militian.
/mᵻˈlɪʃə/, U.S. /məˈlɪʃə/ 1.
a. A system of military discipline, organization, and tactics; a manner or means of conducting warfare; the art of warfare. Also figurative. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > war > war as profession or skill > [noun]
wara1375
chivalrya1387
chiefalrie1548
soldiery1579
profession1581
military art1590
militia1590
warcrafta1661
1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons Ded. 3 Diuers Nations that haue had notable Milicias and exercises Militarie in great perfection.
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iii. 32 The true and orderly trayning of your people in this our Moderne Militia.
a1640 P. Massinger Bashful Lover v. i. 62 in 3 New Playes (1655) Pisa. Where's your Regiment? Mart. Not rais'd yet; All the old ones are cashier'd, and we are now To have a new Militia.
1646 J. Hall Horæ Vacivæ 162 The modern Militia differs much from the ancient, there being in it more roome for stratagems then personall valour.
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. xiii. §14. 203 The Militia, was of old reckoned in the number of the gaining Arts.
1658 Earl of Monmouth tr. P. Paruta Hist. Venice ii. ii. 121 The enemy were still the same, weak, and unexperienced in the true Militia.
a1678 A. Marvell Appleton House 330 Unhappy! shall we never more That sweet Militia restore, When Gardens only had their Towers, And all the Garrisons were Flowers.
1693 Introd. Breviary Hist. Eng. 23 The Normans had a peculiar Militia, or Fight, with Bowes and Arrowes.
b. Military service; warfare. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > war > [noun]
MarsOE
war1154
warc1374
irona1387
guerre?a1475
Mart?a1475
(the) feat of warc1503
militia1641
sport of kings1735
emergency1958
society > armed hostility > military service > [noun]
knightshipa1175
armsc1300
knighthoodc1384
warfarec1485
service1549
soldiership1561
soldierfare1579
military service1586
stipend1604
caska1616
milice1635
lance1641
militia1641
soldiering1643
camp1725
military1757
1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. E2v He was the first that exposed himselfe into the Land Service of Ireland, A Melitia which did not then yeild him food and Rayment.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. lxi. 330 They ended their unfortunate Militia with the Romans.
a1677 J. Taylor Contempl. State Man (1684) i. vi. 68 He entred us into this Militia and Warfare.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) i. 17 Raise timely batteries against those strong holds built upon the Rock of Nature, and make this a great part of the Militia of thy life.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. 1 Thess. ii. 15–16 Because this Preaching is the Means to save Souls, it is that Satan aimeth his Militia against it.
c. Weapons; instruments of war. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > collective or plural
weaponc825
armsa1275
i-wepenc1275
tacklec1400
arming1431
tackling1529
militia1656
arms of offence1692
weaponry1844
hardware1855
tool1938
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. vi. 213 [Princes] should wear the powerful Militia [It. arme potentissima] of boundless Empire..by their side, for the security of such as [are] good, but..should never make use of it..[to shield] such as were guilty.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Militia, warfare, or all implements of War.
1694 W. Westmacott Θεολοβοτονολογια 25 Box-Combs, which..bear no small part in the Militia of the Female Art.
2. The control and administration of the armed forces of a country or region. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military organization > [noun]
militia1622
1622 F. Bacon Advt. Holy Warre in Misc. Wks. (1629) 129 Now let me put a Feigned Case..of a Land of Amazons, where the whole Gouernment, Publike and Priuate, yea the Militia it Selfe, was in the hands of Women.
1641 in Verney Papers (1853) 132 [7 Dec.] Sir Arthur Hazelrigg did bring in a bill to dispose all the militia of England into two generalls for life.
1641 in J. Rushworth Hist. Coll.: Third Pt. (1692) I. 525 I do heartily wish that this Great Word, this New Word, the Militia, this Harsh Word might never have come within these Walls;..I take the meaning of those Gentlemen, who introduced this Word to be, the power of the Sword,..which is a great and necessary power, and properly belonging to the Magistrate.
1642 Orig. Jrnls. House of Commons 20 Jan. 22 122 They humblie beseeche yor Sacred Matie to raise upp unto them a sure ground of safetie & confidence by putting the Tower & other principall Forts of the Kingdome & the whole Millitia thereof in to the hands of such psones as yor pli—mt may Confide in.
1643 in Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion (1703) II. vii. 245 That the Militia, both by Sea and Land, might be settled by a Bill.
1647 T. May Hist. Parl. ii. v. 94 He was esteemed by the Parliament (in this important businesse of setling their Militia by Land and Sea) the fittest man to take Command of the Navie.
1688 J. Crowne Darius 19 That Kings have the Militia, on Earth, Is fit; shou'd they have that of Heaven too?
II. A military force.
3. † c. Any branch, department, or division of the armed forces. Obsolete.
a. Originally: †the body of soldiers in the service of a sovereign or a state (obsolete). Subsequently: a military force raised from the civilian population of a country or region, esp. to supplement a regular army in an emergency, frequently as distinguished from mercenaries or professional soldiers. Occasionally with plural agreement.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > [noun] > militia or citizen army
trained band1562
militia1590
trainband1628
milice1635
array1643
people's army1856
1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons Ded. 3 Any forraine Nation or Nations, that haue had a puissant and formed Milicia.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 171 Let any Prince or State thinke soberly of his Forces, except his Militia of Natiues, be of good and Valiant Soldiers.
1625 F. Bacon Greatness of Kingdoms in Ess. (1862) 481 [The Spaniards are accustomed] to employ, almost indifferently, all Nations, in their Militia of ordinary Soldiers.
1665 T. H. Exact Surv. Affaires Netherlands 93 The High and Mighty draw in their Money,..raise Fortifications,..Rendezvouz Militiaes, and withdraw 200 Families at least to Hamburgh.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 42 There be in Ireland, as elsewhere, two Militias; one are the Justices of Peace, their Militia of High and Petty Constables; also the Sheriffs Militia of his Servants and Bailiffs, and Posse Comitatus... There is also a Protestant Militia, of about 24000 Men.
1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Militia, the People and Inhabitants of a Kingdom trained up in War for the Defence of it.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Militia, a certain Number of the Inhabitants of the City and Country formed into Regular Bodies, and train'd up in the Art of War, for the Defence and Security of the Kingdom.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 300 It [sc. the state] may..oblige either all the citizens of the military age, or a certain number of them, to join in some measure the trade of a soldier to whatever other trade or profession they may happen to carry on... Its military force is [then] said to consist in a militia . View more context for this quotation
1777 W. Heath in J. Sparks Corr. Amer. Revol. (1853) I. 329 Our troops are all militia, and, although perhaps as good as any militia, yet they are not disciplined.
1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (ed. 2) xx. 383 A good militia, that is, a certain portion of the people called out in turn to learn the use of arms.
1979 Encycl. Americana XIX. 112/2 Communist China maintains a loosely organized militia, comprising all politically reliable, ablebodied citizens, to ensure internal security.
1994 C. Turner tr. A. Corvisier Dict. Mil. Hist. 519/2 The Swiss air force and navy are also run on the militia principle.
b. figurative. An organized body of people comparable to a military force.
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1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 157 Fourty hundred sure Catholikes in England alone, with foure hundred English Romane Priests to mainetaine that Militia.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne Argt. ii. iv. 31 He has form'd a fine militia for the Inne too.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne ii. (Argt.) The Fly of the Inne is discouer'd.., with the Militia of the house, below the stayres, in the Drawer, Tapster, Chamberlaine, and Hostler, inferiour officers.
1714 A. Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) i. 3 Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly, The light Militia of the lower Sky.
1792 R. Burns Let. Sept. (1985) II. 150 Slips, Frips, Failings, Frailties, Back-slidings in the paths of grace, & Forward fa's upon a naked wame, and all the other light-horse militia of Iniquity.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth II. vii. 183 Out tumbled Will Hostler, John Tapster, and all the militia of the inn.
1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella I. Introd. p. lxviii The mendicant orders..that spiritual militia of the popes.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 2/1 Will the battle—the battle which seems everywhere else inevitable, between the red militia of democracy and the black militia of Rome, be fought out here, too?
1992 Mother Jones Jan.–Feb. 53/2 Consumption of water..continued up to 1956, when a special ‘river militia’ was created to ensure control in all populated localities along the banks of the river.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > [noun] > department or branch
militia1655
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 19 Mighty preparation was made..for the reinforcing of Navall strength. Nor was the Land-Militia left unregarded.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. v. 375 They had their Eye upon another Militia, the Royal Navy.
d. A paramilitary force motivated by religious or political ideology, esp. one that engages in rebel or terrorist activities in opposition to a regular army.Originally, probably in direct allusion to Spanish milicia; French milice also has this sense from 1937 onwards.Since the early 1990s in the U.S., the term has been applied to a number of right-wing groups opposed to gun control and distrustful of the federal government.
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1928 Daily Tel. 10 Jan. 10/6 The members of the Fascist Militia..might understandably display any aggressive consciousness of their position and power.
1937 ‘G. Orwell’ in New English Weekly 29 July 308/2 The old workers' militias, which were organised on a genuinely democratic system.
1965 G. Jackson Spanish Republic & Civil War xv. 262 Each of the Popular Front parties and the Unified Social Youth (JSU) formed militias.
1984 R. A. Wade (title) Red guards and workers' militias in the Russian Revolution.
1985 J. Laffin War of Desperation 205 Palestinian forces fall into four categories: (a) the regular Palestine Liberation Army—PLA; (b) quasi-regular units of the various organisations; (c) militias, supplementary to the various quasi-regular units; and (d) terror squads.
1991 N.Y. Amsterdam News 30 Mar. 4/1 McGee..also has a hard-core grassroots constituency, 600 of whom are members of his Black Panther Militia, a paramilitary organization he founded, currently involved in unarmed patrols of the African-American community but pledged to engage in urban guerrilla activities.
1995 Daily News (Halifax, Nova Scotia) 14 Oct. 17 The militia movement is already under scrutiny since the men arrested for the Oklahoma City bombing were linked to a so-called citizens' militia—a pro-gun, anti-government paramilitary group.
e. The regular uniformed police force of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, and several other eastern European countries.
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1935 S. Webb & B. Webb Soviet Communism ii. 130 The issue of those permits was entrusted to the militia, who were placed under the direction of the Ogpu for this purpose.
1956 W. W. Kulski Soviet Regime 233 The whole network of the various auxiliary services helps the militia greatly in watching Soviet citizens.
1970 D. Lane Politics & Society in U.S.S.R v. 160 Between 1962 and 1968 the ordinary police (the militia) came under the Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order.
1994 Cambr. Encycl. Russia & Former Soviet Union 375/2 The Russian militia is divided into a criminal investigation branch and a ‘local’ branch dealing with public order.
4. spec. The name of various military units and forces, raised locally (and usually for the purpose of local defence) from the civilian population of an area, and distinguished from professional standing armies as the latter developed. With singular or plural agreement. In the U.S.: the body of able-bodied citizens eligible by law to be called on to provide military service supplementary to the regular armed forces. Now chiefly historical.The term was originally used in England, esp. of the trained bands of London, and was adopted in the British colonies in North America from the 17th cent., and elsewhere, e.g. in Australia and New Zealand, by the 19th cent. The reconstitution of the U.S. militias as the National Guard was substantially complete by the beginning of the 20th cent., and elsewhere the term had lapsed, being often replaced by a variant of ‘territorial forces’ by 1945. It is still used unofficially in Canada, where it may have been reinforced by French milice.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > branch of army > [noun] > auxiliary branch
militia1642
1642 W. Prynne Soveraigne Antidote Civill Wars 9 Commanders of the Militia in every County were elected..in a full Falkmoth.
1643 in C. H. Firth & R. S. Rait Acts & Ordinances Interregnum (1911) I. 130 Considerable numbers of honest and trusty persons, not imployed in the Militia, or Trained bands.
1660 S. Pepys Diary 28 Feb. (1970) I. 70 We found..the Militia of the red Regiment in arms.
1660 S. Pepys Diary 2 Mar. (1970) I. 74 I hear the City Militia is put into a good posture.
1699 in Arch. Maryland (1902) XXII. 562 An Act for the Ordering and Regulating the Militia of this Province for the better Defence & Security thereof.
1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia iv. ix. 34 Every Freeman,..from Sixteen, to Sixty years of Age, is listed in the Militia.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 198 They..fired..very regularly, considering them as Militia only.
1759 H. Walpole Let. to H. Mann 16 Nov. I am one of the few men in England who am neither in the army or militia.
1761 C. Churchill Rosciad 11 Like Westminster militia, train'd to fight.
1763 Brit. Mag. 4 50 The following aldermen took the oaths to qualify them for colonels of the six regiments of the city militia, viz... Beckford,..col. of the white regiment... Ladbroke, col. of the blue... Rawlinson, col. of the red... Glyn, col. of the orange... Blackiston, col. of the green... Fludyer, col. of the yellow.
1789 Constit. U.S. i. §8 Congress shall have power..to provide for calling forth the militia.
1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Currency II. 85 Militia were kept constantly guarding the Schuylkill.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 14 Mar. 2/3 The naval militia in the recent war between the United States and Spain.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 7 July 12/2 The attempt..was opposed..on the ground that the Militia must in future be ‘more soldierly’.
1909 World To-day Oct. 1099 While many of the American states designate their amateur soldiery as ‘National Guards’, the venerable Bay State still sticks to the thoroughly Yankee caption of ‘militia’.
1939 War Illustr. 16 Dec. 427/3 We have taken, besides the Militia classes which have been called up, over 85,000 voluntary recruits since the war began.
1964 Time (Canadian ed.) 28 Feb. 9/3 Regular army men tend to question the militia's professionalism.
1970 D. Jacobson Rape of Tamar ii. 14 He announces decisions taken..about taxation, say, or the call-up of recruits and reservists into the militia.
1987 M. Collins Angel xi. 274 Come out, militia members, this is the time to defend your country!
1990 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army xxviii. 340 In 1908, the title of Militia disappeared, and today the doyen of the Territorial Army, the Royal Monmouthshire (Royal Engineers) Militia, is the only British regiment to retain it.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.† militia carpenter n. Obsolete† militia constable n. Obsolete rare
militia act n.
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1744 in New Jersey Archives (1882) 1st Ser. VI. 187 It is fit that all these people should be trained and taught the use of arms, and it is chiefly for this that the Militia Act is intended.
1882 Act 45 & 46 Vict. c. 49 §1 This Act may be cited as the Militia Act, 1882.
1995 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 21 Sept. 72/1 Congress..gave him the Militia Act of 1793, which made of the militia a velleity.
militia army n.
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1813 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) XI. 140 I should very much doubt that a large militia army would be very useful in the field.
1977 tr. Great Soviet Encycl. XVI. 309/2 At the present time only Switzerland has a militia army.
militia bill n.
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1713 E. Ward Hist. Grand Rebellion II. 419 None prouder to perform whate'er was Ill, The first that brought in the Militia Bill.
1748 in New Jersey Archives (1883) 1st Ser. VII. 211 A Militia Bill was prepared, & passed, by the Assembly.
1851 Southern Literary Messenger 17 599/1 You upon receipt of my scheme gave instructions to your committee to draw up a Militia bill upon a quite different foot.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 226/1 Voluntary enlistment under the new Militia Bill [of 1852] was to be the rule.
1989 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 61 243 Serious, though ultimately unsuccessful, campaigns to enact such a Scots militia bill in Parliament were mounted in 1759–60 and 1762.
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1756 G. Washington Writings (1889) I. 356 Forty pounds of tobacco per day, which is provided by act of Assembly for militia carpenters.
militia colonel n.
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1686 A. Paschall 8 Sept. in 9th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1904) App. iii. 28 He had the first information of the Duke's landing, and made it known to a militia colonel.
1901 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 739/2 For two years after Lynch received his commission as a militia colonel the war was waged outside of Virginia, and he and his regiment were not called to the field.
1995 Toronto Star 21 July A18 He is as much a product of programming as the militia colonels he complains about.
militia commission n.
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1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 4 Their Militia Commissions.
1959 William & Mary Q. 35 416 Yet Lewis was appointed governor of Louisiana, while Clark received the less important post of Indian agent for the region; he was also awarded a militia commission as brigadier general.
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1678 in Minutes & Accts. Feoffees Peterborough (MSS) 190 Paid for Pollards tax for the Militia Constables charges Gaol & house of correction.
militia force n.
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1643 True Relation Late Victorie Sir Ralph Hopton 6 On Sunday last, to cleare the Land of mercy (for so those that are escaped terme Cornwall) of the Militia Forces, Sir Ralph with a small party marched towards Salt-Ash.
1802 Act 42 Geo. III c. 72 §29 Any Act made..concerning the Militia Forces of England.
1982 Washington Post 30 Aug. a10/5 The biggest militia force outside the Movement is Amal, the militia of Lebanon's..Shiite Moslem community.
militia guard n.
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1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. iv. 77 A Militia Guard of five hundred Horse.
1869 Overland Monthly Apr. 316/1 In an instant more a volley was poured into the doors of the building which killed one and wounded several of the militia guard inside.
1915 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 2 121 The two commissioners were to lay before the auditor a fair account for expenses, except the wages and the pay of the laborers and militia guard.
militia horse n.
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1652 Faithful Scout No. 78. 611 Two Troops of Col. Riches horse were come thither also, & some Companies of the Countreyes foot; most of the Militia Horse and Foot are also upon their march.
1692 in Rec. Plowden Family (1887) vi. 81 Item. Pd. Mr. Salery for ye militia horse, and three days pay for the rider.
1940 William & Mary Coll. Q. Hist. Mag. 20 274 On October 1 preparations were made for moving in closer to the British works. Lazun's Legion, some troops from Colonel Innis' brigade, and the militia horse under Webb moved down to reconnoiter.
militia officer n.
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1658 Mercurius Politicus No. 433. 829 The several livery Companies in their gowns, and with their Banners, went first, after them..the Militia Officers.
1705 Boston News-let. 17 Sept. 2/2 His Excellency has been pleased to fill up the Vacancy in the Militia Officers of our Regiment.
1863 E. Dicey Six Months in Federal States II. 2 At Washington, during the war, every militia officer..considered himself justified in talking about Jomini and Vauban and the science of strategics.
1993 D. McIntee White Darkness (BNC) 166 The defence of the building had been arranged and conducted by a former Haitian militia officer and an Englishwoman.
militia regiment n.
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1655 in C. H. Firth Clarke Papers (1899) III. 23 The citty have named Alderman Underwood, Alderman Tichborne, and —— to bee 3 of theire Collonells to comand theire Militia regiments.
1730 H. Fielding Rape upon Rape ii. ii. 16 Fear not; these bear no nearer Affinity to Lawyers, than a Militia Regiment of Squires do to Soldiers.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice I. vii. 60 At present, indeed, they were well supplied both with news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in the neighbourhood. View more context for this quotation
1994 Espirit de Corps (Ottawa) Aug. 32/2 The vast majority of militia regiments were much older..most having been organized in the 1860s to meet the Fenian threat from the United States.
militia service n.
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1818 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 33 83 I mean the Militia Service and other compulsory military and naval service.
1824 W. J. Burchell Trav. Interior S. Afr. II. 111 The master himself was at this time absent on the Commando, or militia-service, against the Caffres in the Zuureveld.
1987 M. S. Anderson Europe in Eighteenth Cent. (ed. 3) 219 In France the more well-to-do cultivators (those who paid 50 livres or more in taille) were exempt from militia service.
militia soldier n.
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1671 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1872) II. 275 To imped the militia souldiers to ingadge with the French captaine.
1674 in W. G. S. Moncrieff Rec. Proc. Justiciary Court Edinb. (1905) II. 247 The said day Willam fferguson,..William Gordon, militia soldiers in the Earl of Erroll's Regiment, indited..for the slaughter of the said Andrew.
1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 195 Oft haul'd in gods, by head and shoulders, To discipline Militia soldiers, And made the stout old bully Mars.
1870 W. M. Leftwich Martyrdom in Missouri 431 He published an appointment for preaching, and a few hours before the time came, two militia soldiers waited on him and informed him that he would not be permitted to hold the service.
2000 Toronto Star (Electronic ed.) 26 June A handful of Kurdish militia soldiers use the gutted villa as a barracks, decorating its walls with childish graffiti, and keeping watch from the roof with an anti-aircraft gun.
C2.
militia band n. (a) a group of musicians belonging to a militia; (b) a gang of militiamen.
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1783 J. Woodforde Diary 24 Mar. (1926) II. 66 The Order of the Procession was as follows. Four Trumpeters..Militia Band.
1804 D. Humphreys Misc. Wks. 172 Militia bands, who fought to save their farms, All multiformly march in garb and arms.
1951 W. Faulkner in H. Brickell O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951 107 The militia band had got more whisky from the trading-post store.
1996 E. Lovelace Salt ix. 176 The little bandstand where the militia band played for the Port-of-Spain population.
militia reserve n. now historical a reserve force in the British armed forces (see quot. 1876).
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1876 G. E. Voyle Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) Militia Reserve, a force created by the act of 1867; its numbers not to exceed one-fourth of militia quota; the men to be enlisted for five years, during which time they remain on the strength of militia regiments, but are liable to be drafted into the army in time of war.
1903 T. W. H. Crosland Five Notions 73 Her Majesty is by proclamation about to issue an order for the embodiment of the Militia and the Militia Reserve forces, or so much as Her Majesty may think necessary for the permanent service.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† militiav.
Obsolete. rare.
transitive. To call out (troops) as a militia.
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1724 W. Warburton Misc. Transl. 106 Their Country's Cause provokes to Arms The active Pigmy Troops militia'd out, In fronted Brigades.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1590
v.1724- snarls up
- snarlup
- snarly
- snarnoise
- snarp
- snarply
- snarring
- snarry
- snart
- snartly
- snary
- snash
- snashed
- snashes
- snashing
- snaste
- snastes
- snat-nosed
- snatch
- snatch crop
- snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
- snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory
- snatch it or one's time
- snatch out of the fire
- snatch squad