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 or 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 or windy - Nervous. Jumpy. Temporary involuntary fear.
Wooden cross - The small wooden cross placed over a soldier's
grave.
End of Project Gutenberg's A Yankee in the Trenches, by R. Derby Holmes
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