subs. (military).—An infantryman. Fr. pousse-caillou.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Beetle-crusher (or -squasher); blanket-boy (a volunteer); boiled lobster; brother-blade; caterpillar; cat-shooter (volunteer); coolie; flat-foot; fly-slicer (a cavalryman); grabby; jolly gravel-grinder (a marine, see Royal Jolly); leatherneck; light-bob; lobster; MUD-MAJOR (q.v.); mud-plunger; plunger; prancer (a cavalryman); Q.H.B. (= Queen’s Hard Bargain = a malingerer); raw lobster (see LOBSTER); red-coat; red-herring; Saturday-soldier (a volunteer); scarlet-runner; skid; snoddy; swaddy; tame jolly (see JOLLY); toe-footer (or bloody toe-footer); Tommy Atkins; tow-pow; wobbler; worm-crusher (or -squasher).
FRENCH SYNONYMS. Un allumeur de gaz (= a lancer: in allusion to the weapon and a lamp-lighter’s rod); un barbe-à-poux (= a sapper: they wear long beards); un bibi (popular); un biffin, or bifin (the knapsack is likened to a rag-picker’s basket); un bouffeur de kilomètres (the Chasseurs de Vincennes; a picked corps of skirmishers and scouts); un briscard (= an old soldier with long-service stripes); un cabillot (sailors’); un camisard (a military convict who serves his time in Africa: also un camisard en bordée); un centrier or centripète (popular); un chacal (= a Zouave); une citrouille or un citrouillard (= a dragoon); les clous (the infantry en masse); un court-à-pattes (a foot artilleryman); un cul rouge (in allusion to the red trousers: cf. CHERRY-BUM); Dumanet (= TOMMY ATKINS: from a character in a play); une écrevisse de rempart (cavalrymen’s); un fiferlin (popular); un fiffot (popular); un griffeton or grivier (popular); un homard (= a spahi: cf. LOBSTER); un hussard à quatre roues (= an army-service man); un lascar (= a malingerer); un lignard (= a linesman); un marche à terre (cf. MUD-CRUSHER); une marionette (popular); un méfiant (military); un mousse-caillou (popular); les mutilés (= soldiers drafted to Africa for self-mutilation); officier de guérite (military); un Parisien (military: a crack soldier); un pied de banc (= a sergeant); un pousse-caillou (popular = gravel-grinder).
ITALIAN SYNONYMS. Burasco; formigotto; foco or fuoco.
