Attested in Digger Dialects, F&G, and Cutlack. This was a specific use of the term, which was also popular in World War II. ‘Cage’ dates back to the 17th century as a term for ‘a prison’ or ‘lock-up’ ( Partridge, DAE). It referred to the Italian chief of general staff, Luigi Cadorna (1850–1928), who was recalled and placed on half pay after the defeat of the Italian Army at Caporetto (Arthur and Ramson in Digger Dialects). This was used in the same way as gutzer and was probably shortlived. Attested here and in Digger Dialects but not otherwise recorded. Partridge records a World War II sense of a line of ships – motor launches, motor torpedo boats, etc.Ĭadorna See ‘ Gutzer’.

This sense attested here and in Digger Dialects but not otherwise recorded.Įlting records a World War I flying sense meaning ‘flight line’ and the OED suggests that the standard ‘cab rank’ (‘a row of cabs on a stand’) was transferred to a line of aircraft waiting in readiness. This section contains a selection of AIF slangs annotated edition, their meanings, and their etymologies. Bazley.Ībbreviations (for texts referred to in annotations). Those with the headword italicised are those added to the typescript of the glossary by hand by A.W. For an explanation of the relationship between the two texts, see the introduction. Some of those marked have been added to by Pretty. Others may be borrowed from Downing but are not specific enough to be marked. Links to webpages with further information about terms, equipment, events and other relevant aspects of the experience of the Great War have been provided where possible.Įntries with * are those that are identical to Downing's Digger Dialects. In some cases, a citation (a quote showing how it was used at the time) is also included. This is followed by some additional information explaining the word and its context. There is the original entry (errors are corrected the original manuscript retains all spelling and grammatical idiosyncrasies) a line providing information about the word (for example, if it was generally used, if it was Australian, and so on), the first date it was recorded, and a reference to other texts that attest to the word's usage. This is an annotated edition of the Glossary.

Strafe define