Word
archie
Phoneticsarchie
/ˈɑɹtʃi/
Definitions
01a person's name
n. a common short name for a man named Archibald.
n. a diminutive of the masculine given name Archibald, frequently used as a formal given name in its own right.
“Archie and his friends went to the park to play football.”
“The biography details how Archie rose from a modest background to become one of the most influential figures in the industry.”
02anti-aircraft guns
n. a slang word used during World War I for guns that shoot at planes.
n. a slang term for anti-aircraft artillery or the fire from such ordnance.
“The pilots had to fly low to avoid the heavy archie coming from the ground.”
“During the reconnaissance mission, the squadron encountered intense archie, forcing them to break formation and seek cloud cover.”
Archaic · Slang
Usage
Usually uncountable when referring to the fire itself, but can be countable when referring to the guns.
Synonyms
03a type of computer
n. a friendly name for the Acorn Archimedes, a computer used in British schools in the 1980s.
n. an informal designation for the Acorn Archimedes range of personal computers.
“We used to play educational games on the old Archie in the school library.”
“Retro-computing enthusiasts still maintain software libraries for the Archie, praising its innovative RISC architecture.”
British English · Informal
Usage
Primarily used in the United Kingdom during the late 20th century.
Etymology
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).
Clipping of Archimedes + -ie.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/archie