Nearby Words
noun
1.
a member or former member of the U.S. armed forces, especially an enlisted soldier.
adjective
2.
rigidly adhering to military regulations and practices; regimented; spit-and-polish: a platoon leader who tried to be more GI than anyone else.
3.
of a standardized style or type issued by the U.S. armed forces: GI shoes; GI blankets.
4.
conforming to the regulations or practices of the U.S. armed forces: Every recruit must get a GI haircut.
5.
of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a U.S. enlisted person: a typical peacetime GI complaint.
00:10
00:09
00:08
00:07
00:06
00:05
00:04
00:03
00:02
00:01
G.i.
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
verb (used with object)
6.
to clean in preparation for inspection: to GI the barracks.
verb (used without object)
7.
to follow military regulations and customs closely; shape up: You'd better learn to GI if you want to be promoted.
Also, G.I.
Origin:
1915–20; orig. abbreviation of galvanized iron, used in U.S. Army bookkeeping in entering articles (e.g., trash cans) made of it; later extended to all articles issued (as an assumed abbreviation of government issue) and finally to soldiers themselves
1915–20; orig. abbreviation of galvanized iron, used in U.S. Army bookkeeping in entering articles (e.g., trash cans) made of it; later extended to all articles issued (as an assumed abbreviation of government issue) and finally to soldiers themselves
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To G.I.
Collins
World English Dictionary
| GI or g.i.2 | |
| —abbreviation for | |
| 1. | gastrointestinal |
| 2. | glycaemic index |
| g.i. or g.i.2 | |
| —abbreviation for | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
G.I.
1936 (adj.), Amer.Eng., apparently an abbreviation of Government Issue, applied to anything associated with servicemen. Transferred sense to "soldiers" during World War II (first recorded 1943) is from the jocular notion that the men themselves were manufactured by the government. An earlier G.I. was
EXPANDan abbreviation of Galvanized Iron in G.I. can, a type of metal trash can, the term being picked up by U.S. soldiers in World War I as slang for a similar-looking type of German artillery shells. This use is attested from 1928, but it is highly unlikely that this came to mean "soldier." I probably get more e-mail about this entry than any other. No two sources I have agree on the etymology, but none backs the widespread notion that it stands for *General Infantry.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
GI abbr.
gastrointestinal
Gingival Index
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Word Dynamo Rating For G.i.
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
