn herd this he made me warre & was here before my cete with all his pusance. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 7 Item he assembled certain Lancashire and Cheshire men to the entent to make warre on the foresaid Lordes. c 1560 A. Scott Poems i. 126 As werrie waspis aganis Goddis word makis weir. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron., John (1807) II. 320 That if the king would not confirme the same, they would not cease to make him warre, till he should satisfie their requests in that behalfe. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxxvii. xiii, Bad folkes shall fall,..Who to make warre with God presumed. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 86 Dro. In her forhead, arm'd and reuerted, making warre against her heire. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iv. 216 He leuied a puissant armie, and made warre against Barbarossa. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Justine xxvi. 94 He made warre to the Athenians. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 73 His valour rests yet untried, having made no warre but by disputation. 1626 Cockeram ii, s.v. War, To make warre, Belligerate. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 331 As the fox makes war upon all animals so all others seem to make war upon him. 1794 Paley Evid. (1825) II. 255 Aristotle maintained the general right of making war upon barbarians. 1885 Scribner's Monthly XXX. 396/1 The..colonists were accustomed..to make war on the creatures of the forest. 1918 Nation (N.Y.) 7 Feb. 129/2 To get more beef the Government is making war on the cattle tick. |
† e. (to win, etc.) of, on, with war: by warfare.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 134 The thinges fellen as they don of were Bytwixen hem of Troye and Grekes ofte. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 22 How they whanne wyth were wyrchippis many. Ibid. 33 And Wales of were he wane at hys wille. Ibid. 516, 621. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxii, Thus hase he wonun Kay on werre. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. 1562 Þar wiþe hir ost scho coyme of weyre. Ibid. v. 4458 (Royal MS.) A tyrawnd, Odonater, Held all that land tyll hym off were [v.rr. of weyre, of weire, awere] Agayne the mycht of the empyre. |
3. a. In particularized sense: A contest between armed forces carried on in a campaign or series of campaigns.
Freq. used with
def. art. to designate a particular war,
esp. one in progress or recently ended. Hence
between the wars, between the war of 1914–18 and that of 1939–45 (
cf. inter-war a.).
Often with identifying word or phrase, as in
the Trojan war,
the Punic Wars,
the Wars of the Roses,
the Thirty Years' War.
holy war: a war waged in a religious cause: applied,
e.g. to the Crusades, and to the
jihad among Muslims.
Sacred War [
= Gr. ἱερὸς πόλεµος]: in
Gr. Hist., the designation of two wars (b.c. 595 and 357–346) waged by the Amphictyonic Council against Phocis in punishment of alleged sacrilege.
War Between the States (
esp. in the use of Southerners), the American Civil War. For
servile,
social war, see the
adjs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 2491 Þare had a were ben in þat land, Þat had lasted sumdel lang. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 29 Þe wer lasted so long Til morgan asked pes Þurch pine. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 437 Þat werre..lasted two & twenty ȝer. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2613 A gret warre, Þat was wonderli hard in þe next londe. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 522 Wes nocht all troy with tresoune tane, Quhen x ȝeris of the wer wes gane? 1377 Death Edw. III in Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 217 This gode comunes..That with heore catel and with heore goode Mayntened the werre both furst and last. 1485 Cal. Patent Rolls (1914) 46 [The war called] le Barons' werre. c 1550 Lyndesay Trag. 113 Duryng this weir war takin presoneris,..Mony one Lorde, Barrone, and Bachileris. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 36 The peace of heauen is theirs y{supt} lift their swords In such a iust and charitable warre. a 1631 Donne Songs & Son., Canonization 16 Soldiers find warres, and Lawyers find out still Litigeous men. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 245 This fatall War is like the Hydra; the more heads are cut off, the more grow up. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 103 The French Cannon which took some of the Towns defended by the Dutch, last War in Flanders. 1774 Sacred war [see Phocian n.]. 1814 Columbian Centinel 18 June 2/3 The southern war-hirelings say the Administration will continue the War. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 99/2 The celebrated Phocian or Sacred War, in which all the great states of Greece were more or less concerned. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. India I. 583 His conduct of the war evinced more activity than skill. 1861 Chicago Tribune 26 May 1/9, I, Samuel M. Fassett, photographist,..will continue to take those fine plain photographs for the low sum of one dollar, during the war. 1867 A. H. Stephens (title) A constitutional view of the late War between the States. 1882 Freeman Impress. U.S. (1883) 21 Still the War of Independence must be, on the American side, a formidable historic barrier in the way of perfect brotherhood. 1911, etc. Sacred war [see Phocian a.]. 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 5 June 14/7 There was a time when it was almost worth one's life in the city of Richmond to refer to the Civil War as the Civil War. The Richmonder who held the memories of the sixties close to his heart always called it the War Between the States. 1936 Punch 2 Dec. 640/1 Our telephone system is partly British and partly German and Turkish, and all of it served through the War with varying degrees of distinction. 1942 C. S. Lewis Screwtape Lett. xv. 76, I had noticed, of course, that the humans were having a lull in their European war—what they naïvely call ‘The War’! 1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 3 He lived and worked in England and the Far East all the time between the wars. 1973 R. Thomas If You can't be Good vi. 46 The Maurys..had supplied the South with two generals during the War Between the States. |
b. transf. and
fig. A contest, struggle (between living beings or opposing forces).
Cf. 1 b. Also
war of nerves: see
nerve n. 8 f;
war of words (Journalese), a sustained conflict conducted by means of the spoken or printed word; a propaganda war.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3458 O suilk a wer was neuer herd, Ne suilk a strijf o childir tuin. c 1400 Anturs of Arth. iii, Thayre werre on the wild squyne wurchis hom wo. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. 160, I thinke there be neuer an Ale-house in England..but sets forth some poets petternels or demilances to the paper warres in Paules Church-yard. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 232 Our veyl'd Dames Commit the Warre of White and Damaske In their nicely gawded Cheekes, to th' wanton spoyle Of Phoebus burning Kisses. 1620 J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack a Lent A 4, Blacke Iacks..Whose liquor oftentimes breedes houshold wars. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 415, I pass the Wars the spotted Linx's make With their fierce Rivals, for the Female's sake. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 78 ¶5 What a learned War will there be among future Criticks about the Original of that Club. 1718 Prior Solomon i. 706 My Prophets, and my Sophists finish'd here Their Civil Efforts of the Verbal War. 1725 Pope Odyss. ii. 96 O insolence of youth! whose tongue affords Such railing eloquence and war of words. 1744 J. Love Cricket (1770) 16 Scarce any Youth wou'd dare At single Wicket, try the doubtful War. 1821 Byron Cain iii. i, For what should I be gentle? for a war With all the elements ere they will yield The bread we eat? 1855 Brewster Newton II. xxii. 295 That deadly war, which, to the disgrace of mathematical science, has raged for three years between the geometers of Britain and Germany. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 108 The war between the white man and the forest was still fierce. 1885 Manch. Exam. 16 May 5/1 There is already a talk of..a war of tariffs being declared. 1981 Times 10 Oct. 1/7 As the war of words continued in the Tory party Mrs Thatcher arrived back from the Commonwealth Conference. 1984 Guardian 8 Mar. 9/1 (heading) Vietnamese intensify war of words on Peking. |
c. to carry the war into the enemy's camp (into Africa, etc.): see
carry v. 19 b.
d. war to end war(s): a war which is intended to make subsequent wars impossible;
usu. spec. the war of 1914–18.
| [1914 H. G. Wells (title) The war that will end war.] 1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah iv. 187 There was a war called the War to End War. In the war which followed it about ten years later, none of the soldiers were killed; but seven of the capital cities of Europe were wiped out of existence. 1932 P. Quennell Let. to Mrs. V. Woolf (1933) 17 He can recall barely five or six summers; then the War to End Wars and so good-bye. 1949 E. Benn Happier Days vi. 71 If..war debts between nations had been wiped off the slate, and reparations in money never attempted, the ‘war to end war’ might have achieved its high purpose. 1953 Earl Winterton Orders of Day xxiv. 345 The Government of that day and the then leaders of opinion in general had assured us and the nation at large that it was ‘a war to end war’. 1967 W. Lippman in W. Safire New Lang. Politics (1968) 480/2 Each of the wars to end wars has set the stage for the next war. 1978 E. Malpass Wind brings up Rain ix. 99 Now..the War To End War was over. |
e. to have a good war: to achieve success, satisfaction, or enjoyment during a war. Also with other
adjs. Often ironic.
| 1969 P. Dickinson Pride of Heroes i. 49 Harvey Singleton..had a good war. A very good war indeed. After the Raid he was parachuted into France three times. 1970 ― Seals ii. 35 He had a very bad war. 1972 P. D. James Unsuitable Job iv. 124 He had what the men call a good war; we'd call it a bad war I dare say, a lot of killing and fighting. 1974 ‘J. le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy xviii. 153 He had a dazzling war... The comparison with Lawrence was inevitable. |
† 4. a. Actual fighting, battle; a battle, engagement.
Obs. (chiefly
poet.)
| c 1320 Sir Tristr. 752 Rohand told anon..How þe batayle bi gan, Þe werres hadden y ben. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5464 Ȝyf we were bold, now be we baldere, & y schal vndertake þys were. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xlii. (1495) 804 Elephauntys drede not the sharpnesse of werre and dredyth and fleeth the voys of the leest sowe or swyne. a 1400 Octovian 1621 Tho began greet werre awake, Scheldes cleuede and speres brake. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 257 Now wakkenyse the were! wyrchipide be Cryste! 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 185 The cronycles makyth no mencion of no chyualry ne werre done by the kynge al the tyme that he in Irland was. 1697 Dryden æneis v. 569 Their Heads from aiming Blows they bear a far, With dashing Gauntlets then provoke the War. Ibid. vii. 742 First, Almon falls,..Pierc'd with an Arrow from the distant War. 1750 Gray Long Story 76 Where, safe and laughing in his sleeve, He heard the distant din of war. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iv. xiii, The boy is ripe to look on war. 1827 Pollok Course T. vi. 479 War brayed to war. |
† b. A hostile attack, invasion, assault.
Obs.| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 429 Thou mayst..make a werre so sharpe on this Citee. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 285 Þe werre of þe Danes þat assaillede first Norþhumberlond and þanne Lyndeseie. c 1400 Beryn 1599 Wee have no nede to dout werr, ne molestacioun. 1603 Knolles Turks (1621) 589 Now the Turkes began to make faire warres, their terrible batteries began to grow calme. |
5. a. The kind of operations by which the contention of armed forces is carried on; fighting as a department of activity, as a profession, or as an
art. Cf. man-of-war,
ship-of-war.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 2349 But god for his grete grace gof i hadde now here horse & alle harneys þat be-houes to werre. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 492 This poynt of weir..Wes vndirtane so apertly, And eschevit richt hardely. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1038 Nestor, A noble man naitest in werre. Ibid. 10037 The Mirmydons were..Wise men in werr. 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 37/2 None euill captaine was hee in the warre, as to whiche his dispocion was more metely then for peace. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 908/2 Saint Paules meaning is, to shew to Timothie, that it is more then time, he were throughly trained, and made to warre, (as we say). 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. I. ii. 111 War was the sole profession of the nobles. 1781 Logan Hymn, ‘Behold the Mountain’ 24 They hang the trumpet in the hall, and study war no more. 1841 J. F. Cooper Deerslayer vii, I'm young in war, but not so young as to stand on an open beach to be shot down like an owl by daylight. |
b. In titles of office,
captain of the war,
treasurer of the king's wars,
treasurer at wars.
Obs. exc. as
minister of (or for) war,
secretary at war,
secretary of (state for) war.
| c 1450 Brut 450 Þe Lord Wylloghby was made Capten of hys werris. 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. v. (1883) 66 Ioab the sone of Saryre that was captayn of the warre of the kynge Dauid [Cf. Vulg. 2 Sam. viii. 16 Joab..erat super exercitum]. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 139 Sir Reignold Bray Knyght late Tresorer of Our Soueraigne Lorde the Kynges werres. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 53 The Treasurer at Warres per diem thirtie five shillings. 1693, etc. [see secretary n.1 3 a]. 1802 C. Wilmot Let. 15 Nov. in Irish Peer (1920) 115 The six Ministers of the Interior, of the Police, of Justice, of Finance, of War, and of foreign affairs. 1867 Crown Princess of Prussia Let. 27 Apr. in R. Fulford Your Dear Letter (1971) 133 The King wishes for peace..so does the Minister for War. 1877 J. Blackwood Let. 21 Dec. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) VI. 434, I am happy to say that our Minister of War is I think a man who may be trusted at the helm. 1903 Ceremonies at Laying Corner Stone of Army War College Building (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) 9 The master of ceremonies then introduced the honorable Secretary of War. 1964 Act Eliz. II c. 58 §1 There shall be transferred to a Secretary of State the functions conferred by any enactment on the Minister of Defence, or on the Secretary of State for War or for Air (however styled). 1980 A. Marwick Illustr. Dict. Brit. Hist. 64/2 He [sc. Churchill] served the coalition subsequently as secretary of state for war and air (1918–21). |
c. in phrasal combinations designating things pertaining to warfare, as
munitions,
† weeds of war.
† castle,
house,
place,
town of war (
obs.), a fortified building or place.
† line of war Naut., the flotation-line of a ship when fully armed, ammunitioned, and victualled for three months.
For
articles,
contraband,
council,
honours of war, see those words.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 405 Bothwell..That than at Ynglis mennys fay Wes, and haldin as place of wer. Ibid. xvii. 243 Till mak aparale For till defend and till assale Castell of wer or than cite. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (James Minor) 465 With alkyne Instrument of were, as gyne, slonge, darte & spere. 1441 in Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. liv, The Archbishop' officers by his commaundement kept the said towne of Ripon like a towne of warr. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 549 That wy walit, I vis, all wedis of veir That nedit hym to note. 1474 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 50 Passande to Sanctandros with lettres vndir the signete for cartis of were. 1581 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 382 To fortefie and detene the samin [sc. house] as ane hous of weir. 1605 Camden Rem. 1 Prouided with all complete provisions of Warre. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 125 The line of War..is to be discovered by computing the weight..of the Ordnance..and..the weight of Men with three months Victuals. |
† d. Manner of fighting.
Obs.| 14.. Sir Beues 169/3323 (Pynson) For no catel Wolde I let sle Arundel, For he is gode in euery were. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 84 Usage makis him..expert, be oft hanting of the were that he is wont till. |
6. concr. Used
poet. for:
a. Instruments of war, munitions. ?
Obs.| 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 712 Go then thou Mightiest..Ascend my Chariot,..bring forth all my Warr, My Bow and Thunder, my Almightie Arms Gird on. 1697 Dryden æneis viii. 572 Inferior Ministers, for Mars repair His broken Axeltrees, and blunted War. Ibid. xi. 901 Shields, Arms, and Spears, flash horrible from far; And the Fields glitter with a waving War. 1713 Addison Cato i. iv, Th' embattled elephant, Loaden with war. |
b. Soldiers in fighting array. ?
Obs.| 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 214 On thir imbattelld ranks the Waves return, And overwhelm thir Warr. 1677 Oldham David's Lament. Saul & Jon. v, Seneh..Where he, him⁓self an Host, o'ercame a War alone. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 101 In this Array the War of either side Through Athens pass'd with Military Pride. 1726 Pope Odyss. xxiv. 578 The opening gates at once their war display. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxx, To arms they flew,..And mimic ensigns high they rear, And..Beardown on England's wearied war. 1816 L. Hunt Rimini i. 141 It seems as if the harnessed war were near. 1822 W. Tennant Thane of Fife i. i, On the plain Of Fife debark'd his proud invasive war. |
† 7. course,
jousts,
tournament of war: a tournament, joust. Similarly,
to joust of war.
Obs.| 1375 Barbour Bruce xix. 787 And thai, that worthy war and wicht, At that metyng iustit of wer. c 1400 Rowland & Otuel 812 Kyng askuardyn in his gere Rydes owte a course of were. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxiv, Take thi schild and thi spere And ride to him a course on werre. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 379 To the castelle he rad..And axed yef ther eny were, That wold hyme delyvere him ther Off thre corses of wer, Hym and xij. knythus. Ibid. 393 He axit justes of were, And prays the of answere. c 1450 Brut 366 Þe Erle of Marre..come ynto Engelond for to chalange Ser Edmunde, þe Erle of Kent, of certeyn cours of warre on hors-bak. 1796 H. Macneill Links o' Forth xxxii, Or break the lance, and couch the spear At tilts and tournaments o' weir. |
II. attrib. and
Comb. 8. In simple attributive use, with the senses ‘of or belonging to war’, ‘used or occurring in war’, ‘suited or adapted for war’, etc.
a. gen. as
War Department,
war aim,
war base,
war camp,
war casualty,
war-code,
† war-feat,
war footing,
war hospital,
war-law,
war measure,
war neurosis (hence
war-neurotic),
war news,
war period,
† war point,
war production,
war profiteer,
war propaganda,
war-psychosis,
war ration,
war record,
war restriction,
war scare,
war-service,
war situation,
war strain,
war surplus (chiefly
attrib.),
war victim,
war-weariness,
war widow,
war-word,
war wound,
war years,
war zone, etc. (In this and the senses that follow the use of the hyphen follows no regular pattern.)
| 1918 A. Bennett Pretty Lady xxviii. 193 The Germans were discussing their *war aims. 1972 New Yorker 22 July 66/3 In the My Lai massacre the soldiers abandoned the unrealistic war aims of Dean Rusk and drew their illogical but understandable conclusion..all Vietnamese have to be killed. |
| 1947 Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 4/2 Its virtual disappearance yesterday..is probably the only answer to the fear of its use as a *war-base once more. 1977 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) 14 Apr. 5/3 Militarist forces clutch at the blocs and war bases they established in Asia. |
| 1832 A. Earle Narr. Residence N.Z. (1966) 176 Mr. Hobbs, the Wesleyan missionary,..had visited the *war-camp of the assembled chiefs. 1969 G. Macbeth War Quartet 25 In our minds A dream of war-camps festered. |
| 1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah ii. 88 It was the *war casualty lists and the starvation afterwards that finished me up with politics and the Church and everything else except you. 1974 A. Price Other Paths to Glory ii. ix. 225 The late Turco... Another war casualty? |
| 1853 Grote Greece ii. lxxxvi. XI. 286 To inquire whether Thebes had exceeded the measure of rigour warranted by the *war-code of the time. |
| 1797 Rep. Committees Ho. of Comm. XII. 301 The Office of Secretary of State for the *War Department was first established on the 11th July 1794. 1819 D. B. Warden Acc. U.S. III. 395 Chapter xliv. Of the War Department. Ibid. 405 The original proceedings of all courts-martial, ordered by the war department, are transmitted to that department by the judge advocate of the court. 1866 G. B. McLellan Let. 26 Dec. in McLellan's Own Story (1887) xii. 221 The entire establishment..was removed to the War Department building, without my knowledge. 1944 Time 2 Oct. 19/1 This was strictly a military document drafted by the War Department. |
| 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. xxxviii. (1674) 190 They had very exactly considered his *War-Enterprises. |
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 97 Thee coompanye youthful Surcease from *warfeats. |
| 1847 Thackeray Van. Fair (1848) xxviii. 242 The armies of the allied powers were all providentially on a *war-footing, and ready. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It ii. 22 We were reduced to a war-footing. 1894 Times (weekly ed.) 9 Feb. 118/3 The army has been placed on a war footing. |
| 1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing iii. 23, I by no means refer only to..*war hospitals, but..to..military hospitals at home, in time of peace. 1982 P. Quennell Customs & Characters ii. 33 The French Ambassadress..had promised she would visit a nearby war-hospital. |
| 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) II. iv. i. 197 Towards them [sc. Christian priests] the [Mohammedan] *war-law speaks in a sterner tone. |
| 1808 W. Eaton in R. C. Prentiss Life W. Eaton (1813) 414 The Embargo was contemplated as a *war measure. 1948 Rep. Native Laws Comm. 1946–48 (Dept. Native Affairs, S. Afr.) 32/1 A War Measure has been promulgated as a temporary attempt to relieve the situation. 1975 Toronto Star 1 Nov. b4/4 Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act and plunged Canada into a time of arrest without warrant and detention without charge. |
| 1920 Internat. Jrnl. Psycho-Anal. I. 283 Freud's introduction gives some of the chief points of view for the psycho-analytical consideration of the *war neuroses. 1944 Yank 31 Mar. 8 For this reason there is actually no such thing as ‘war neurosis’, any more than there is ‘war malaria’ or ‘war pneumonia’. |
| 1955 J. Strachey tr. Freud's Psycho-Anal. & War Neuroses in Compl. Wks. XVII. 215 With the end of the war the *war neurotics, too, disappeared—a final but impressive proof of the psychical causation of their illness. |
| 1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago II. v. 200, I cannot sit here quietly, listening to the *war-news. It makes me mad to be up and doing. 1915 F. H. Burnett Lost Prince xiii. 96 [They] sat down to read the morning paper. The war news was bad to read. 1967 C. Potok Chosen iii. 59 There was war news all the time, but no one got this excited unless something very special was happening. |
| 1918 H. Crane Let. 12 Aug. (1965) 11 All minors,..if drafted at all, will be apprenticed in machine shops, etc., during the *war period. 1939 Ann. Reg. 1938 260 The declared policy of Senor Negrin to look beyond the war-period to a Spain in which one day the Spaniards on both sides would have to live together. |
| a 1586 Sidney Ps. xviii. ix, He me *warre points did show. |
| 1965 A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–45 xiv. 517 Bomber command claimed the largest share of Great Britain's *war-production. |
| 1918, 1975 *War-profiteer [see profiteer n.]. |
| 1918 W. Owen Let. 25 Oct. (1967) 588 He had no qualifications for *War Propaganda. 1974 Guardian 31 Jan. 1/5 War propaganda on both sides was, of course, bad and distorted. |
| 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 103 Symptoms of that *war-psychosis, which afflicted us in common with the other belligerent nations. 1953 H. S. Whitman tr. Janetschek's Emperor Franz Joseph 302 Don't worry so much, and you will soon be free of your war-psychosis. |
| 1766 Mansfield's Sp. agst. Suspending & Dispensing Prerog. in Parl. Hist. (1813) XVI. 261 As that would have been using the war power of embargoes indirectly for another end than a *war purpose, such an evasion of the law was not judged wise or fit. |
| 1924 D. H. Lawrence in M. Magnus Mem. Foreign Legion 16 He yelled for more bread—bread being *war-rations and very limited in supply. |
| 1890 E. Custer Following Guidon 2 They longed individually and as a regiment for a *war ‘record’. 1978 F. Maclean Take Nine Spies iv. 126 The men were impressed by his war record. |
| 1922 W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xxvi. 292 England..awoke to find *war restrictions removed,..and petrol to be had. 1938 J. Charlesworth Law of Negligence vii. 133 Where a refuge was erected in the middle of the street, and inadequately lighted, so that a taxi-cab collided with it in the dark because..owing to war restrictions, no lights were maintained,..the local authority were held liable. |
| 1894 W. Le Queux Gt. War in Eng. in 1897 i. 15 *War-scares had been plentiful. 1977 Listener 10 Feb. 177/2 The war scare in 1938. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny viii. xlii. I. 222 The Scythians chuse rather to use their mares in *warre-service than their stone-horses. 1916 J. Bailey Let. 8 Oct. (1935) 168 It was a great joy to see you both and King's Weston again, and to admire your wonderful ‘war service’ and feel that all the beauties of the house and place are being put to such splendid use [as a War Hospital]. 1979 A. Price Tomorrow's Ghost iv. 47 They both looked old enough to have seen war service. |
| 1614 R. Tailor Hog hath lost Pearl ii. D 3, With what pleasing passions he did suffer Loues gentle *war-siege. |
| 1936 C. Day Lewis We're not going to do Nothing 29 In an actual *war-situation the trade unions are in the key⁓position. |
| 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 380 Each gets a small bag of parched corn-flour, for his *war-stores. |
| 1914 T. A. Baggs Back from Front xx. 94 It is there that human nature, exuberant or impassive under the *war-strain, reveals its own true colours once again. |
| 1952 H. Innes Campbell's Kingdom i. v. 110 They wore *war surplus clothing relieved by bright scarves. 1968 P. Geddes High Game viii. 97 When the big round of war surplus prosecutions started, none of the dirt ever stuck to him. 1982 D. Williams Copper, Gold & Treasure 16 I'll let you know if he asks me to buy him any war surplus. |
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 303 But now I am return'd, and that *warre-thoughts Haue left their places vacant: in their roomes Come thronging soft and delicate desires. |
| 1969 Guardian 28 Aug. 11/5 The starving *war victims. |
| 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings p. xviii, What, then, would be the effect on German *war-weariness if giant raids on fortified towns by a hundred or so allied machines were of weekly occurrence? 1976 Classical Q. XXVI. 294 Sinon begins the first section of his lying speech with a reference to the death of Palamedes.., the second by describing the war-weariness of the Greeks. |
| 1866 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Indian Affairs (U.S.) 164 These last came from Laramie during the winter, and claim to be *war-widows. 1922 F. H. Burnett Robin v. 44 Slim young war-widows were to be seen in black dresses and veiled small hats with bits of white crape inside their brims. 1978 R. Barnard Unruly Son xvii. 186 We moved to London, where she passed as a war widow. |
| 1932 E. Weekley Words & Names 21 We have the *war-word Minnie for the German minenwerfer. |
| 1938 E. Ambler Cause for Alarm iii. 47 The limp? Probably a *war wound. 1981 C. Miller Childhood in Scotland 68 He was in continual pain from his war-wound. |
| 1920 W. J. Locke House of Baltazar i. 9 The strain of the *war years began to tell. 1977 D. Bennett Jigsaw Man xiii. 231 They had hidden the microfilm in the same cache they had used during the war years for passing messages. |
| 1914 Wells Fargo Messenger Oct. 27/1 A late report from the *war zone states that Mr. Gaston has returned to London. 1918 Nation (N.Y.) 7 Feb. p. xii/1 The Government..compel all ships plying to ports in the war zone to insure their men. 1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 6/5 The danger of ‘rupture’ has been vastly reduced by Congress's prohibition of American ships from entering the war zone. 1971 D. E. Westlake I gave at Office 142 The bar..had temporary plywood over its glassless windows, making it look like a correspondents' hangout in a war zone. |
b. With words that denote arms, accoutrement, implements, etc.; as
war-axe,
war-belt,
war-bow,
war-club,
war-dress,
war material,
war saddle,
war souvenir,
† war weeds;
war-balloon,
war-beacon,
war-cart,
war-chariot,
war-pony,
war-tower;
war-boat,
war-canoe,
war-steamer.
| 1825 Scott Talism. ii, Take my *war-axe, and dash the stone into twenty shivers. |
| 1843 Practical Mechanic 16 Dec. 114/1 (heading) *War balloon. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 8 Feb. 5/1 An ordinary war-balloon..may either contain an officer in charge or be dispatched unattended. |
| 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ii. 277 Such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the *war-beacons of old. |
| 1754 P. Wraxall Abridgement Indian Affairs (1915) 242 He calls upon them now to..join us in our Defence & Revenge & presents the Large *War Belt to them. 1798 Landor Gebir vii. 28 Whirling headlong in his war-belts fold. 1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness 17 Captain James Clarke,..when about to be murdered by a council of Indians.., threw the war-belt in the midst of the savages, with a defying shout. 1965 Canad. Historical Rev. June 109 In December [1775] the Iroquois delegation told Philip Schuyler that Johnson after offering them a war belt and hatchet had invited them to ‘feast on a Bostonian and drink his blood’. |
| 1836 Marryat Olla Podr. xxv, The Burmah *war-boats are very splendid craft, pulling from eighty to one hundred oars. |
| 1934 Webster, *War bow. 1958 ‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs iv. 48 Nothing so guaranteed a safe passage through Apacheland as a coach that would not tip or leave the road when the warbows were bending and the Springfields blasting back at them. |
| 1789 Loiterer 18 July 5 A large *War Canoe and some small fishing Proas had been forced out to Sea. 1882 H. De Windt Equator 77 We now came in sight of a fleet of some 100 huge war-canoes. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. vii. 144 Ane vther sort full byssely to Mart The rynnand quhelis forgeis, and *weir cart. |
| 1911 Fletcher & Kipling School Hist. England i. 15 They [sc. the Celts] rode on war-ponies, and, like the Assyrians in the Bible, they drove war-chariots. |
| 1778 J. Carver Trav. N. Amer. 269 He gives a violent blow with his *war-club against a post that is fixed in the ground. 1907 J. W. Schultz My Life as Indian xvii. 198 The fleeing men..were overtaken and shot, or brained with war clubs. 1943 R. Peattie Great Smokies & Blue Ridge 24 The Cherokee weapons were the ballheaded war club, spears and bows and arrows. 1984 Listener 4 Oct. 13/3 They were attacked by Kukukuku..with stone war-clubs. |
| 1695 J. E. Edwards Perfect. Script. 214 Great commanders..fought in open chariots or *war-coaches. |
| 1724 H. Jones Present State Virginia 5 The Seneca Indians in their *War Dress may appear as terrible as any of the Sons of Anak. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 16 A command for Eagle to put on his war-dress. |
| 1826 J. Howell (title) An Essay on the *War-galleys of the Ancients. |
| 1807 P. Gass Jrnl. 215 The *war-mallet is a club with a large head of wood or stone. |
| 1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence iv. 67 The progress of The Final Wars was marked by a whole series of inventions in *war material. 1939 Ann. Reg. 1938 265 Meanwhile war material from Germany and Italy continued to pour in. |
| 1865 J. Pike Scout & Ranger xi. 123 Many had friends..who came after them with wagons; refusing to let them ride their *war ponies. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 128 Prancing their knees under their tiny skirts Like war-horses; or war-ponies at least! |
| 1838 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 328/1 Improvements in *War Rockets. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 345/2 The Great Saddle or *War Saddle, which is accounted the chief of Saddles. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose ii, His rider occupied his demipique, or war-saddle, with an air that shewed it was his familiar seat. |
| 1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xliv. 180 An old *war-souvenir pistol. |
| 1852 Longfellow Warden of Cinque Ports iii, To see the French *war-steamers speeding over. |
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 158 Or was the smith idle, hammering only *wartools? |
| 1909 G. M. Trevelyan Garibaldi & the Thousand xii. 213 A high hill, on the spur of which Talamone and its old *war-tower projected into the sea. |
| c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 198 *Were wedis. |
c. With words that denote a commander, officer, army, etc., as
war-captain,
war-chief,
war-leader;
war-array,
war-company,
war-force,
war-tribe.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 77 The Generall of all the warre-forces throughout Britaine. 1757 [Burke] Europ. Settlem. Amer. I. ii. iv. 182 When..the fury of the nation is raised to the greatest height,..the war captain prepares the feast, which consists of dogs flesh. 1800 Coleridge Piccolomini i. iii. 18 We had not seen the War-Chief, the Commander. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xii, The rest of Scotland's war-array With Edward Bruce to westward lay. 1825 P. S. Ogden Jrnl. 18 Feb. (1950) 23 The War tribes appear determined that we Shall not want for their Company this year it cannot be otherwise as we are following the main War track. 1906 C. Squire Mythol. Anc. Brit. v. 48 The traditions which make him [Arthur] a supreme war-leader of the Britons. 1909 ‘Mark Twain’ Is Shakes. Dead? v. 53 It could have gone soldiering with a war-tribe..and learned soldier-wiles and soldier-ways. 1913 J. A. Cramb Germany & England i. (1914) 35, I seem to hear again the thunder of the footsteps of a great host... It is the war-bands of Alaric! |
d. With words denoting cries, songs, musical instruments, etc., as
war-chant,
war-cheer,
war-horn,
war-march,
war-music,
war-pipe,
war-shout,
war-tramp,
war-trumpet,
war-whistle,
war-yell.
| 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 388 Taking from him his drum, war-whistle, and martial titles. 1793 Blake America 76 Sound! sound! my loud war-trumpets. 1808 Scott Marm. v. v, And varying notes the war-pipes bray'd, To every varying clan. 1809 Campbell Gert. Wyom. iii. xxvi, And for the business of destruction done Its requiem the war-horn seemed to blow. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. ix, What marvel, then, At times, unbidden notes should rise, Confusedly bound in memory's ties, Entangling, as they rush along, The war-march with the funeral song? 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son II. 43 Thus I stopped his triumphant war-yells. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. ii, The first blast of the war-trump will scatter their greenness to the winds. 1847 Tennyson Princess v. 256 When first I heard War-music. 1866 Lytton Lost Tales Miletus, Secret Way 41 The huge walls Shook with the war-shout of ten thousand voices. 1892 Rider Haggard Nada xxvii. 228 As they went they sang the Ingomo, the war-chant of the Zulu. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 191 Frederick the Great of Prussia's war-cheer, ‘Move, you bastards, do you want to live forever?’ |
e. With words that refer to finance, as
war bond,
war debt,
war expenditure,
war-fund,
war gratuity,
war-insurance,
war-loan,
war-price,
war relief,
war savings,
war-tax.
| 1918 Daily Mirror 12 Nov. 6/4 It bore a poem, titled ‘A Message from Mars’, eulogising the airmen and urging them to buy *War Bonds. 1981 B. Langley Autumn Tiger v. 67 A gigantic billboard..urged him to ‘Buy War Bonds’. |
| 1865 Nation (N.Y.) I. 386 The Reconstructing State Convention of Alabama has pronounced against the repudiation of the *war debt of the state. 1924 Lit. Digest 9 Feb. 20/2 The whole subject of war debts should undergo a new process of accountancy. 1931 Keesing's Archives 76/2 The oppressive problem of war-debts and reparations. 1983 T. Pocock 1945 vii. 241 The British owed their dominions, colonies, and the rest, a war debt of {pstlg}4,000,000,000. |
| 1853 Grote Greece ii. lxxxviii. XI. 495 It is true that the Athenians might have laid up that surplus annually in the acropolis, to form an accumulating *war-fund. |
| 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 80 All those returning to civil life would receive *war gratuities as a reward for their service. 1978 D. Dunlop in D. Abse My Medical School 31 Besides ordinary freshmen like myself staight from school, many came up on their war gratuities. |
| 1898 Amer. Rev. of Reviews Sept. 322/2 Newspapers were required to bear the..expense of fire, marine, accident, and *war insurance. |
| 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. II. iii. xxiii. 185 The only instance of the kind in recent history on a scale comparable to that of the *war loans, is the absorption of capital in the construction of railways. 1974 Daily Tel. 24 June 17/1 ‘War Loan is a buy when the price equals the yield’ was the joke on everyone's lips in Throgmorton Street a couple of years ago. Today it is no longer a joke—almost a reality. On Friday 3½ p.c. War Loan dropped to an all time low of {pstlg}23½. |
| 1824 Cobbett's Weekly Reg. 7 Feb. 354/2 Corn has not reached half the *war-price yet. 1854 Tait's Mag. I. 599/1 Gentlemen farmers formed another exception during the era of war⁓prices and yeomanry cavalry. |
| 1940 G. Marx Let. 5 Sept. (1967) 25 The proceeds are given to British *War Relief and the actors all donate their services. |
| 1815 in Orders of Council Naval Service (1866) I. 16 To direct that the salaries established as *war salaries, by the said Order in Council,..should be the permanent salaries, both in war and peace of the several persons. |
| 1919 Maclean's Mag. Jan. 55/3 Every man, woman and child in Canada should invest in *War-Savings Stamps all the money that he or she can save. |
| 1799 Times 1 June 2/3 The Directory have converted his accusation into a *War Tax of three per cent. upon all capital. 1817 Coleridge Lay Serm. ‘Blessed are ye’ 32 The Revenue was diminished by the abandonment of the war-taxes. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 107 War-taxes depress the poor and keep them at work. |
| 1901 Daily Tel. 9 Mar. 10/4 He had to ask for a *war vote amounting to close upon eighty-eight millions sterling. |
f. With words that denote works of art, etc., of which the subject is war, as
war-ballad,
war book,
war history,
war-impression,
war novel,
war play,
war poem (also
war poetry),
war sonnet,
war story,
war verse;
war film,
war movie,
war photograph (also
war photography); also their authors, as
war novelist,
war photographer,
war poet.
Cf. also
war artist,
picture in sense 11 below.
| 1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Verdant Green ii. 9 What internal evidence does the Odyssey afford, that Homer sold his Trojan *war-ballad at three yards an obolus? 1916 W. Owen Let. 23 Nov. (1967) 416, I have suddenly seen what I wanted to do with that War Ballad. |
| 1809 M. L. Weems Life Gen. Francis Marion (1814) 3, I never dreampt of such a thing as writing a book; and least of all a *war book. 1904 J. London Let. 4 June (1966) 159 There won't be any war-book so far as I am concerned. 1978 A. Waugh Best Wine Last xviii. 235 Starting with Journey's End..there had been a spate of war books. |
| 1897 C. M. Hepworth Animated Photogr. p. vii (Advt.), *War films. 1930 P. Rotha Film till Now i. v. 124 Like all war films manufactured in Hollywood, The Big Parade carried little of the real spirit of war. 1972 J. Mann Mrs Knox's Profession ii. 14 She looked like an amateur vamp in a war film. |
| 1929 E. Linklater Poet's Pub ii. 31 He had been offered a knighthood for his official *War History of the submarines. 1966 ‘G. Black’ You want to die, Johnny? xi. 198 Split-second timing..isn't achieved as often as the writers of popular war histories tend to suggest. |
| 1917 W. Owen Let. 11 Mar. (1967) 442 Do you think, now, that I am going to read the *war-impressions of home-editors? |
| 1914 N.Y. Times 14 Jan. 9/6 Real *war ‘movies’ shown... Moving pictures of real warfare were exhibited in the Seventy-first Regiment Armory last night. 1981 J. van de Wetering Mind-Murders i. iv. 43 An old war movie that ended well when the bad enemies surrendered. |
| 1923 W. J. Locke Moordius & Co. viii. 99 He had not read the marvellous *war novel to which he alluded. 1975 D. Lodge Changing Places v. 178 Stephen Crane wrote his great war-novel first and experienced war afterwards. |
| 1966 J. Frederics Ready to Die (1968) iv. 20 He made *war novelist sound like something not discussed in polite company. |
| 1977 M. Herr Dispatches (1978) ii. 18, I can remember..when I was a kid looking at *war photographs in Life. |
| 1978 R. Gibson Catal. 20th. Cent. Portraits (Nat. Portrait Gallery) 36/1 Lee Miller (1907–77), well known as a *war photographer. |
| 1908 J. Danziger Beaton 46/2 The naïve approach of his *war photography. |
| 1896 Godey's Mag. Feb. 182/1 The instrument..imitates horses' hoofs with..untiring fidelity in all *war-plays. 1915 Sphere 26 June 322/2 The production of a war play is a perilous business at the present time. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra i. iv. 41 Brigade Exchange, a war play..created by the pre-Nazi German radio. |
| 1857 J. A. Symonds Let. May (1967) I. 105 He chiefly talked about..[Tennyson's] Maud which he considers a true *war poem & praises highly. 1917 W. Owen Let. 25 Sept. (1967) 496, I send you my two best war Poems. 1978 Listener 23 Mar. 378/3 There was a fine slim anthology of war poems read [aloud]. |
| 1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vi. 177 The true *war poets..have been warriors themselves. Körner and Alcæus fought as well as sang. 1931 E. Blunden in W. Owen Poems 39 He [sc. Owen] was, apart from Mr. Sassoon, the greatest of the English *war poets. But the term ‘war poets’ is rather convenient than accurate. 1962 Listener 8 Feb. 259/3 By ‘war poet’ we now automatically assume anti-war poet. This was no tacit assumption in 1916. |
| 1865 Atlantic Monthly May 589/1 We have no such *war-poetry. 1917 W. Owen Let. 27 Nov. (1967) 513, I knew he valued War Poetry before he told me so! 1973 D. Aaron Unwritten War iv. x. 152 Their best war poetry tended to be philosophical and personal. |
| 1915 W. S. Churchill in Times 26 Apr. 5/5 The very few incomparable *war sonnets which he [sc . Rupert Brooke] has left behind. |
| 1864 M. B. Chesnut Diary 1 Jan. in C. V. Woodward M. Chesnut's Civil War (1981) 524, I mapped out a story of the war. Johnny is the hero... It is to be a *war story. 1982 G. Lyall Conduct of Major Maxim xv. 145 They weren't interested in her war story, they'd heard a million war stories. |
| 1918 G. Frankau Judgement of Valhalla 41 The other Side Being a letter from Major Average..acknowledging a presentation copy of a book of *war-verse. 1952 E. Wilson Shores of Light 780, I refrained from mentioning her war-verse. |
9. Objective, etc., as
war-breeder,
war-chronicler,
war-jobber,
war-maker,
war-winner,
war-writer;
† war-keeping,
war-making,
war preparation,
† war-thirst,
war-winning (also
ppl. adj.);
war-bearing,
war-breathing,
war-denouncing,
war-loving,
† war-parting,
war-stirring ppl. adjs.;
war-hungry adj.| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 123 Defence of the kingis persoun..is fer mare privilegit na is ony..were making till his awin legis. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 160 Capitaines..apte and meete..for warrekepyng. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iii. Furies 806 But if (brave Lands-men) your war-thirst be such. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres 5 This is my opinion of the diuersitie of warre-writers. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God vii. xv. Vives 274 Mars is violent, a war-breeder. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xxi. (1614) 41/1 The Cattieuchlani, a stout and warre-stirring people. 1747 Collins Passions 43 The war-denouncing trumpet. 1791 Blake Fr. Revol. 253 Then the King will disband This war-breathing army. 1833 Niles' Reg. XLIV. 148/1 Very few persons questioned the right of congress to lay an embargo, under the war-making power. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxi, The war-chroniclers who write brilliant stories of fight and triumph. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. Part. III. 53 The war-jobbers have plainly won. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 2/2 Raids by war-loving hill tribes on our Indian frontiers. 1931 W. S. Churchill World Crisis VI. vi. 97 Neglect in the war-preparations. 1934 V. M. Yeates Winged Victory i. xx. 159 Tom was afraid Miller might be feeling his responsibility and want to do an undue amount of war-winning. 1936 Dylan Thomas Twenty-Five Poems 10 Dumbly and divinely stumbling Over the warbearing line. 1947 Crowther & Whiddington Science at War i. 49 Manufacturers found it very difficult to give up mass production, in order to make the 200 or so sets ‘off’, which were often the war-winners. 1956 Nature 11 Feb. 251/1 This was largely due to the efforts of..Sir Henry Tizard, whose foresight resulted in such war-winning devices as radar. 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lx. 456 The Western caricature of the mad-dog war-hungry Chinese. 1974 P. Gore-Booth With Great Truth & Respect 123 Their object was to go hell-bent for victory with all the stupendous war-winning momentum which the United States developed. 1978 Ld. Drogheda Double Harness xix. 230 He was indeed one of the real war-winners, having done more than anyone to lighten Churchill's load. 1982 Warner & Sandilands Women beyond Wire v. 69 The Japanese..could be lethal..their business in the islands was that of professional war-making. |
10. Instrumental and locative, as
war-battered,
war-bitten,
war-bleached,
war-blinded,
war-bright,
war-broken,
war-brutalized,
war-devastated,
war-famed,
war-made,
war-marked,
war-mazed,
war-orphaned,
war-ravaged,
war-scarred,
war-shaken,
war-shattered,
war-torn,
war-tossed,
war-triumphant,
war-wasted,
war-wearied,
war-wounded (
freq. absol.),
war-wracked adjs. Also with sense ‘for war’, as
war-apparelled,
war-dight,
war-laden adjs.| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 18 Whiles the honourable Captaine there Drops bloody swet from his warre-wearied limbes. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iii. vii. 45 Your Armie, which doth most consist Of Warre-markt-footmen. 1624 Davenport City Night-cap iii. (1661) 26 The hoofs Of war-apparell'd horses. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, ccxlii, Warr⁓famed Douglas. Ibid., Hen. V, xcix, Our Warre-tost Realme. 1652 J. Taylor (Water P.) Short Rel. Journ. Wales (1859) 12 An old ruined winde and war-shaken castle. 1660 Speech to Gen. Monk 1/1 Her War-made breaches now are cur'd again. 1725 Pope Odyss. iii. 486 Pallas herself, the War-triumphant Maid. 1777 Potter æschylus, Sev. agst. Thebes 150 Nor the war-wasted town betray. 1804 Campbell Soldier's Dream 22 Fain was their war-broken soldier to stay. 1821 J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace xcv, From war-dight youth, to barefoot child. 1827 G. Darley Sylvia 149 The wild, war-blasted marches. 1857 J. G. Whittier in National Era 11 June 94/5 When each war-scarred Continental,..Waved his rusted sword in welcome. 1900 W. B. Yeats Shadowy Waters 33 War-laden galleys, and armies on white roads. 1902 J. H. Rose Napoleon I (ed. 2) II. xxv. 101 Duroc, a short, stern, war-hardened man. 1909 M. B. Saunders Litany Lane iv. 43 Women of prayer who had raised just as many waxen palms to altars, in nunnery and in palace, for many a war-wracked generation. 1915 A. Reade Poems of Love & War 52 Joan, the Mystic Maiden, rides Through the war-swept countrysides. 1931 W. S. Churchill World Crisis VI. xxi. 323 A hundred and twenty-five thousand ragged, war-bitten men. 1937 Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 15/3 (heading) War-shattered shrine restored. 1938 Times 24 Aug. 12/1 The removal of import duties on mining, agricultural, and other machinery, ostensibly designed to facilitate the rehabilitation of war-devastated areas. 1938 W. B. Yeats Herne's Egg ii. 12 A weather-stained, war-battered Old campaigner such as I. 1939 C. Day Lewis Child of Misfortune 144 For one of our war-brutalized soldiery, you have considerable perception. 1939 L. Jacobs Rise of Amer. Film v. xix. 386 Griffith revealed his superficial understanding of the war by remarking his sets for Intolerance had been more impressive than anything he saw in war-torn France and Belgium. 1940 C. Day Lewis Poems in Wartime 10 Along this war-mazed valley. 1941 L. B. Lyon Tomorrow is a Revealing 28 Eyes, and the ploughshare, baulk at the recovery Of skeletons war-bleached a grave ago. 1942 W. S. Churchill End of Beginning (1943) 220 We recreated and revivified our war-battered Army. 1950 War-wounded [see team v. 1 b]. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 46 A wealthy American expatriate..who was supporting near Paris an asylum for war-orphaned children. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 99 It is made by Garden Machinery, Ltd., of Slough. Director of the firm,..extreme right, is a war-blinded South African. 1968 Guardian 23 Feb. 10/6 Few, other than surgical cases (including occasional war-wounded) were brought to the hospital. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 108 Regret those jousting aristocracies, War-bright. 1975 ‘E. Lathen’ By Hook or by Crook xxiii. 209 It was imperative to get the children out of their war-torn background. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 1-a/3 The driver took ‘the route normally taken’ by anyone wishing to cross from the Christian to the Moslem sides of war-wracked Beirut. 1978 Poland May 48/3, In the Fifties, twice as many children were born in Poland than was thought appropriate to the poverty of the war-ravaged country. 1980 J. Lees-Milne Harold Nicolson vii. 114 Harold Nicolson..considered the choice of war-scarred Paris for the site of a peace-seeking meeting a psychological mistake. |
11. Special comb.:
War Ag.,
colloq. abbrev. of ‘War Agricultural Committee’;
war-arrow (
= ON. her-ǫr), an arrow split into segments which are sent out by a chief as a call to arms;
war artist, an artist employed to provide paintings or drawings of a war;
war baby, (
a) one born during a war,
esp. an (illegitimate) child of a man on active service; (
b)
slang, a young or inexperienced officer; (
c)
U.S. slang, a bond or the like which is sold during a war, or which increases in value because of a war;
war bag U.S.,
† (
a)
= war budget (
a); (
b) a bag containing money, clothing, or other supplies;
war-bird U.S., (
a)
= war-eagle; (
b)
fig., a fighting aircraft or airman;
war bonnet, a head-dress decorated with eagle feathers, worn by American Indians;
War Box slang, the War Office;
war-boy, in Africa, a Black fighting man or soldier;
war bride, a woman who marries a man who is on active service or a man (
esp. a foreigner) whom she met while he was on active service;
war bridle Canad., a harsh bridle made by placing a loop of rope round the lower jaw of a horse;
war budget, (
a)
U.S., a packet carried by American Indians, containing amulets and military trophies; (
b) a budget to raise funds for a war;
War Cabinet, a Cabinet with responsibility for the political decisions of a country during a war;
war cemetery, a cemetery composed of war graves;
war chest, (a chest or strong box for) funds used in waging war;
freq. used
fig.,
esp. of funds used by a political party to finance an election campaign;
war-cloud, a cloud of dust and smoke rising from a battle-field (
cf. πολέµοιο νέϕος
Iliad xvii. 243);
fig. something that threatens war;
war college chiefly
U.S., a college providing advanced instruction for senior officers of the armed services;
war communism, an economic policy, based on strict centralized control of the economy, adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917–21);
war-correspondent, a journalist engaged by a newspaper to send home first-hand descriptions of the fighting;
war crime, an offence against the rules of war, formerly excluding, but since the 1939–45 war including, any such act performed on the orders of a higher authority;
war criminal, one who has committed a war crime;
war damage, damage caused by action taken by or against an enemy during a war; hence
war-damaged a.;
war dead pl., servicemen who have died on active service;
war diary, (
a) a diary recording the experiences of an individual during a war; (
b) (see
quot. 1918);
war dream, a dream about war;
war-eagle, the golden eagle, so called because the N. American Indians decorate themselves with its feathers;
war economy, (
a) a measure taken in order to save money or other resources because of a war; (
b) an economy, characteristic of wartime, in which a large part of the labour force is engaged in arms production, etc., rather than in the production of goods for export or for civilian use;
war effort, the effort of a nation to win a war, or of an individual group to contribute to that end;
war-fain a. pseudo-arch., eager to fight;
war fever, an enthusiasm for war;
war-fighting, the fighting of wars; also
attrib.;
warfront, the foremost part of the field of operations of opposing armies;
war-game = kriegspiel; also
attrib. and
fig.; also used of any game simulating war,
esp. an elaborate game played with model soldiers, or of any exercise by which a military strategy is examined or tested;
war-game v. trans., to examine or test (a strategy or the like);
war-gamer, one who plays a war-game;
war-gaming, the playing of war-games; the use of such games to examine or test strategies;
war gas, a gas or other chemical agent used in war to produce irritant or poisonous effects;
war generation a generation which has experienced a war;
war grave, the grave of a serviceman who died from wounds inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted on active service;
war-guilt, the responsibility for having caused a war;
freq. with reference to the claim that Germany had caused the war of 1914–18, which was embodied in an article of the Treaty of Versailles (1919);
† war-hable a. [
hable = able a.;
cf. habile a.], fit for war, of military age;
war-hatchet, a hatchet used by the N. American Indians to symbolize the declaration or cessation of hostilities (see
quots. and
cf. hatchet n. 2);
war-hawk U.S., one who is eager for the fray, a ‘brave’;
warhead (of a torpedo: see
quot. 1898); also, that of any missile,
esp. one deriving its destructive power from the release of nuclear energy;
† war-headling, a military chieftain or commander;
war hero, a man who has acted heroically in a war; also
war heroine;
war-hound fig. (
cf. war-dog);
War House slang, the War Office;
war hysteria, unhealthy emotion or excitement caused by war; an enthusiasm for war;
war machine, (
a) an instrument or weapon of war; (
b)
transf., the military resources of a country organized for waging war;
war marriage, a marriage taking place in wartime,
esp. one in which the bridegroom is on active service;
war medicine N. Amer., (a form of) magic formerly used by North American Indians to ensure success in war; also
fig.;
war memorial, a monument, etc., commemorating those (
esp. from a particular locality) killed in a war, and
freq. inscribed with their names;
war-mind, a mind attuned to or desirous of war; hence
war-minded a., having such a mind;
war-mindedness;
war-minister, the person who directs the war-affairs of a state; the Secretary of State for War;
war museum, a museum of the history of warfare in general, or of warfare during a particular period;
war orphan, a child orphaned by war;
war pension, a pension paid to someone disabled or widowed by war;
war picture, (
a) a painting of which the theme is war; (
b) a photograph of a scene from the theatre of war; also, a documentary film of action from a war, and
transf. a written account of this; (
c) a cinematographic film with war as its subject or background (the usual sense);
cf. war film,
movie (sense 8 f above);
warplane, an aeroplane equipped for fighting, bombing, etc., in war-time;
war-post, a post into which N. American Indians strike the war-hatchet;
war refugee, one who seeks refuge in another country, etc., from the effects of war; a displaced person;
war reporter = war-correspondent; hence
war-reporting;
war resistance, opposition to war, pacifism; hence
war resister, an opponent of war or of a particular war;
war risk Insurance (chiefly
Marine), a risk of loss, etc., during war-time;
freq. in
pl. and attrib.;
war road N. Amer. = war-path a (
concr.);
war room, a room from which a war or part of a war is directed;
war-substantive a. [
substantive a. 1 e], confirmed (in a rank) for the duration of a war;
war-talk, (
a) a formal discussion among N. American Indian chiefs about war; also
fig.; (
b) talk about war in general;
war toy, a toy with which a child can play war-games;
war-trail = war-path;
war trial, the trial of a person for a war crime or crimes;
cf. Nuremberg trial(
s)
s.v. Nuremberg 2;
war veteran orig. U.S. = veteran n. 1 b;
war-weary a., (
a) weary of war; (
b)
U.S.,
spec. applied to aircraft badly damaged in war-time, and which are withdrawn from service for repair, conversion, or scrapping; also
ellipt. as
n.;
war wedding = war marriage;
war-woman (see
quot.);
war work, special work occasioned by war, and which is intended to advance the war effort;
war-worker, a person undertaking war work; also
transf.;
war-worthy a., suitable for or befitting war; so
war-worthiness. Also
war-cry,
war-dance,
war-dog,
war-drum,
war-god,
war-horse,
war-kettle,
war-lock v.
2,
war-lord,
war-man,
war-note,
War Office, etc.
| 1949 E. Coxhead Wind in West vi. 152 The farmer I stay with there is a member of the *War Ag. 1970 G. E. Evans Where Beards wag All ix. 106 When the War Ag. (Agricultural Committee) took over I asked 'em would they send the gyro-tiller. |
| 1866 Kingsley Herew. xx, Split up the *war-arrow, and send it round. |
| 1890 Kipling Light that Failed (1891) xii. 237 Some man unknown who would be employed as *war artist by the Central Southern Syndicate. 1981 S. Chitty Gwen John ix. 148 Augustus..was in France as a war artist. |
| 1901 E. W. B. Morrison With Guns in S.A. xxxiv. 239 (caption) Mrs. Jourdain's ‘*war baby’. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 35 Even these war babies (three of them died very gallantly before we re-assembled for breakfast next day) had bottled most of their exuberance. 1917 R. W. Lardner Gullible's Travels 83 ‘You forgot somethin',’ she says, ‘You forgot them war babies.’ Did I tell you about that? Last fall I done a little dabblin' in Crucial Steel. 1935 I. Miller School Tie xv. 286 It was possible to join a Junior Training Battalion—commonly known as the War Babies' Brigade—at the age of seventeen and a half. 1948 Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gaz. 13 July 4/2 The idle rich of Europe..clamored for war while they invested great amounts in American war babies and reaped superlative profits. 1974 G. Butler Coffin for Canary ix. 105 Born Belfast, 1944, so she was just a war baby. |
| 1820 Western Rev. II. 48 After the action is over, each person returns his *war bag to the commander of the party. 1897 A. H. Lewis Wolfville 33 S'pose you-alls gropes about in your war-bags an' sees. I'm needin' of a drink mighty bad. 1933 J. V. Allen Cowboy Lore i. 6 What's known as the ‘war bag’ is carried by many of the boys in their beds to protect their wardrobe, tobacco, etc., and may be anything from a flour sack to a rather pretentious container. 1972 F. van W. Mason Roads to Liberty 241 Higsby fumbled in his war bag. |
| 1836 C. P. Traill Backw. Canada 289 [An Indian squaw] adorned with the wings of the American *War-bird. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. ix. 184 Then began the greatest battle That the war-birds ever witnessed. 1917 G. Frankau City of Fear 3 Above, The war-birds beat And whistle. 1936 ‘R. Hyde’ Passport to Hell 206 German and British warbirds were mixing it in an aerial free-for-all. 1981 Pilot Jan. 23/2 Some of the war-birds flying today are quite bent, cracked, patched up. |
| 1845 J. C. Frémont Rep. Exploring Exped. 134 Indians..with the long red streamers of their *war bonnets reaching nearly to the ground. 1928 ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xxii. 356 Adjusting her widow's cap like a war-bonnet, she arose to her full height of five-feet-one-and-a-half. 1973 A. H. Whiteford N. Amer. Indian Arts 151 The flowing war bonnet of the Plains has become the symbol of the American Indian. |
| 1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke i. 12 The *War Box cited him ‘Missing believed killed’. 1969 M. Pugh Last Place Left xxix. 213, I flit between Downing Street and the War Box and the Ministry of Defence. |
| 1889 Daily News 23 Jan. 6/6 An encounter took place recently just outside the Sulymah district, between a small British force and a party of *war-boys. 1901 T. J. Alldridge Sherbro xxvii. 314 They began to be chased by war-boys in canoes. |
| 1918 A. Bennett Pretty Lady xi. 61 She was becoming hysterical: the special liability of the *war-bride. 1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 9/5 Silver tea and coffee sets are being bought..as gifts to the many war brides unable to set up homes. 1978 J. Krantz Scruples i. 10 She was as alert as a vixen, as humorous as the song by Maurice Chevalier after which her homesick war-bride mother had named her. |
| 1962 J. Onslow Bowler-hatted Cowboy xviii. 175 One summer day, they [sc. two horses] came home, gaunt, their heads bloody and scarred from ‘*war bridles’ with which someone had tried to halter-break them. |
| 1813 R. Stuart Jrnl. 14 Apr. in Discovery Oregon Trail (1935) x. 236 A Pole surpassing in height any put in the roof, is put out at the chimney where are suspended their Medicine Bags and *War Budgets carefully concealed in innumerable wrappers. 1887 J. C. Morison Serv. Man p. xv, The removal of all fear of war would be even a greater gain than the suppression of war-budgets. |
| 1916 Times 9 Dec. 9/2 It is an immense gain to have the Prime Minister definitely and irrevocably committed to the creation of a small *War Cabinet, constantly..devoted to the prosecution of the war. 1940 J. Reith Diary 5 Jan. (1975) v. 237, I asked if the job carried War Cabinet rank and he said no. 1980 P. Fitzgerald Human Voices ii. 38, I don't know who authorised him to speak. I understand it was the War Cabinet. |
| 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 953/1 It is possible that the conspicuous success with which Arlington Cemetery has been designed had a share in influencing the Imperial War Graves Commission in the construction of the British *war cemeteries on somewhat similar lines. 1982 ‘J. Gash’ Firefly Gadroon xv. 145 There's a turning through the woods where the American War Cemetery stands. |
| 1901 Corvo Ho. Borgia 34 The papal jewels were pawned, and their price added to the *war-chest. 1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xvi. 124 He had about forty pounds left, no great sum to start a war-chest with. 1932 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Aug. 1/6 (heading) War chests practically empty, parties curtail on campaign. 1973 R. L. Simon Big Fix iv. 34 All the guilt-stricken celebrities contributing to their war chest. |
| 1827 Mrs. Hemans Last Constantine lxxxv, *War⁓clouds have wrapt the city. 1908 C. W. Wallace Childr. Chapel, Blackfriars 172 Absence of reference in these two plays is negative proof that the personal war-cloud had passed, by 1602. |
| 1894 Abstract of Courses (Naval War. Coll.) 3 The summer course at the Naval *War College began on the 13th of June. 1913 R. Meinertzhagen Diary 1 Nov. (1960) 56 A joint war college for all branches of Government Services [in India] would be a God-send. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance i. 11 Talking in a calm War College vein. |
| 1928 M. Dobb Russian Econ. Devel. since Revolution iii. 64 ‘*War communism’, accordingly, sprang into life in the ‘forcing-house’ of a mortal struggle of the new régime—a struggle in which all things were subordinated to military necessity, and the problems of industry were simply regarded as..the problem of military supplies. 1965 B. Pearce tr. Preobrazhensky's New Economics 32 The economics of War Communism were those of a state economy of the war-consumption type, when we were not accumulating but were forced to spend our resources. |
| 1844 *War-correspondent [see correspondent n. 4 b]. 1870 A. Maverick Henry J. Raymond & N.Y. Press 256 The ‘war correspondents’ who had been sent out to the battle-fields to represent the newspapers of New York throve and grew famous. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed ii. 25 Dick was made free of the New and Honourable Fraternity of war-correspondents. |
| 1906 L. Oppenheim Internat. Law 264 Violations of rules regarding warfare are *war crimes only when committed without an order of the belligerent government concerned. If members of the armed forces commit violations by order of their government, they are not war criminals and may not be punished by the enemy; the latter can, however, resort to reprisals. 1945 Daily Express 16 May 1/1 The United Nations War Crimes Commission announced last night: Hermann Goering's name was placed..on the first list of persons charged with war crimes. 1980 Oxf. Compan. Law 1288/2 After World War II, three classes of offences against international law came to be regarded as war crimes, crimes against peace, as by planning or waging a war of aggression, conventional war crimes, or violations of the accepted laws or customs of warfare and crimes against humanity, including extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts. |
| 1906 *War criminal [see war crime]. 1929 W. S. Churchill World Crisis V. viii. 158 An article of the Peace Treaty obliged the Germans to stigmatize all their greatest men and potentates as War Criminals. 1943 Ann. Reg. 1942 190 The question of the trial of war criminals ruffled..the ever-growing friendliness between Britain and America. 1981 J. Wainwright Urge for Justice 121 An organisation devoted to tracking down war criminals. |
| 1939 Act 2 & 3 Geo. VI c. 72 §4 Where the land comprised in a lease is unfit by reason of *war damage, the following provisions..shall have effect. Ibid. §24 ‘War damage’ means damage caused by, or in repelling, enemy action, or by measures taken to avoid the spreading of the consequences of damage caused by, or in repelling, enemy action. 1950 E. Hyams From Waste Land 10 Sharp and hopeful landlords claimed war-damage compensation. 1975 J. Cleary Safe House iv. 177 The walls were spattered with bullet and shrapnel marks..all war damage. |
| 1946 Mind LV. 380 The Secretary reported appeals from *war-damaged libraries in Europe. 1978 Times 8 May 9/8 Volunteers..shivering in war-damaged, makeshift offices. |
| 1969 J. Burmeister Hot & Copper Sky i. 17 They're French *war dead. From the Indo-China campaign. |
| 1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet i. 4 To fill in my time, I first started..a sort of *War Diary. 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 657 War diary, a record of events kept in campaign by each battalion and higher organization, each ammunition, supply, engineer, and sanitary train. 1937 Kipling Something of Myself iii. 49 An accursed Muscovite paper..published the war diaries of Alikhanoff, a Russian General. 1955 E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen 142 Guy chalked the nightly wanderings of the Commandos on..his map and recorded them next day in the War Diary. 1981 J. Barnett Firing Squad ii. 105 The War Diary of Sergeant Michael Lugard. |
| 1918 W. Owen Let. 18 Feb. (1967) 534, I confess I bring on what few *war dreams I now have, entirely by willingly considering war of an evening. |
| 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. iv. 188 From his eyrie screamed..The Keneu, the great *war-eagle. |
| 1919 W. B. Yeats Cutting of Agate 16 The Print Room of the British Museum is now closed as a *war-economy. 1940 Economist 3 Feb. 189/1 The problem of war economy is to man and equip the Forces, to raise output for war and export needs to the utmost and to cut down civilian consumption. 1948 [see peace economy s.v. peace n. 17 d]. 1972 M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha 56 Like any girl caught up in a war economy. She had a pimp. |
| 1919 Maclean's Mag. Jan. 49 (heading) Britain's wonderful *war effort. 1934 W. S. Churchill Marlborough II. v. 101 Whigs and Tories alike wished the fleet to be used as a part of the main war-effort. 1954 N. Coward Future Indefinite iv. vii. 194 A job which..would be of real value to the war effort. 1977 A. Wilson Strange Ride Rudyard Kipling vii. 299 He would never have repeated the story lest it weakened our war effort. |
| 1876 Morris Sigurd iii. (1877) 217 Guttorm the young and the *war-fain. |
| 1812 J. Steele Papers (1924) II. 668 The late report of the Secty. of the Treasy. will cool the *war fever in some. 1908 H. G. Wells War in Air vi. 180 To the normal high-strung energy of New York streets was added a touch of war-fever. 1978 N. Gosling Paris 1900–1914 187 In 1912 the slowly developing war fever..began to show itself in sinister local symptoms. |
| 1965 H. Kahn On Escalation 284 Deterrence-only is the opposite of ‘*war-fighting’. 1983 Listener 10 Feb. 7/1 They are war-fighting weapons with a first-strike capability. |
| 1950 Sun (Baltimore) 29 June 1 General MacArthur left for the South Korean *warfront today. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 11 July 1-a/2 Lebanon's three major warfronts resounded to artillery, rocket and mortar fire. |
| 1828 A. B. Granville St. Petersburgh II. 75 The ‘*war-game’ table, on which the present Emperor, when Grand-duke, used to play. 1891 Tablet 17 Oct. 613 A struggle more serious than that of any mere clerical war-game. 1910 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli (1911) i. iii. 84 The spectacle of volunteer officers fighting the war game in Caxton Hall. 1951 D. Knight In Deep (1964) 92 The cadets..carrying out one of the prescribed war games under the direction of student squad leaders. 1966 Punch 6 July 26/2 Entertaining incidental scenes (the children's war games, the husband's home movies, haggling over the junk) keep interest always alive. 1967 Guardian 16 Oct. 8/5 The National Wargame Championships organised by the British Model Soldier Society. 1970 Time 5 Oct. 13 At one point Nixon told Kissinger: ‘Let's you and me war-game this,’ and they worked the plans over to see, as Nixon put it, ‘where the weak points might be.’ 1975 Times 2 June 13/1 Politicians of all parties cooped up in..Westminster have become so absorbed in their own war-games that they have lost touch with the wider world. 1981 Washington Post 8 Nov. l1/6 ‘Well,’ Wakko said, ‘I've got to go back to work. We're war-gaming an LNW in Monaco.’ |
| 1967 Guardian 16 Oct. 8/5 One thing only is causing the *wargamers concern. There are so many different societies in the field. 1982 M. Leapman Yankee Doodles IV. 208 War-gamers are not the only people undertaking such simulations. |
| 1954 McCloskey & Trefethen Operations Research for Management I. 15 They used the technique of *war-gaming to develop models of possible operations, then ‘tested’ various tactics and weapons. 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 30 Oct. 43/2 Today war-gaming has reached a point of sophistication where one almost needs a computer to play. 1980 J. McNeil Spy Game ix. 96 War gaming is like that, dashed unpredictable. |
| 1934 Webster, *War gas. 1939 L. W. Marrison tr. M. Sartori's War Gases p. viii, The most efficient war gases are organic compounds, the inorganic compounds which have great toxicity being unsuitable for use owing to their physical and chemical properties. 1974 M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. vii. 134 In 1968, 6000 sheep were accidentally killed in Utah, allegedly as a result of exposure to the war gas VX that was being tested by the Army about 17 miles away. |
| 1930 W. S. Maugham Bread-Winner i. 18 They were a dreary lot that *war generation. 1978 Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First ii. 47 The sense of isolation that characterized the war generation. |
| 1917 Imperial War. Conf. 5 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 8566) XXIII. 323 The Conference..humbly prays His Majesty to constitute by Royal Charter an Imperial *War Graves Commission. 1945 J. Reith Let. 11 June in Diaries (1975) vii. 350, I should have thought..you would have welcomed the establishment of an imperial corporation—the first to be achieved (except War Graves). 1981 J. Barnett Firing Squad xii. 175 Search all names against{ddd}war casualty lists, ditto War Graves Commission. |
| 1922 Nation 9 Sept. 758/1 (heading) The myth of *war-guilt. 1940 W. Temple Thoughts in Wartime ii. i. 60 The war-guilt clause, against which many of us have protested. 1971 Guardian 5 Aug. 12/3 Concepts of war ‘guilt’ derived from the Second World War have encouraged some elements of the Left to identify the war in Vietnam with an emerging American fascism. 1981 J. B. Hilton Surrender Value xi. 88 And she had been intense: about war-guilt, about Borchert and Kafka. |
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 62 The weary Britons, whose *war-hable youth Was by Maximian lately led away. |
| 1760 G. Groghan Jrnl. 4 Dec. in R. G. Thwaites Early Western Trav. (1904) I. 116 That you [sc. chiefs and warriors]..may..bury the *War Hatchet in the Bottomless Pitt. a 1818 B. Hawkins Sk. Creek Country (1848) 72 He lifts the war hatchet against the nation which has injured them. 1841 J. F. Cooper Deerslayer xxx, Our great fathers across the Salt Lake have sent each other the war-hatchet. 1881 Tylor Anthropol. ix. 224 The bundle of arrows wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin, or the blood-red war-hatchet struck into the war-post. |
| 1798 T. Jefferson Let. to J. Madison 26 Apr., Writ. 1854 IV. 238 At present, the *war hawks talk of septembrizing, [etc.]. 1815 in M. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) II. 332 Our war-hawks..affect to speak of it as a glorious war and an honorable peace. 1865 F. Parkman Champlain ix. (1875) 308 The Indian tribes, war-hawks of the wilderness. |
| 1898 F. T. Jane Torpedo 19 The parts of a torpedo are as follows:—(a) The explosive head (*war head). This is only fitted when the torpedo is to be used in earnest: for practice, a collapsible head is fitted. 1944 Sun (Baltimore) 20 June 3/3 Explosive carried in a warhead [of a German robot plane] is equal to a 2,200 pound German bomb. 1955 Bull. Atomic Sci. Apr. 168/3 In the not too distant future we can foresee the dominance of intercontinental guided missiles with hydrogen war heads. 1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xlv. 447, I was now prepared to call everyone else's bluff, and declare for a rocket of 12 tons all-up weight with a 1 ton warhead. |
| 13.. Coer de L. 2011 Sir, thus thou shalt lere To mis-say thy *werhedlynge. |
| 1898 Kansas City Star 19 Dec. 1/5 Following are the names of the members of the entertainment committee who received the *war heroes. 1953 L. P. Hartley Go-Between iv. 59, I already felt violently jealous of Trimingham, and the fact that he was a war-hero did not recommend him to me. 1982 T. Allbeury Shadow of Shadows v. 44 Your father was a war hero. He was awarded..the Legion of Honour. |
| 1932 New Yorker 9 Jan. 34/1 On the sidewalks are..a few *war heroines with nothing to sell. 1979 ‘D. Kyle’ Green River High viii. 106 We..read: War heroine returns to Sarawak. |
| 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. xl, What gallant *war-hounds rouse them from their lair, And gnash their fangs, loud yelling for the prey! 1848 Lytton K. Arthur ii. civ, Unleash the warhounds—stay us those who can! |
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 300 *War House, the, General Staff slang for the War Office. 1926 ‘Sapper’ Final Count xii. 302 They thought I was mad at the War House. 1978 D. Wheatley Officer & Temporary Gentleman iii. 29 A man in control at the War House who had an enormous hold upon the popular imagination. |
| 1940 ‘G. Orwell’ Inside Whale 172 The very people who..had sniggered over their own superiority to *war hysteria were the ones who rushed..into the mental slum of 1915. 1968 O. Wynd Sumatra Seven Zero ii. 20 Birgid is the child of my war hysteria. Her father was a blond Norwegian. |
| 1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence iv. 70 The last inventions in *war-machines. 1914 W. J. Bryan Mem. (1925) 390 The allies see peace only in a success so signal as to crush the German war machine. 1979 Sci. Amer. Mar. 123/1 With the introduction of catapults, together with other war machines just coming into use in the West, sieges became more effective. 1981 B. Langley Autumn Tiger xv. 244 Stalin..was wary of the German war machine. |
| 1921 ‘C. Dane’ Bill of Divorcement ii. 54 If it hadn't been for the war—and the *war marriages. |
| 1805 W. Clark Jrnl. 11 Jan. in Lewis & Clark Exped. (1904) I. vi. 247 Some of our Men go to See a *War Medeson made at the Village on the opposite Side of the river. 1893 Chicago Tribune 28 Apr. 4/1 Gov. Altgeld..proceeded to administer a dose of war medicine he had been making for some time. 1962 E. E. Evans-Pritchard in Ess. Social Anthropol. v. 95 He used some of these forms of magic himself, getting old commoners to bring the medicines and perform the rites, except in the case of the war-medicines, which he administered himself, from the large bongo horn in which they were kept. |
| 1912 *War memorial [see late a.1 3]. 1930 Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 324 The little cast-iron poilu, which seemed to be standard pattern for War memorials in that region. 1980 P. Lively Judgement Day v. 55 The starling flew across the nave, crashed into the War Memorial window..and thumped to the ground. |
| 1928 Blunden Undertones of War iii. 27 The joyful path away from the line..was full of pictures for my infant *war-mind. 1932 H. Crane Let. 13 Apr. (1965) 409 Dos Passos has written a very important record of the war and the ‘war mind’ in 1919. |
| 1936 Mind XLV. 289 A society which prefers war to peace and organises itself for success in war, may be rational in the above sense, if (a) the majority of its members are genuinely *war-minded, and (b) the small minority of pacifists in its ranks is allowed to express..its dissenting opinion. 1948 W. Fortescue Beauty for Ashes xxii. 172 At intervals it stopped..to allow warminded little boys to finger the ugly noses of guns. |
| 1936 H. Read Surrealism 36 Motives no less irrational than those which promote *war-mindedness. |
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Sel. Wks. II. 255 From my heart I pity the condition of a respectable servant of the publick, like this *war minister. |
| 1917 Times 20 Feb. 11/3 At No. 6, Avenue de Malakoff..in two spacious first-floor appartements..is housed the *War Museum which, when complete, will be presented to the French nation. 1967 O. Wynd Walk Softly, Men Praying x. 165 An inspirational experience in a war museum. 1979 E. Bercovici Wolf Trap 161 The War Museum on the upper fortress fascinated him. |
| 1915 W. Owen Let. 29 June (1967) 342 All France is collecting for its *War Orphans. 1971 H. McCloy Question of Time i. 14 The nuns kept on trying to trace the families of war orphans left in their care. |
| 1930 E. H. Young Miss Mole xxv. 224 The little poultry farm which was to supplement..the hero's *war pension. 1980 Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 14/5 His mother brought him up alone on a war pension plus what she could make by smocking children's clothes. |
| 1883 B. Potter Jrnl. 28 Apr. (1966) 39 First we went to the Fine Arts Gallery..to see..the Egyptian *war pictures. 1900 (title) War pictures. 1914 R. Grau Theatre of Science ii. 40 The war pictures released by this company reflected the high aims of a man. 1915 V. Woolf Diary 25 Jan. (1977) I. 28 The Picture Palace was a little disappointing—as we never got to the War pictures, after waiting 1 hour & a half. 1946 J. B. Priestley Bright Day viii. 246 Honest war pictures, made on the spot here by people who know what it's like. 1978 Listener 30 Mar. 410/1 In Which We Serve I remember as the best war picture that I have ever seen. |
| 1911 Flight 16 Dec. 1078/2 No one has any very definite ideas of what the future type of *war-plane will be like. 1938 C. Day Lewis Overtures to Death 17 Oh, look at the warplanes! Screaming hysteric treble In the long power-dive, like gannets they fall steep. 1967 A. MacLean Where Eagles Dare xi. 230 The Mosquito bomber, all engines and plywood, was, he was well aware, the fastest warplane in the world. 1978 Guardian Weekly 4 June 16/1 Categories so politically volatile as warplanes. |
| 1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans xxiii, None of my young men strike the tomahawk deeper into the *war⁓post. 1881 War-post [see war-hatchet above]. |
| 1942 D. Powell Time to be Born vii. 163 Amanda was nobly..adopting a *war refugee. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline iii. 33 There are three million war refugees from Bangladesh in West Bengal. |
| 1950 E. H. Gombrich Story of Art 118 The final result is possibly more impressive than the accounts of our own *war reporters and newsreel men. |
| 1976 S. Hynes Auden Generation x. 342 Compared to *war-reporting of the Spanish war..Journey to a War is superficial and uninformative. |
| 1932 Week-End Rev. 19 Nov. 611/2 We appeal to those who wish to take part in a truly practical and effective effort at *war resistance to send us a donation. |
| 1935 J. Bell in We did not Fight p. xviii, The most active and ardent *war resisters..are more likely to take the line of revolutionary action than conscientious objection. 1976 Pacifist Jan. 10/1 We remain an organisation of war-resisters. |
| 1920 Lloyd's List Law Rep. 22 July 288/2, I am perfectly clear this is a case that is not brought within the *War Risks Policy. 1934 Webster, War risk insurance, term insurance written by the United States Government for members of the military and naval forces. 1939 Country Life 11 Feb. 133/2 An insurance against war risks should be attached to Schedule ‘A’. 1974 E. R. H. Ivamy Marine Insurance (ed. 2) xv. 219 The term ‘war risk’ in a marine policy has been held to include a civil war. |
| 1782 in V. W. Howard Bryan Station Heroes & Heroines (1932) xii. 144 On the Southward side below where the *War road crosses the said fork. 1968 E. Russenholt Heart of Continent ii. iii. 41 Canadians and Indians follow the old Indian war road. |
| 1914 A. Wilson Let. 29 Oct. in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. i. 233, I should like to have a room set apart for me near the *War room. 1976 J. Lee Ninth Man i. 82 The War Room occupied the southwest corner of the main floor of the White House. |
| a 1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) ii. 13 He had..returned to his *war-substantive rank of captain. 1965 New Statesman 10 Dec. 919/1 How could a poor war-substantive captain hope to hold his own against someone like Colonel Passy. |
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son II. 38 Then they call a *war-talk, and say they would speak with these white men. 1834 Sk. & Eccentr. David Crockett xiv. 185 His public harangues, or his war talks, as electioneering speeches are called in the west. 1861 M. B. Chesnut Diary 23 Apr. in C. V. Woodward M. Chesnut's Civil War (1981) 53, Maria—are you crying because all this war talk scares you? 1939 C. Day Lewis Child of Misfortune iii. i. 264 You're not letting this war-talk throw a scare into you? |
| 1973 M. Kaye Toy is Born xv. 114 It is interesting to note that the hue and cry against *war toys a few years ago had little effect on Avalon Hill. |
| 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunters xxvi. II. 41 Over the western section of this great prairie passes the Apache *war-trail. |
| 1949 R. Chandler Let. 25 Feb. (1981) 149 There is an element of hypocrisy in these *war trials. 1971 P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale vii. 242 He'd seen her before... In Germany. She was in the dock. It was a war trial. |
| 1906 N.Y. Even. Post 29 Jan. 1 A guard of honor selected from the ranks of the Spanish *war veterans here. 1980 J. McClure Blood of Englishman x. 92 War veterans... It'd all gone a bit to their heads. |
| 1895 W. B. Yeats Poems 7, I have not yet, *war-weary king, Been spoken of with any man. 1902 Edin. Rev. July 39 Campbell's ‘Soldier's Dream’ is the most beautiful rendering in English verse of the war-weary mood. 1945 Sat. Even. Post 17 Mar. 20 Thousands of once precious B-17's are now ‘war-wearies’. Not worth salvaging, they clutter up foreign and domestic airfields. 1945 Fortune Aug. 208 Five war-weary Liberators, described with horrors by their pilots as ‘clunkers’. |
| 1915 Truth 4 Aug. 181/2 What do we hear from London about *war-weddings? |
| 1786 Ferriar in Mem. Lit. & Philos. Soc. Manch. (1790) III. 28 In every Indian village, the *war-woman..is a kind of oracle; by dreams and presages, she directs the hunters to their prey, and the warriors to the enemy. |
| 1890 Kipling Light that Failed (1891) ii. 24 Do you want me to do *war-work? Ibid. iv. 64 He has thrown up war work. 1916 A. Huxley Let. 2 Mar. (1969) 92 A friend of mine at Magdalen, a Quaker..objected to war-work of any kind, combatant or non-. 1954 W. K. Hancock Country & Calling vii. 189 The answer to that difficulty was for my wife to take up paid war work in place of the voluntary work she had been doing in Birmingham. 1977 Belfast Tel. 14 Feb. 9/6 Rene, who was in Mackie's on war work, lived with her widowed father and looked after her young brothers. |
| 1915 Political Q. May 108 It is not clear whether or no the special..*war-workers..will be permanently shut out of the trades. 1930 Blunden De Bello Germanico iv. 41 War-workers varying from whizzbangs to woolly bears. 1978 Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First ii. 48 The experiences of the war workers had been thoroughly documented. |
| 1909 Q. Rev. Oct. 578 The aim must now be..to seize every opportunity to improve its *war-worthiness. |
| 1908 Hardy Dynasts III. vii. viii. 510 Ney holds indignantly that such a feint Is not *war-worthy. |
▸
war hammer n. any of various types of heavy hammer, typically with a spiked or pointed head, used as a weapon; a maul.
| 1861 Prescott (Pierce County, Wisconsin) Transcript 20 July 1/3 And again the *war-hammer Up swingeth to slay! 1923 Burlington Mag. Apr. 190 (caption) War-hammer, probably North European of the 14th century. 2005 Guardian (Nexis) 9 Mar. 8 The tourists watching Mr Martin taking blows on the head from a steel war hammer..were sceptical. |
▪ II. ‖ war, n.2 Obs.—1 [Thevenot's rendering of a dial. var. of Hindī baḍ.] The Banyan-tree.
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 25 Trees of several kinds; as Manguiers, Palms, Mirabolans, Wars, Maisa-trees. Ibid., We saw the War-tree in its full extent. It is likewise called Ber, and the Tree of Banians. |
▪ III. war, waur, a. and adv. Sc. and
north. (
wɑr,
wɔr)
Forms: 3–5
werre, 4
Sc. ver, 4–6
wer, 4–5
were,
werr,
worre, 6
wor,
Sc. woir, 4–5
ware, 5–6
warre, 5–8
warr, 6
Sc. var, (
uar), 4–9
war, 8–
Sc. waur. See also
werrar a.
[a. ON. verre adj., verr adv.: see worse a. and adv. The spelling waur, which first appears in the 18th c., was adopted by Burns and Scott, and is now general in Scottish use.] A. adj. = worse a. in all senses.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3951 To madian lond wente he [sc. Balaam] his ride, And wente is herte on werre ðhogt. a 1300 Cursor M. 454 Qua herd euer a warr [Gött. MS. werr] auntour. c 1375 Ibid. 13411 (Fairf.) Þe gode wine sulde þou first dispende & siþen drink þe worre [earlier texts wers] at hende. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 269 Thryldome is weill wer than deid. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 55 Are þei not..werr, and abhominabler þan carnal sodomits? c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 50 Sho said þatt sho sulde sende hym a war question þan owther off þe tother was. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 57 Thai schel fische dimuneuis and grouis les, and of ane var qualite. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 178 They pairtit war freindis nor they mett. 1578 Moysie Mem. (Bannatyne Club) 15 They ran togither; the said Willie wes strickin to the grund and died, the vther throw the thie and litle war. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 108 They sayne the world is much war then it wont. 1584 J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 187 Quhilk is maist sacrilegius and war nor Papisticall. 1654 Z. Coke Logick 77 World so called of War-old, because the older it is, the War or worse it is. 1786 Burns A Dream iii, There's mony waur been o' the race, And aiblins ane been better Than you this day. 1815 Scott Guy M. v, ‘Vanity and waur!’ said the Dominie; ‘it is a trafficking with the Evil One’. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xx, We're no war nor some 'at is aboon us; are we? 1883 Longman's Mag. Nov. 72 Losh me! it's just waur than useless the day whativer. |
† b. father war, worse than one's father, degenerate.
Obs. Cf. ON. fǫður-verringr n.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 206 And lat ws nocht be cawit fader war, Thocht we be hapnit now fra thame so far. |
c. absol. (quasi-n.) as in
to get the war, to get the worst of it.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7579 Fle þat wynnes to haue þe warr, For ar i fle i sal cum nerr. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1588 Lest felle hym þe worre. Ibid. 1591 Þe worre hade þat oþer. c 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 159 Bot thar bowmen the wer had ay. a 1568 Wyf Auchtermuchty xv. in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 345 For and we fecht I ill gett the woir. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. x, If ye expect to be ranting among the queans o' lasses.., ye will come by the waur. |
B. adv. = worse adv. in all senses.
| c 1200 Ormin 4898 And swa þu tellesst werre off þe, Swa telleþþ Drihhtin bettre. a 1300 Cursor M. 11900 Þai..drund him [sc. Herod] in pike and terr, And send him quar he faris werr, werr þan he fard euer ar. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 1324 Þu sal wyt I ame of mycht ver þane þu wes þe to dycht. c 1440 York Myst. xxii. 54 Þer was neuere dede þat euere he dide, þat greued hym warre. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 73 Other þatt er hongry suld com & pryk me war þan þai did. c 1520 Skelton Magnyf. 923 All is out of harre, And out of trace, Ay warre and warre In euery place. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 280 They fand ane monstour on the morne, War facit nor ane cat. 17.. South-sea Song 7 in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany (1775) I. 34 The lave will fare the war in trouth For our lang biding here. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vi, A' the warld kens that they maun either marry or do waur. 1828 [Carr] Craven Gloss., War and war, worse and worse. |
▪ IV. war, v.1 (
wɔː(r))
Inflected
warred (
wɔːd),
warring (
ˈwɔːrɪŋ). Forms: 2
uuerrien, 3
wurre,
weorre,
weorri, 3–4
worri,
worry, 3–5
worre,
werri,
werry, 3–6
werre, 4
werr, 4–5
wer,
were, 4–7
warre, 6
warr,
dial. var,
Sc. weir(e, 4, 6–
war.
[f. war n.1 Cf. the equivalent OF. guerrer, *werrer; also werreier warray v.] † 1. trans. To make war upon.
Obs.| 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1135, Dauid king of Scotland toc to uuerrien him. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4636 Þe kunde men of þis lond recetted were þere [sc. in Wales] Euere wanne of straunge men yworred hii were. Ibid. 4987 Ac penda þe heþene duc adde euere god wille To worry him [Oswy] & don him ssame. c 1383 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1911) Oct. 744 Þough it be leful in caas to werre & sleen euele cristene men..whanne riȝtfulnesse..shulde perisshen elles. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 363 To passe over the grete See To werre and sle the Sarazin. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 49 Sepe expugnauerunt. Oft they werreden me fro my ȝouthe sey now israel. c 1470 Harding Chron. cxxvi. vi. (1812) 244 Kyng Henry warred Robert Estenuyle. 1534 St. Papers Hen. VIII (1834) II. 186 The traison, rebellion, extorcion, and wilfull ware of your forsaid Erles,..the one varing, burning, and distroing the other. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xxx, To warre the Scot, and Borders to defend. |
| fig. a 1225 Ancr. R. 246 Kastel; þet is eueriche god mon þet te ueond weorreð. c 1275 Five Joys of the Virgin 26 in O.E. Misc. 89 Al hire weorreþ þat wuneþ ine londe. 1340 Ayenb. 57 Þe tauerne is..þe dyeules castel uor to werri god an his halȝen. c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 116 He not to werre us swich a wonder wroughte [Fr. ne cuit pas que fust pour guerre], But for to save us that he sithen boughte. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 156 Al the day of oure lyfe in grete Perill we byth, for thre enemys ws werryth. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars viii. lxxv. 222 Loue and Ambition..tyranniz'd on his diuided hart, Warring each other with a powrefull part. |
† b. To ravage (a city, land, etc.) by warlike operations; to harry.
Obs.| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 43 Engelond haþ ibe inome & iwerred ilome [v.rr. iworred, werred]. Ibid. 7648 Hii worrede al norþhomberlond, & uorþ euere as hii come. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxci. 93 Thus in euery parte was the realme of Fraunce warrede in the tytell of the kynge of Nauer. |
† c. To harass, persecute.
Obs.| a 1225 Ancr. R. 186 Doð god, ȝif ȝe muwen, to þeo þet ou weorreð. c 1290 Holy Rood 324 in S. Eng. Leg. 10 Sethþe þare cam An Aumperour þat hiet Adrian, heþene he was and swiþe luþur and werrede [v.r. worrede] ech cristine man. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1587 Vaspasyan..after nero com, Þat betere man was þan he & ne worrede noȝt cristendom. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccclix. 235 b, Whan the gauntoyse sawe them selfe thus mocked and warred by the gentlemen of Flaunders [etc.]. |
2. intr. To make or carry on war; to fight. Now only
literary.
a. with
const. against,
on,
† toward,
upon,
with.
| c 1205 Lay. 20191 Arður..bi-læi Colgrim þe weorrede aȝæin him. c 1230 Hali Meid. 5 Babilones folc..þe deoueles here of helle..weorreð & warpeð eauer toward tis tur for to kasten hit adun. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1755 He bigan to worri anon vpe þe king basian. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4970 He lete þe fals Phylystyens, þe folk of Isrel to werre aȝens. a 1300–1400 Cursor M. 2493 (Gött.) Four kinges werrid [Cott. MS. werraud (? for werraiid)] apon fijf. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4786 He [Cassibolan] swor he scholde on hym [Androcheus] were; & þat he had, he scholde hym reue. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 298 Þis proude worldly prest..prively meynteneþ oure enemyes to weren aȝenst us wiþ oure owene gold. c 1450 Lovelich Merlin 12153 So whanne this Galachim gan to vndirstonde..how his fadir kyng Newtris with Arthour gan werre, to his Modyr he wente, [etc.]. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Coat-arm. a v b, And the cursed peple of Sem wered ayenys them. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. an. 1263 (1533) 36 They drew to them great power, and warred vppon the landes and castellys of syr Roger Mortymer. 1530 Palsgr. 772/1 The turke hath warred with Christendome all my dayes. 1565 Peend Hermaphr. C j, Helena..For whom the Grecians warred ten yeares space with the Troyans. 1629 Hobbes Thucyd. i. 42 The Athenians had done vniustly, and ought speedily to be warred on. c 1643 Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 209 Monsieur de Luynes continuing still the [French] King's favourite, advised him to war against his subjects of the reformed religion in France. 1678 Wanley Wonders v. ii. §82. 472/2 Solyman..War'd upon the Venetians and invaded the Islands of Corfu and Malta. 1726 Shelvocke's Voy. round World Pref. p. xx, Capt. George Shelvocke may make use of this Imperial Commission in warring against the Spaniards. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 207 Fergus,..after having warred unsuccessfully with his sovereign,..retired in the habit of a monk to the abbey of Holyroodhouse. 1827 Pollok Course T. vii. 451 The fated crew that warred Against the chosen saints. 1879 Green Readings Engl. Hist. i. 3 Tribe warred with tribe. |
| transf. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 720 Sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez, & with wolues als. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 234 In this wise doe eagles warre with dragons. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iv. iii, What make ye here, Warring upon the mountain-deer, When Scotland wants her King? |
b. simply.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7887 & vor roberd was eldore & eir, gret folc he sende al so Fram normandie to worry & is fader biquide vndo. a 1352 Minot Poems i. 12 Of Ingland had my hert grete care When Edward founded first to were. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 237 Oon Gylomaurus þe tyraunt, þat hadde i-werred in Irlond and in Bretayne. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 251 And whan thei werren, thei werren fulle wisely. c 1400 Brut ii. 322 In whiche tyme rayned and werred thilk orpid kniȝt Sere Iohn Hawkwode. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 645 And they were enduced to warre and to fyght. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 252 Wars hath not wasted it, for war'd he hath not, But basely yeelded vpon compromize That which his Ancestors atchieu'd with blowes. 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 499 All the time hee warred in Asia, and had the spoile of y{supt} wealthy Country. a 1727 Newton Chronol. Amended ii. (1728) 214 Sesostris..warred first under his father. 1764 H. Walpole Otranto iv, He received the agreeable news that the confederate princes, who were warring in Palestine, had paid his ransom. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxxv, Here, where the sword united nations drew, Our countrymen were warring on that day! 1887 Mahaffy & Gilman Alexander's Empire xxii. (1890) 213 The murder of the young king Seleucus Soter (III.), who was warring in Asia Minor. |
c. Of peoples, sovereigns, etc.: To carry on war against each other; to be (mutually) at war.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9568 Hii nadde iworred bote a lute þat hii acorded were. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 25 Whan Alfrid & Gunter had werred long in ille, Þorgh þe grace of God, Gunter turned his wille. c 1375 Cursor M. 21872 (Fairf.) Folk þai salle gaine oþer rise to were [earlier texts werrai] samin in mani wise. 1607 Rowlands Famous Hist. 34 As we are Christians, let us War no more, But fight 'gainst such as will not God adore. 1832 R. & J. Lander Exped. Niger I. 88 We were told that the natives of Cape La Hoo and Jack-a-Jack had been warring for three years previously. |
d. To serve as a soldier.
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Tim. ii. 4 No man that warreth [Gr. στρατευόµενος] tangleth him selfe with wordly busynesses. [Similarly 1611.] 1594 Selimus 669 Ile follow Mars, and warre another while, And die my shield in dolorous vermeil. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. xxxvii. 248 A righteous man..may rightly warre at his command. 1841 James Brigand xv, The young gentleman we speak of has been long warring with the armies in Italy. |
3. fig. Of persons: To contend, fight with immaterial weapons; to carry on a metaphorical warfare. Of things, forces, principles: To be in strong opposition.
a. with
const. as in 2 a.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 Þe wraððe of kinges..þe..wurreð uppe chirches, oðer wanieð hire rihtes. Ibid. 195 Ȝief [he hadde] werred wið god alse þe deuel him to eggede. a 1225 Ancr. R. 348 Vlesliche lustes, þet weorreð aȝean þe soule [= 1 Pet. ii. 11]. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 366 Homicide..Which werreth ayein charite. 1484 Caxton Chivalry 77 Chastyte and strengthe warren and fyghten ageynste lecherye and surmounte hit. 1512 Colet Serm. Convoc. B vij, Lette the lawes be rehersed that warreth agaynst the spotte of Symonie. 1582 Bible (Rheims) 1 Pet. ii. 11, I beseche you..to refraine your selues from carnal desires which warre against the soule. [Similarly 1611]. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. civ, But was by tempests, windes, and seas debarr'd; As if they like⁓wise had against him warr'd. 1611 Bible Rom. vii. 23, I see another Lawe in my members, warring against the Lawe of my minde. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 443 This writer is so determined to war with common opinion, that, in the eighth paragraph, he tells us, that [etc.]. 1780 Madan Thelyph. I. 242 How this learned man's prejudices warred against his judgment [etc.]. 1792 Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 314 When..on the scathed oak warred the winter-wind. 1831 James Phil. Augustus xxiii, Such were the thoughts..that warred against each other in his breast. 1842 Newman Par. Serm. VI. 36 It is our duty to war against the flesh as they warred against it. 1866 W. R. Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iv. 412 Whoso follows these directions,..however warred on, will never be desolately alone. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 12 William, at this stage of his reign, warred rather against the memory of the dead than against the lives or fortunes of the living. |
b. simply.
| c 1400 Beryn 1990 Litil vailith wisdom..Ther fortune evir werrith, & eke hap & chaunce. 1582 Bible (Rheims) James iv. 1 Your concupiscences which warre in your membris. [Similarly 1611]. 1797 Coleridge Christabel i. 271 But vainly thou warrest. |
c. To be in mutual opposition.
Cf. warring ppl. a.
| 1845 James Arrah Neil i, Antagonist principles are ever warring within us. |
4. trans. with cognate object: To carry on, wage (a warfare, etc.).
rare.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 62 For this a man mai finde write, Whan that knyhthode schal be werred, Lust mai noght thanne be preferred. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Ireland iv. 10 Robert..sette the bowmen for to wer [MS. Rawl. were] the fight of the kernels. 1530 Tindale Lev. Prol. ¶9 Circumcysion was vnto them a comen bagge sygnifienge that they were all sodiars off God to warre his warre. 1582 Bible (Rheims) 1 Tim. i. 18 That thou warre in them a good war⁓fare. [Similarly 1611.] |
▪ V. war, v.2 Sc. (
wɑr,
wɔr)
Also 5
werre,
warre, 8
warr, 8–9
waur.
[f. war, waur a.] trans. To ‘worst’, defeat in a contest or competition; to surpass, excel.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 408/1 To Warre, depremere, deterere,..deteriorare, peiorare (A.). ? a 1500 in Hardyng's Chron. cxiii. note, The which [a feat of strength] He perfourmed..that neuer mai be werde. 1513 Douglas æneis v. iii. 100 And now hes Pristis the fordaill, and syne, in hy, The big Centaur hir warris, and slippis by [L. nunc victam præterit ingens]. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 53 Fecht weill and war yame and wyn the ryches yair, And gif ȝe de, in deid ȝe neid na mair. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 157 Thay debeitit manfullie and wareit edwartis wangard. a 1585 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 710 Grant, guiss, þat my Inventioun waris the than, with out þe quhilk þow micht haue barkit waist. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 13 Wigtoune waris the vthir 2 baith in citizenis and riches. a 1614 J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 154 And, on the uther part, Mr. Andro, wha warred him far in credit without the contrey..wrot unto the Kirks at lainthe. 1721 J. Kelly Sc. Prov. 304 The Water will never warr the Widdie [= ‘He that's born to be hang'd will never be drown'd’]. 1785 Burns Death & Dr. Hornbook xiii, And mony a scheme in vain's been laid, To stap or scaur me; Till ane Hornbook's taen up the trade, And faith he'll waur me. 1816 Scott Antiq. ix, It was a paper of great significance to the plea, and we were to be waured for want o't. |
▪ VI. † war, v.3 Obs. rare—1.
[Of obscure origin. Possibly a misprint for roar.] (See
quot.) Hence
Comb. war-back, a trough used in salting herrings.
Cf. rower-back.
| 1682 J. Collins Salt & Fishery 106 The manner of Salting. The Nets are haled on Board, and the Herrings are taken out of them, and put into the Warbacks, which stand on the side of the Vessel and resemble Chests. Ibid. 107 It is common to allow 2 barrels of Salt in a Last, of 14 barrels to War withall, that is to rowle the Herrings in the Salt before they are Packt. |
▪ VII. war see
be v.,
ware,
warre,
wear v.,
where,
whether.