Bolo2
(ˈbəʊləʊ)
1. One who pursues antipatriotic ‘underground’ activities like those of Paul Bolo, a French adventurer shot for treason, 17 April 1918; one suspected of engaging in pacifist propaganda in favour of Germany during the war of 1914–18.
| 1917 19th Cent. Dec. 1265 The activity of those whom we might call the British and German Bolos, naturalised or not. Ibid. 1266 As far back as 1907 these Bolos were working under the guidance of German agents. |
2. Misused for: a Bolshevik. Also collect. sing. = the Bolshevists. Also attrib.
| 1919 Blackw. Mag. June 742/1 The Bolo was ignorant of the fate of our raft gun. Ibid. Nov. 722/1 A party of Bolo prisoners. 1920 Ibid. Mar. 396/1 The missing Bolos from Selmenga. 1924 Ibid. Sept. 387/2 Bolo and anti-Bolo propaganda. 1937 C. Madge in C. Day Lewis Mind in Chains 158 Attempts have also been made to prove that Broadcasting House is the headquarters of a conspiracy of ‘bolos’. 1963 Spectator 27 Sept. 377/1 The police, of course, had passed this bolo under the illusion that he was only some simple patriotic goon. |