conchy slang.
(ˈkɒnʃɪ)
Also conchie, conshy.
Abbrev. of ‘conscientious objector’ (viz. to military service): see conscientious a., 1 b.
| 1917 Daily Mail 9 Oct. 2/3 The assembly of eleven hundred ‘conscientious’ objectors at one spot, Princetown, on Dartmoor, where they are known as ‘conchies’. 1917 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 698/1 So the Conchys, as the Bishop of Exeter calls them, live in a golden age. 1918 ‘Ian Hay’ Last Million vii. 93 What are yours [sc. sons] in? The Circumloosion Office, or the Conchie's Battalion? 1923 C. S. Lewis Let. 4 Feb. (1966) 85 He felt it his duty to be a ‘conchie’ if there was another war. 1928 Galsworthy Swan Song ii. xi. 195 Conshies and Communists and Profiteers—I'd have had 'em all against a wall. 1936 M. Plowman Faith called Pacifism 46 Of course I knew that from one standpoint I was only another adjectival ‘Conchy’ letting his pals down. 1939 War Illustr. 14 Oct. 154/2 First German ‘Conchie’. 1951 Landfall V. 21 The deal that is going on here is worse than the one the Conchies got. 1960 [see beardie 2]. |