doughboy
American Heritage Dictionary:
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dough·boy
(dō'boi') 
n.
n.
- A piece of bread dough that is rolled thin and fried in deep fat.
- An American infantryman in World War I.
[Sense 2, perhaps from the large buttons on American uniforms of the 1860s, said to resemble doughboys (sense 1).]
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n. WWI slang an American infantryman.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
Gale Encyclopedia of US History:
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Doughboy
Word that was universally used in the U.S. Army to mean an infantryman, and specifically an American infantryman, up until World War II, when it was replaced with "GI." When it was first used is uncertain, but it can be traced as far back as 1854, when it was already in use on the Texas border, and it was especially popular in World War I. The explanation then was that the infantrymen wore white belts and had to clean them with "dough" made of pipe clay. Originally a term of ridicule used by the mounted service, it was adopted by the infantry itself and used with great pride.
Bibliography
Kennedy, David M. Over Here: The First World War and American Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
—Oliver Lyman Spaulding/D. B.
Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang:
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doughboy
noun
noun, US
A US infantryman, esp. in World War I. (1867 —) .
A. Loos During World War I, she dressed as a doughboy in olive drab (1966).
[Perh. from doughboy boiled flour dumpling, from a supposed resemblance to the large round buttons on US infantry uniforms in the Civil War.]
noun, US
A US infantryman, esp. in World War I. (1867 —) .
A. Loos During World War I, she dressed as a doughboy in olive drab (1966).
[Perh. from doughboy boiled flour dumpling, from a supposed resemblance to the large round buttons on US infantry uniforms in the Civil War.]
| dough, douche-bag, doubloons | |
| doughfoot, down, down-low |
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'doughboy'
- Soldiers and Military Life - doughboy: Informal. U.S. infantryman, esp. in World War I
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Doughboy
For other uses, see Doughboy (disambiguation).
Doughboy is an informal term for an American soldier, especially members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I. The term dates back to the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.
The term was used sparingly during World War II, gradually replaced by "G.I.". It was still used in popular songs of the day, as in the 1942 song "Johnny Doughboy found a Rose in Ireland."[1] It dropped out of popular use soon after World War II.[2]
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Contents
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Etymology
The term was in use in the 1840s.[3][4] The origins are unclear. The most often cited explanation is that it arose during the Mexican–American War, after observers noticed U.S. infantry forces were constantly covered with chalky dust from marching through the dry terrain of northern Mexico, giving the men the appearance of unbaked dough.[5] Another suggestion has the term arising again from the Mexican–American War, and the dust-covered infantry men resembled the commonly used mud bricks of the area known as adobes.[5] Another suggestion is that doughboys were so named because of their method of cooking field rations of the 1840s and 1850s, usually doughy flour and rice concoctions baked in the ashes of a camp fire, although this does not explain why only infantryman received the appellation.[5]
See also
- American Expeditionary Forces - the formal name
- Dogface (military)
- Frank Buckles - last Doughboy from World War I until his death in 2011.
- Poilu - equivalent term for French soldiers of World War I
- Tommy Atkins - equivalent term for British soldiers of World War I
References
- ^ In 1942 two infantry soldiers wrote The Dogface Soldier, later officially adopted as the song of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. The Dogface Soldier
- ^ George, John B. (Lt. Col), Shots Fired In Anger, Samworth Press (1948), pp. xi, xii, 21: Lt. John George, an Army officer writing a World War II autobiographical postwar combat memoir in May 1947, freely used the term to describe himself and his fellow U.S. Army infantrymen.
- ^ Dana, Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh (Lt), Monterrey Is Ours! The Mexican War Letters of Lieutenant N.J.T. Dana, 1845-1847, University of Kentucky Press (1990), ISBN 0-8131-1703-8, ISBN 978-0-8131-1703-4: Lt. Dana, an infantryman in the Mexican-American War, wrote in a letter posted during the campaign, "We 'doughboys' had to wait for the artillery to get their carriages over."
- ^ Chamberlain, Samuel, My Confessions: Recollections of a Rogue, Austin: Texas State Historical Association (1965): Chamberlain, a horse-mounted Dragoon in the Mexican-American War, wrote in his memoirs years later, "No man of any spirit and ambition would join the 'Doughboys' and go afoot."
- ^ a b c Hanlon, Michael E., The Origins of Doughboy, 16 June 2003, Origin of Term Doughboy
Further reading
- Faulstich, Edith. M. "The Siberian Sojourn" Yonkers, N.Y. (1972–1977)
- Gawne, Jonathan. Over There!: The American Soldier in World War I (1999)- 83 pages, heavily illustrated
- Grotelueschen, Mark Ethan. The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I (2006) excerpt and text search
- Hallas, James H. Doughboy War: The American Expeditionary Force in World War I (2nd ed. 2009) online edition; includes many primary sources from soldiers
- Hoff, Thomas. US Doughboy 1916-19 (2005)
- Kennedy, David M. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980) excerpt and text search
- Nelson, James Carl. The Remains of Company D:A Story of the Great War (2009)
- Schafer, Ronald. America in the Great War (1991)
- Skilman, Willis Rowland. The A.E.F.: Who They Were, what They Did, how They Did it (1920) 231 pp; full text online
- Smith, Gene. Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing (1999), popular biography.
- Snell, Mark A. Unknown Soldiers: The American Expeditionary Forces in Memory and Remembrance (2008)
- Thomas, Shipley. The History of the A. E. F. (1920), 540pp; full text online
- Votow, John. The American Expeditionary Forces in World War I (2005) - 96 pp; excerpt and text search
- Werner, Bret. Uniforms, Equipment And Weapons of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I (2006)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Doughboy |
- Doughboy Center stories from the AEF
- [1] Last "Doughboy" dies at 110
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of the US Military
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Gale Encyclopedia of US History
Encyclopedia of American History Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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McGraw-Hill Slang Dictionary
McGraw-Hill's Essential American Slang Dictionary. Copyright © 2007 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
trade character
(in marketing)
Johnny Doughboy
(1943 Musical Film)
Edward Streeter
(literature)
Doughboys
(recipes)
» More