fighting irons
Military slang for a set of cutlery — the fork, knife, and spoon a soldier uses at meal times.
Definitions
Military slang for a set of cutlery — the fork, knife, and spoon a soldier uses at meal times. The phrase brings some battlefield swagger to the humble act of eating, which makes sense in a world where mealtime is a brief relief from combat. Used primarily in British military contexts, it reflects the forces' tradition of giving everything — however mundane — a suitably robust nickname.
He dropped his fighting irons on the floor of the mess and had to wash them before dinner.
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(military, slang) A set of cutlery.
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Semantically related
- sheet iron68%
(derogatory, military slang) hardtack.
- sheet iron66%
In civilian use, sheet iron is simply thin flat iron rolled into sheets — a basic industrial material. But in military slang, particularly among soldiers who endured it, "sheet iron" was a derogatory nickname for hardtack, the rock-hard crackers issued as field rations. The comparison was brutally apt: hardtack was notoriously nearly inedible without soaking, and soldiers joked bitterly that eating it risked breaking teeth.
- flatware64%
(US) Eating utensils; cutlery, such as forks, knives and spoons.
- cutlery62%
(chiefly, UK) Eating or serving utensils such as knives, forks, and spoons.