goose-stepn.
Military.
(a) An elementary drill in which the recruit is taught to balance his body on either leg alternately, and swing the other backwards and forwards. (b) A balance step, practised esp. by various armies in marching on ceremonial parades, in which the legs are alternately advanced without bending the knees.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > drill or training > [noun] > type of drill or training
sham fight1598
field exercise1616
martinet1677
field evolutions1789
foot drill1795
goose-step1806
war-game1828
rope drill1833
field training1836
repetition training1859
skeleton drill1876
drill-down1889
Beast Barracks1896
basic training1898
monkey motion1909
assault course1915
TEWT1942
workup1971
Taceval1977
society > armed hostility > military operations > evolution > [noun] > marching > step > specific
sidestep1757
slow step1763
quickstep1766
high step1776
lockstep1787
goose-step1806
balance-step1833
1806 R. Wilson Jrnl. 11 Feb. The balance or goose-step introduced for their practice excites a fever of disgust.
1825 D. L. Richardson Sonnets 32 Oft with aching bones, I marched the goose-step, cursing Serjeant Jones.
1887 T. A. Trollope What I Remember II. ix. 164 You must have superintended a course of instruction in the goose-step in your day.
1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling sees it Through ii. i. 204 The small boys had discovered the goose-step.
1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling sees it Through ii. i. 204 They tried it them~selves, and then set out upon a goose-step propaganda.
1922 C. E. Montague Disenchantment xiii. 182 Doing the Prussianist goose-step by way of pas de triomphe.
1941 ‘G. Orwell’ Lion & Unicorn i. ii. 21 The goose-step..is one of the most horrible sights in the world.
1971 Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 3/6 As columns approached the Shah they broke into a goose-step.
Derivatives
ˈgoose-step v. (intransitive) to practise this drill; also occasionally transitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military operations > evolution > [verb (intransitive)] > march > practise specific step
hay-foot, straw-foot1851
goose-step1879
lock-step1887
1879 S. Baring-Gould Germany I. 297 He sees them [recruits] posturing, goose-stepping, tumbling [etc.].
1938 Reader's Digest Jan. 110/1 Chilean citizens of German blood are already goose~stepped by Nazi missionaries.
1964 C. Chaplin My Autobiogr. xxv. 433 Greed has poisoned men's souls.., has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
1967 Listener 16 Mar. 370/3 The Nazi jackboot goose~stepping on the boulevards got his goat.
1970 Daily Tel. 16 June 11/7 Women as well as men goose-step around the stage to the tat-tat of drums.
ˈgoose-stepping n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1935 H. R. L. Sheppard We say No viii. 97 Hitler's goose-stepping conscripts.
1941 A. Koestler Scum of Earth 79 A helpless, bleeding prey to be stamped on by the boots of the goose-stepping conqueror.
1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 122/2 The remorseless goose~stepping of the glamorous female warrior.
1970 Daily Tel. 10 Dec. 4/5 President Nyerere reviewed goose-stepping troops of Tanzania's army yesterday.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
<
n.1806