de·mob (d
-m
b
) Chiefly British tr.v. de·mobbed, de·mob·bing, de·mobs
To demobilize (armed forces).
n.
Demobilization of armed forces.
In Blow Hot, Blow Cold I came across a word I had never seen before. Most of my 'Brit Word of the Day' selections are at least known to me; some I use, some I'm a little fuzzy on (meaning-wise). But 'demobbed' was a head scratcher.
The sentence reads thus: "...Sinclair, who had been her father's batman in the army during the war, and had somehow attached himself to his household when they had been demobbed."
It sounded a little like some Victorian servant girl being drummed out of the service in the same way that a priest might be defrocked but I gathered the gist easily enough--though what a good thing I know what a batman is! Her use of the term is, I think, just another of those little evidences that The Venerable Neels was in the military and served her country.
In Blow Hot, Blow Cold I came across a word I had never seen before. Most of my 'Brit Word of the Day' selections are at least known to me; some I use, some I'm a little fuzzy on (meaning-wise). But 'demobbed' was a head scratcher.
The sentence reads thus: "...Sinclair, who had been her father's batman in the army during the war, and had somehow attached himself to his household when they had been demobbed."
It sounded a little like some Victorian servant girl being drummed out of the service in the same way that a priest might be defrocked but I gathered the gist easily enough--though what a good thing I know what a batman is! Her use of the term is, I think, just another of those little evidences that The Venerable Neels was in the military and served her country.
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