Archie
A diminutive of the male given name Archibald, from the Germanic languages, also used as a formal given name.
Proper noun
- A diminutive of the male given name Archibald, from the Germanic languages, also used as a formal given name.
- A female given name.
- A ghost town in Peninsula Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States.
- A city in Cass County, Missouri, United States.
- A former rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada, now part of Ellice-Archie.
Origin
Clipping of Archibald + -ie. The sense “anti-aircraft artillery” is said to be from airmen dodging hostile fire and shouting “Archibald, certainly not”, the refrain of a then popular music hall song of the same name first performed by George Robey in 1911. This habit probably originated with the pilot and commander Amyas Borton (1886–1969).
Derived
Noun government, military
- Anti-aircraft artillery.
- But then, dodging airbursts of Archie on the Western Front hadn't exactly been a joyride either. - 2012, Pat Kelleher, The Alleyman, →ISBN:
- He was seen by an aeroplane, our Archie gunner and a whole division to crash in their lines just opposite our trenches, much jubilation and more congratulations. - 2013, Tyrrel M. Hawker, Hawker VC- The First RFC Ace:...
- On a cloudy day one can hop in and out of the clouds, greatly to the annoyance of some Archie commander who, just when he has got range and direction and is about to let fly, finds that his bird has disappeared into a...
- A piece of anti-aircraft ordnance.
- An inquisitive aeroplane, which had been hovering over the scene, was picked off as by an Archie and made a forced landing, man and machine buried in filth. - 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:
- Quickly our five machines dodged the Archies as we crossed. - 2016, Lieut.-Col. Harold Evans Hartney, Up And At ‘Em, →ISBN:
Forms
Noun computing, engineering
- An Acorn Archimedes computer.
- FOR ARCHIE USERS. At last, a powerful database with details of every track (over 700 to date) on Classic CD discs from issue 1 to the present day is available for uses of Acorn (Archimedes) computers. - 1995, Classic...
- And what about getting the data from the Archie to the PC? - 2005, Jonathan, “BBC Micro B and Acorn Archimedes A400 (?) to PC file transfer”, in comp.sys.acorn.networking (Usenet):
Origin
Clipping of Archimedes + -ie.