[identity profile] sallymn.livejournal.com

panoply [pan-uh-plee]

noun:
1a a full suit of armor
b ceremonial attire
2 something forming a protective covering
3a a magnificent or impressive array, a splendid display
b a display of all appropriate appurtenances

Examples:

But it is the rich panoply of figures around William who give the stories their interest and colour, and which make them as entertaining for adults to read today as they ever might be for their children. (Alexander Larman, William Brown turns one hundred, The Critic, January 2022)

With helmet - and Dean offered the two finest battle helmets of modern times - it all came to just over 15 pounds. Quite wearable, you would think, given that U.S. soldiers' full panoply today can reach 40pounds, close to 15th century full-body plate armor. (Michael Vlahos, Could Body Armor Have Saved Millions in World War I?, The Atlantic, May 2013)

For sure, set amid an infinite panoply of seductive southern stars, the preceding image of your heavenly persona over Perth (Australia), is wondrous to behold, but Perth, with its paradisial climate, warmed year-round by gentile sea breezes sweeping in off the Indian Ocean, has no real need of you and your celestial antics. (Dan Hicks, Dear Comet Leonard (aka C-2021 A1 Leonard), East Kootenay News Online Weekly, January 2022)

Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the other women, remodeled the trappings to fit my lesser proportions, and after they completed the work I went about garbed in all the panoply of war. (Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars)

"At this moment Don Quixote came out in full panoply, with Mambrino's helmet, all dinted as it was, on his head, his buckler on his arm, and leaning on his staff or pike. (Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote)

Origin:

1570s, 'complete suit of armor,' from Greek panoplia 'complete suit of armor,' from pan- 'all' + hopla (plural), 'arms' of a hoplites ('heavily armed soldier'). Originally in English figurative, of 'spiritual armor,' etc. (a reference to Ephesians vi); non-armorial sense of 'any splendid array' is by 1829. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Panoply comes from the Greek word panoplia, which referred to the full suit of armor worn by hoplites, heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece. Panoplia is a blend of the prefix pan-, meaning 'all', and hopla, meaning 'arms' or 'armor'. (As you may have guessed already, hopla is also an ancestor of hoplite.) Panoply entered the English language in the 17th century, and since then it has developed other senses which extend both the 'armor' and the 'full set' aspects of its original use. (Merriam-Webster)


[identity profile] theidolhands.livejournal.com
In honor of Veteran's Day (U.S.) or Remembrance Day (Commonwealth countries), let's have some fun slang that also reminds us of their service and sacrifice:

armored cow: [origin: Australia, WW2] canned milk
army strawberries: [origin: Africa, US, WW2] prunes
balls: [origin: US] midnight on a 24-hour; it looks like four balls (0000)
beans and bullets: [origin: US] term for all types of supplies
beat your face: [origin: US] to do push-ups, usually as punishment
BFO: [origin: US] blinding flash of the obvious
bumf: [origin: UK] Paperwork, especially busywork; from "bum fodder" (fit only to be toilet paper)
butterbar: [origin: US] 2nd lieutenant or ensign, reference to rank insignia (single gold bar)
cat eyes: [origin: US & Canadian army] helmet-band with 2 pieces of reflective material on the back

See more, including the less PG-variety: HERE


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