释义 |
foo fighter, n. orig. U.S. Mil. (now hist.). Brit. |ˈfuː ˌfʌɪtə|, U.S. |ˈfu ˌfaɪdər| Forms: [Also with capital initials.] [‹ foo, nonsense word appearing in the ‘Smoky Stover’ comic strip by American cartoonist Bill Holman (1903–87) + fighter n. It has also been suggested that foo in the present compound is influenced by French feu fire, but this seems unlikely.] Any of various unidentified lights encountered by airborne forces during the Second World War (1939–45), interpreted variously as enemy weapons, natural phenomena, or alien spacecraft.
1945N.Y. Times 2 Jan. 1/6 There are three kinds of these lights we call ‘foofighters’—one is red balls of fire which appear off our wing tips and fly along with us; the second is a vertical row of three balls of fire which fly in front of us, and the third is a group of about fifteen lights which appear off in the distance..and flicker on and off. 1969A. Coppel Little Time for Laughter ii. 200 He could hear the wild chatter on the radio. The pilots were saying something about a ‘foo fighter’ and a ‘jet’. 1988Yankee June 102/1 Both Allied and Axis pilots reported being paced by..‘foo fighters’. 2002R. M. Dolan UFOs & National Security State i. 6 The last significant foo fighter sighting occurred in the Pacific, and nearly brought down an American plane. |