A Yankee in the Trenches - Glossary of Army Slang

Glossary of Army Slang

All around traverse: A machine gun placed on a swivel to turn in any direction.
Ammo: Ammunition. Usually for rifles, though occasionally used to indicate that for artillery.
Argue the toss: Argue the point.
Back of the line: Anywhere to the rear and out of the danger zone.
Barbed wire: Ordinary barbed wire used for entanglements. A thicker and heavier military wire is sometimes used.
Barrage: Shells dropped simultaneously and in a row so as to form a curtain of fire. Literal translation “a barrier.”
Bashed: Smashed.
Big boys: Big guns or the shells they send over.
Big push: The battles of the Somme.
Billets: The quarters of the soldier when back of the line. Any place from a pigpen to a palace.
Bleeder
Blighter: Cockney slang for fellow. Roughly corresponding to American “guy.”
Blighty: England. East Indian derivation. The paradise looked forward to by all good soldiers⁠—and all bad ones too.
Blighty one: A wound that will take the soldier to Blighty.
Bloody: The universal Cockney adjective. It is vaguely supposed to be highly obscene, though just why nobody seems to know.
Blooming: A meaningless and greatly used adjective. Applied to anything and everything.
Bomb: A hand grenade.
Bully beef: Corned beef, high grade and good of the kind, if you like the kind. It sets hard on the chest.
Carry on: To go ahead with the matter in hand.
Char: Tea. East Indian derivation.
Chat: Officers’ term for cootie; supposed to be more delicate.
Click: Variously used. To die. To be killed. To kill. To draw some disagreeable job, as: I clicked a burial fatigue.
Communication trench: A trench leading up to the front trench.
Consolidate: To turn around and prepare for occupation a captured trench.
Cootie: The common⁠—the too common⁠—body louse. Everybody has ’em.
Crater: A round pit made by an underground explosion or by a shell.
Cushy: Easy. Soft.
Dixie: An oblong iron pot or box fitting into a field kitchen. Used for cooking anything and everything. Nobody seems to know why it is so called.
Doggo: Still. Quiet. East Indian derivation.
Doing in: Killing.
Doss: Sleep.
Duck walk: A slatted wooden walk in soft ground.
Dud: An unexploded shell. A dangerous thing to fool with.
Dugout: A hole more or less deep in the side of a trench where soldiers are supposed to rest.
Dump: A place where supplies are left for distribution.
Entrenching tool: A sort of small shovel for quick digging. Carried as part of equipment.
Estaminet: A French saloon or café.
Fag: A cigarette.
Fatigue: Any kind of work except manning the trenches.
Fed up: Tommy’s way of saying “too much is enough.”
Firing step: A narrow ledge running along the parapet on which a soldier stands to look over the top.
Flare: A star light sent up from a pistol to light up out in front.
Fritz: An affectionate term for our friend the enemy.
Funk hole: A dugout.
Gas: Any poisonous gas sent across when the wind is right. Used by both sides. Invented by the Germans.
Goggles: A piece of equipment similar to that used by motorists, supposed to keep off tear gas. The rims are backed with strips of sponge which Tommy tears off and throws the goggle frame away.
Go west: To die.
Grouse: Complain. Growl. Kick.
Hun: A German.
Identification disc: A fiber tablet bearing the soldier’s name, regiment, and rank. Worn around the neck on a string.
Iron rations: About two pounds of nonperishable rations to be used in an emergency.
Knuckle knife: A short dagger with a studded hilt. Invented by the Germans.
Lance Corporal: The lowest grade of noncommissioned officer.
Lewis gun: A very light machine gun invented by one Lewis, an officer in the American army.
Light railway: A very narrow-gauge railway on which are pushed little hand cars.
Listening post: One or more men go out in front, at night, of course, and listen for movements by the enemy.
Maconochie: A scientifically compounded and well-balanced ration, so the authorities say. It looks, smells, and tastes like rancid lard.
M.O.: Medical Officer. A foxy cove who can’t be fooled with faked symptoms.
Mess tin: A combination teapot, fry pan, and plate.
Military cross: An officer’s decoration for bravery.
Military medal: A decoration for bravery given to enlisted men.
Mills: The most commonly used hand grenade.
Minnies: German trench mortar projectiles.
Napper: The head.
Night ’ops: A much hated practice manoeuvre done at night.
No Man’s Land: The area between the trenches.
On your own: At liberty. Your time is your own.
Out
Over there: Somewhere in France.
Parados: The back wall of a trench.
Parapet: The front wall of a trench.
Patrol: One or more men who go out in front and prowl in the dark, seeking information of the enemy.
Periscope: A boxlike arrangement with two mirrors for looking over the top without exposing the napper.
Persuader: A short club with a nail-studded head.
Pip squeak: A German shell which makes that kind of noise when it comes over.
Push up the daisies: To be killed and buried.
Ration party: A party of men which goes to the rear and brings up rations for the front line.
Rest: Relief from trench service. Mostly one works constantly when “resting.”
Ruddy: Same as bloody, but not quite so bad.
Sandbag: A bag which is filled with mud and used for building the parapet.
Sentry go: Time on guard in the front trench, or at rest at headquarters.
Shell hole: A pit made by the explosion of a shell.
Souvenir: Any kind of junk picked up for keepsakes. Also used as a begging word by the French children.
Stand to: Order for all men to stand ready in the trench in event of a surprise attack, usually at sundown and sunrise.
Stand down: Countermanding “stand to.”
Stokes: A bomb weighing about eleven pounds usually thrown from a mortar, but sometimes used by hand.
Strafing: One of the few words Tommy has borrowed from Fritz. To punish.
Suicide club: The battalion bombers.
Tin hat: Steel helmet.
Wave: A line of men going over the top.
Whacked: Exhausted. Played out.
Whiz-bang: A German shell that makes that sort of noise.
Wind up
Windy: Nervous. Jumpy. Temporary involuntary fear.
Wooden cross: The small wooden cross placed over a soldier’s grave.