Maconochie colloq.
(məˈkɒnəkɪ)
[The name of the makers, Maconochie Brothers, of London.]
1. Meat stewed with vegetables and tinned, esp. as supplied to soldiers on active service; a tin of such meat. Also Maconochie ration.
| 1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness i. 9 The hungry shelterers trooped back to their ‘dixies’, and wasted not a thought upon them [sc. shells], until the ‘Maconochie’ had vanished. 1915 F. H. Lawrence in T. E. Lawrence Home Lett. (1954) 689 We have found several tins of Maconochie Rations & also Jam in the house. 1917 ‘I. Hay’ Carrying on viii. 220 How would a Maconochie apiece suit your boys? 1940 ‘Gun Buster’ Return via Dunkirk ii. xix. 225 He manages to scrape together two tins of Maconochie (stew), a tin of cold potatoes,..and some ‘issue biscuits’. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 61 His company commander was shaving out of a Maconochie tin. |
2. joc. slang. The stomach. Also Maconochie Cross, Maconochie Medal (see quots.).
| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 32 Maconochie,..stomach. Ibid., Maconochie Cross, Military Cross. Maconochie Medal, Military Medal. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 149 Maconochie..was also sometimes used for stomach, e.g., ‘He got hit in the Maconochie’. 1965 Brophy & Partridge Long Trail 147 Maconochie Medal, the Military Medal; Maconochie Cross, the Military Cross. |