GI

n.
An enlisted person in or a veteran of any of the U.S. armed forces, especially a person enlisted in the army.

adj.

1. Relating to or characteristic of an enlisted person.
2. Conforming to or in accordance with U.S. military regulations or procedures.
3. Issued by an official U.S. military supply department.

adv.
In strict accordance with military regulations or practices.

tr.v. Slang, GI'd, GI'ing, GI's.
To clean (barracks, for example) thoroughly for or as if for an inspection.

[From abbreviation of galvanized iron (applied to trash cans, etc.), later reinterpreted as government issue.]

Origin: 1917

For much of the twentieth century, GI has been the common designation for the American fighting man--or woman. However, the GI was born early in the century not as a soldier but as a trash can.

Originally the initials GI formed an abbreviation that stood for the material from which a trash can was made, galvanized iron, and its source, government issue. During World War I, when the term first came to attention in the American Expeditionary Force, GI can was the doughboys' trash talk for a German artillery shell. "After dark that night," went one account, "Fritz came over and started dropping those famous G.I. cans." And another: "We crossed the river on a span of a sunken bridge that was struck by a G.I.C." German shells were also just plain GIs, as in this 1918 poem: "There's about two million fellows, and there's some of them who lie/Where eighty-eights and G.I.'s gently drop."

Shortly before the start of World War II, the GI (for government issue, or general issue) became human. There had been GI soap, GI shoes, and GI clothes; now there was the GI soldier, soon shortened to plain GI. By the time World War II began, doughboy (1865) had been completely displaced by the more versatile GI, the term that remains in use today. And whatever the effects of GI food, the military GI has nothing to do with the gastrointestinal GI of the medical profession.

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On drawings, abbr. for galvanized iron.

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GIS is the common abbreviation for Geographic Information Systems, a powerful and widely used computer database and software program that allows scientists to link geographically referenced information related to any number of variables to a map of a geographical area. GIS allows its users to analyze and display data using digitized maps. In addition, GIS can generate maps and tables useful to a wide-range of applications involving planning and decision-making. GIS programs allow the rapid storage, manipulation, and correlation of geographically referenced data (i.e., data tied to a particular point or latitude and longitude intersection on a map).

In addition to scientific studies, by 2003, GIS programs were in wide use in a number of emergency support agencies and systems (e.g., the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)).

GIS programs allow scientists to layer information so that different combinations of data plots can be assigned to the same defined area. GIS also allows users to manipulate data plots to predict changes or to interpret the evolution of historical data.

GIS maps are able to convey the same information as conventional maps, including the locations of rivers, roads, topographical features, and geopolitical information (e.g., location of cites, political boundaries, etc.). In addition, to conventional map features, GIS offers geologists, geographers, and other scholars the opportunity to selectively overlay data tied to geographic position. By overlaying different sets of data, scientists can look for points or patterns of correspondence. For example, rainfall data can be layered over another data layer describing terrain features. Over these layers, another layer data representing soil contamination data might be used to identify sources of pollution. In many cases, the identification of data correspondence spurs additional study for potential causal relationships.

GIS software data plots (e.g., sets of data describing roads, elevations, stream beds, etc.) are arranged in layers that can be selectively turned on or turned off.

NASA engineers and teams of other scientists—including researchers and undergraduates from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas—employed GIS mapping to map remains found after the break up of the space shuttle Columbia in January 2003. Debris field maps helped narrow search patterns and—by linking the location of debris—allowed engineers and investigators to reconstruct critical elements of the disaster sequence. GPS data were used to construct the debris maps and to provide accurate representations of the retrogressive pattern of debris impacts.

GIS technology can also aid epidemiologists in tracking diseases and would be instrumental in the early identification of patterns of disease that could reveal a bioterrorist attack.

Further Reading

Books

Rigaux, P. et al. Spatial Databases: With Application to GIS. Morgan Kaufmann, 2001.

Steede-Terry, K. Integrating GIS and the Global Positioning System. ESRI Press, 2000.

Gastrointestinal; globin (zinc) insulin.

Government Issue. A member of the military services. Originally the stamp on buckets indicating galvanized iron.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - galvaniseret jern
abbr. - militær-, galvaniseret jern

1.
n. - menig soldat i det amerikanske militær, veteran fra 2. verdenskrig
adj. - militær-

2.
abbr. - gilbert, mave- og tarm-, ca. 1/8 liter

Nederlands (Dutch)
soldaat

Français (French)
n. - soldat américain
abbr. - GI/GIs

1.
n. - soldat américain (GI, GIs)
adj. - (US, Mil) de/caractéristique d'un GI, (US) en conformité avec les lois ou les procédures martiales

2.
abbr. - (abrév) gilbert (unité électromagnétique), (abrév = gastrointestinal) gastro-intestinal, (abrév = gill) (Mes) un quart de pinte

Deutsch (German)
n. - weißer Karateanzug
abbr. - Gill

1.
n. - Soldat
adj. - GI...., US Armee..

2.
abbr. - Gilbert, gastrointestinal, Viertelpint

Ελληνική (Greek)
abbr. - (ΗΠΑ) φαντάρος, μονάδα γκίλμπερτ, γαστροεντερικός, μονάδα υγρών γκιλ
n. - (ΗΠΑ) φαντάρος

Italiano (Italian)
soldato

Português (Portuguese)
abbr. - soldado (m) raso (coloq.) (EUA) (Mil.)

Русский (Russian)
рядовой армии США, армейского образца

Español (Spanish)
n. - atuendo de dos piezas usado en artes marciales
abbr. - tema de gobierno

1.
n. - soldado, recluta
adj. - regimentado, que se ajusta a las reglamentaciones militares

2.
abbr. - gilbert, gastrointestinal, cuarta parte de una pinta (medida)

Svenska (Swedish)
abbr. - (ung.) utsänd av regeringen
n. - menig soldat, militär-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 美国兵, 美国现役或退伍军人, 军用的, 军队供给的, 美国军人的

2. 美国兵, 美国现役或退伍军人

基尔, 总收入, 总库存, 总存货

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
abbr. - 美國兵, 美國現役或退伍軍人

2.
n. - 美國兵, 美國現役或退伍軍人
adj. - 軍用的, 軍隊供給的, 美國軍人的

n. - 基爾
abbr. - 總收入, 總庫存, 總存貨

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 흰색의 도복
abbr. - gie(흰색의 헐렁한 도복)

1.
n. - 미국 군인
adj. - 미군 병사의, 군에 맞는

2.
abbr. - 길버트(기자력의 단위)

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 米軍下士官兵
v. - きれいに掃除する
adj. - 官給の, 米軍軍人の
adv. - 軍の規則に従って

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(اختصار) مجند (الاسم) جندي امريكي اشتهر في الحرب العالميه الثانيه (صفه) مسأله حكوميه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮לבוש קל לבן בד"כ שלובשים המתחרים באמנויות לחימה‬
abbr. - ‮קיצור של LLIG - ר' בהמשך‬
n. - ‮טוראי בצבא האמריקאי‬
adj. - ‮של חייל אמריקאי, מציית לפקודות ולהוראות הצבא‬
abbr. - ‮ברזל מחושמל, עניין כללי, עניין ממשלתי, של הקיבה והמעיים‬

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gi	gi joes
gi joe	Gi Ii Pants