guerrillan.
/ɡəˈrɪlə/, /ɡɛˈrɪlə/, U.S. /ɡəˈrɪlə/ 1. An irregular war carried on by small bodies of men acting independently. Now somewhat rare.
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society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > guerrilla war
guerrilla1819
guerrilla war1843
urban guerrilla warfare1962
asymmetrical conflict1967
asymmetric warfare1991
1819 S. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 255/2 A succession of village guerillas;—an internecive war between the gamekeepers and marauders of game.
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville III. 254 To avoid being involved in these guerillas.
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters I. xvii. 219 I was offered the command of this strange guerilla.
1862 Russell in Times 18 Mar. Arkansas is now the theatre of a large guerilla.
2. One engaged in such warfare.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > guerrilla > [noun]
statizer1616
privateer1676
partisan1692
bush-fighter1760
guerrilla1809
guerrillero1832
filibuster1861
mujahid1885
urban guerrilla1946
1809 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) V. 9 I have recommended to the Junta to set..the Guerrillas to work towards Madrid.
1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands I. iii. 54 We might easily have..been mistaken for..a party of guerillas.
1887 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 127 A swift and skilful guerilla.
1900 Daily News 9 June 4/6 A nation of farmers is not the material of which guerrillas have usually been made.
3. attributive passing into adj., esp. in guerrilla war (= sense 1).
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society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [adjective] > guerrilla
guerrilla1811
society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > guerrilla war
guerrilla1819
guerrilla war1843
urban guerrilla warfare1962
asymmetrical conflict1967
asymmetric warfare1991
1811 W. Scott Don Roderick xlix. 45 The Guerilla band Came like night's tempest, and avenged the land.
1814 R. Southey in J. W. Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) II. 428 Somewhat afraid of my old Guerrilla friends upon the road.
1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico I. i. ii. 47 Making use of ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare.
1861 W. G. Clark in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1860 67 Garibaldi..is..a master of the ‘dodges’..which are required in guerilla war.
1865 A. Maffei Brigand Life II. 41 He was forced to become, not a guerilla leader, but a highway captain.
1881 T. H. Huxley Sci. & Culture i. 3 It must be admitted to be somewhat of a guerilla force, composed largely of irregulars.
Derivatives
gueˈrrillaism n. the principles and practice of guerrilla warfare.
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society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > guerrilla war > principles of
guerrillaism1865
guerrillaship1889
black-and-tannery1922
1865 Evening Stand. 19 May Owing to the unsettled state of affairs in the new empire, the prevalence of guerillaism, &c., these precautions, which have a military air, are considered quite necessary.
gueˈrrillist n. = 2.
gueˈrrillaship n. = guerrillaism n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > guerrilla war > principles of
guerrillaism1865
guerrillaship1889
black-and-tannery1922
1889 A. H. Drysdale Hist. Presbyter. Eng. ii. iii. 206 This mode of controversial guerillaship was not of long duration.
guerriˈllesque adj. proper or habitual to a guerrilla.
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1864 G. A. Sala in Daily Tel. 22 Apr. 5/2 This is the guerillesque formula.
Draft additions June 2015
attributive. Designating activities conducted in an irregular, unorthodox, and spontaneous way, without regard to established conventions, rules, and formalities, as guerrilla advertising, guerrilla cooking, guerrilla filmmaking, etc. Also designating people engaged in and things associated with such activities, as guerrilla clinic, guerrilla filmmaker, guerrilla science, guerrilla television, etc.rare before the late 20th cent.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.
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1888 Polyclinic Nov. 134/2 The so-called pure pepsins..which, by a system of ‘guerrilla’ advertising..have been foisted upon the deceived medical profession.
1966 Tulane Drama Rev. Summer 131 The Guerrilla company must exemplify change as a group.
1968 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts July 660 The influence of guerrilla economics and guerrilla manufactures in the war years..is all too easily overlooked.
1971 M. Shamberg (title) Guerrilla television.
1989 A. Walker Temple of my Familiar vi. 379 I was a guerrilla literaturist.
1991 K. Spink tr. D. Lapierre Beyond Love iii. lvii. 361 They were known as ‘guerrilla clinics’. Every week, they dealt with some two thousand patients.
1993 Santa Fe Reporter 31 Mar. 22/5 We've learned from our film and other guerrilla filmmakers—that you can do it.
1995 Grand Royal No. 2 126/1 What I'm talking about is filmmaking at its most basic level: guerilla filmmaking.
1995 L. Garrett Coming Plague (new ed.) xi. 316 Guerrilla science... You see a crisis and you just go do what you have to do, and figure out how to pay for it later.
2000 Vanity Fair Oct. 136/3 He attempted a similar guerrilla-journalism campaign by means of a personal Web site.
2004 Observer 17 Oct. (Music Monthly Suppl.) 29/1 The newly fashionable practise of guerilla gigging, where bands play impromptu acoustic sets on public transport or in car parks.
2012 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 17 Feb. You can cook anywhere so long as you have the essentials (food, heat)... I call it guerrilla cooking.
guerrilla art n. unconventional art created (often anonymously) in public spaces, usually conveying a social or political message; street art.
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1970 N. Y. Element Apr. 9/4 Jean Toche of the Guerrilla Art Action Group says..‘Art must assault the senses; it must revolt the mind and talk to the soul.’
1981 Washington Post (Nexis) 24 Mar. b2 Guerrilla art is happening all over the country. Young artists in increasing numbers are..going to the streets.
2001 Independent on Sunday 7 Jan. i. 19/6 Seattle..is a city with a history of ‘guerrilla art’—spontaneous acts of public artistic display intended to outrage, amuse, or make a statement.
guerrilla artist n. a person who creates guerrilla art.
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1972 D. A. Foss Freak Culture ix. 160 Guerrilla artists in San Francisco steal out in the dead of night to paint what they consider to be ugly and boring institutional environments.
1990 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 9 Aug. Guerrilla artist Robbie Conal..unveiled a bigger-than-life satirical portrait of Helms..on a billboard in West Hollywood.
2006 Independent 8 May (Extra section) 15/1 Banksy—the Bristol-born graffiti ‘writer’ turned guerrilla artist whose irreverent stencil designs..have been instrumental in bringing graffiti in from the cold.
guerrilla gardener n. a person who engages in guerrilla gardening.
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1973 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 9 June 1 (heading) Guerrilla gardeners eat well.
2012 Church Times 23 Nov. (Books for Christmas section) p. xvi/3 [She] started tending the now prize-winning Lauriston Road roundabout as a guerrilla gardener more than ten years ago.
guerrilla gardening n. gardening on sites that the gardeners are not authorized to use (typically land which has been abandoned or otherwise neglected), esp. as a political or environmental statement.
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1973 B. Hazlett in Los Angeles Times 10 June iii. 17/7 They call it 'guerrilla gardening' although it's strictly legal.
1992 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 16 May d21 There's a passage on ‘guerrilla gardening’..talking about planting seeds on industrial lots or behind baseball backstops.
2010 Countryfile Feb. 12/4 Landless residents..decided to plant trees and other food crops on public land. Fortunately the council did not object to this growing trend that is known as guerrilla gardening.
guerrilla knitting n. street art consisting of colourful knitted or crocheted items and motifs attached to public objects and monuments; the action of decorating objects or monuments in this way; cf. yarn bombing n., yarnstorming n. at yarnstorm v. Derivatives.
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2004 Illawarra (Austral.) Mercury (Nexis) 7 Aug. 6 The idea for ‘guerilla knitting’ came from Japan where people congregated in the street and knitted as a form of protest.
2011 L. Nargi Astounding Knits! 88 The relatively new pursuit of yarn bombing (or knit bombing, or knitting graffiti, or guerilla knitting)—whether it be the wrapping of trees, or street signs, or gravestones.
2013 Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 13/4 They asked knitters in Leicester to get together to create colourful decorations to brighten up the Great Central Way and nearby Bede Park. Officers said they were delighted with the ‘guerrilla knitting’.
guerrilla marketing n. innovative, unconventional, and low-cost promotion of a product or service, aimed at obtaining maximum exposure without using traditional marketing techniques and advertising media.
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1971 London Mag. Jan. 47 Cooking up of slogans and angles..and incentives to pep up my guerilla marketing strategy.
1984 J. C. Levinson (title) Guerrilla marketing: secrets for making big profits from your small business.
2005 Independent 7 June 21/1 Guerrilla marketing..involving the dispatch of streakers or nearly-nude nutcases to high profile events with the company's web address tattooed on bare skin.
guerrilla theatre n. originally U.S. unconventional or alternative theatre, often performed outdoors or in public settings, esp. in a spontaneous or improvised way, and typically addressing political and social issues.
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1966 Tulane Drama Rev. Summer 132 Social theatre is a risky business... Don't be forced into battle over the wrong issues. Guerrilla theatre..makes friends of the populace.
1973 H. L. Nieburg Culture Storm ix. 187 Mark Estrin..one of the leading practitioners of guerilla theater, sees the actor as activist with a function to ‘create scenes in the midst of real events’.
2011 New Yorker 19 Dec. 142/2 Some of the actors from the entirely black cast dragged white audience members onstage... I tried to reassure my companion that McElroen was just making participatory guerrilla theatre.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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