red shirt

plural red shirts

1. alternativeAlternative form of redshirt (“expendable minor character”).

   But Howie was only a pawn in this war, a foot soldier, a red shirt.

   2007, Dana Stabenow, A Deeper Sleep, →ISBN, page 174

   2 more examples

   Trekkers knew that if a "red shirt" — a non-regular cast member garbed in a red Starfleet tunic — was assigned to a landing party with Captain Kirk, the odds were very much against him or her returning from that mission. "Red shirts" were the expendable members of the crew, and viewers were never really surprised if the poor innocents were snuffed by the episode's end.

   2000, Terry J. Erdmann, Paula M. Block, Deep Space Nine Companion, →ISBN, page 44

   He, however, was nothing more than another red shirt. Michael still tried to imagine what was running through that kid's mind as he charged head long into the mob, his shouts of glory quickly turning to screams of terror as they ripped him apart.

   2014, Mikhail Lerma, Z-Plan 2: Red Tides, →ISBN

2. alternativeAlternative form of redshirt (“sailor who handles ordnance”).

   Red shirts deal with weapons and crash and salvage operations.

   1988, The AOPA Pilot: Voice of General Aviation - Volume 31, Part 2, page 47

   2 more examples

   Gervais was a red shirt, a member of the night ordnance crew, who wore red for easy visual identification of ordnance handlers.

   2001, Wynn F. Foster, Fire on the Hangar Deck: Ordeal of the Oriskany, page 7

   As I exited the COD, there was a “red shirt” with GM stenciled in big black letters on the front and back of his shirt there to greet me, loan me a set of Mickey Mouse Ears and lend a hand with my gear.

   2016, Robert Baker, The Flight of the Sparrow, →ISBN

3. Alternative letter-case form of Red Shirt (“member of the UDD”).

   Well, it was not too easy today, because the red shirts were staging a big rally in Bangkok this weekend.

   2014, JJ Stone, Bungee Love, →ISBN, page 283

   2 more examples

   During the rule of yellow shirts the Thai stance towards the Preah Vihear temple was more nationalist, while the red shirts, whose leaders enjoyed close ties with Camboida's leaders, were also the initiators of cooperative mechanisms and were developing warm ties with Cambodia.

   2016, Alfred Gerstl, Mária Strašáková, Unresolved Border, Land and Maritime Disputes in Southeast Asia, →ISBN

   As he got near the MBK center at Siam, he noticed about a dozen red shirt guards standing outside of a number of sandbags and a wooden fence area which appeeared to be an entrance.

   2017, Tom Moon Mullins, I sought refuge with the Red Shirts, →ISBN, page 15

4. Alternative letter-case form of Red Shirt (“follower of Garibaldi”).

   Are our Garibaldians, the red shirts, there?

   1865, Alberto Mario, The Red Shirt: Episodes, page 253

   2 more examples

   The “red shirts” led by Guiseppe Garibaldi had already freed Sicily.

   2003, Richard Morris, The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table, →ISBN

   In 1860, he and his 1,000 'red shirts' took Sicily.

   2013, Jacob F. Field, We Shall Fight on the Beaches: The Speeches That Inspired History, →ISBN

5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see red, shirt.

plural Red Shirts · alternative red shirt · alternative red-shirt

1. A member of the UDD (National United Front for Democracy) who supported Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (and subsequent Thaksin-affiliated parties) in the conflict in Thailand after the 2006 coup d'etat.

   At the time of the Bangkok floods in 2011, the store was a center for distributing goods donated through Red Shirt organizations.

   2015, Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker, Unequal Thailand: Aspects of Income, Wealth and Power, →ISBN, page 152

   3 more examples

   This need became clear with the emergence and conflicts between the Yellow Shirt movement (2005–13) and the Red Shirt movement (2007–present).

   2014, N. Kim -, Multicultural Challenges and Sustainable Democracy in Europe and East Asia, →ISBN

   The landslide victory of Peau Thai, sweeping 53% of the seat shares, was without a doubt due to the strength of its Red Shirt supporters.

   2014, Pranee Liamputtong, Contemporary Socio-Cultural and Political Perspectives in Thailand, →ISBN

   The protests that led to the coup in 2014 were not as prolonged and damaging to the physical infrastructure as the Red Shirt protests of 2008 to 2012 had been.

   2017, Antonio L. Rappa, The King and the Making of Modern Thailand, →ISBN

2. historicalA follower of Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian revolutionary in the later nineteenth century.

   In 1848, both Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Italy movement and Giuseppe Garibaldis Red Shirts had sought a united republican Italy achieved through direct popular action, but they had failed.

   2002, Mark A. Kishlansky, Patrick J. Geary, Patricia O'Brien, A Brief History of Western Civilization, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Garibaldi started his career as a revolutionist in Nice where he had been born. Compelled to flee to South America, he became a noted crusader for the abstract principle of liberty. He returned to Italy for the revolution of 1848 and won renown as leader of the Red Shirts.

   1945, Jay Monaghan, Abraham Lincoln Deals with Foreign Affairs, →ISBN, page 133

   The Red Shirts lay there for about 15 minutes. All the while. Garibaldi was moving among his men, encouraging them, telling them to rest before the last push. At the same time, the Red Shirts could hear the Neapolitan officers telling their men to move forward and sweep the Italian patriots off their protecting ledge.

   1987, Herman J. Viola, Susan P. Viola, Giuseppe Garibaldi, →ISBN, page 21

3. historicalA member of a paramilitary arm of the Democratic party in Mississippi and South Carolina at the end of Reconstruction.

   His narrative suggests that psychological factors shaped his decision to become a Red Shirt. Although his Republican father was murdered by Democrats in 1870, Fleming recalled being part of a Red Shirt group that killed the man in 1876.

   1998, Edmund L. Drago, Hurrah for Hampton!, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Earlier scholarship tried to maintain a distinction between the violence of the Ku Klux Klan and the ostensibly peaceful activities of the Red Shirts, but more recent scholarship has concluded that this was a distinction without a difference.

   2006, Richard Zuczek, Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era, →ISBN, page 522

   It is likely that some of the younger men who had been too young to participate in the Civil War may have seen the Red Shirt companies as their opportunity to share in "the glory of battle" and were happy to join their fathers and older brothers.

   2010, Jerry L. West, The Bloody South Carolina Election of 1876, →ISBN, page 83

4. alternativefictionAlternative form of redshirt (“expendable minor character”).

   Red Shirts are characters with only a little more personality than Random Grunts, but they are expendable, and you can expect them to get killed.

   2009, David Perry, Rusel DeMaria, David Perry on Game Design: A Brainstorming Toolbox, page 242

   2 more examples

   This strong dilemma is also a fun one, and works particularly well against players who like to use the controversial "Red Shirt" tactic of sending down small away teams to attempt dilemmas.

   1995, Decipher, Inc, Star Trek Next Generation Customizable Card Game, →ISBN

   This is a question about responsibility -- Did Michael send his partner (AKA Red Shirt) into the fire zone SPECIFICALLY to be killed? He was the one who suggested to Operations that they set up a rescue attempt -- TO FAIL.

   1997 October 1, Judy Williams, “Verdict-Red Shirt”, in alt.fan.la-femme.nikita (Usenet)

5. USalternativegovernmentAlternative form of redshirt (“sailor who handles ordinance”).

   The Red Shirts are 'Ordies', or ordnance handlers.

   1997, Peter Darman, Warfare at Sea, →ISBN, page 74

   2 more examples

   The red lights of the Red Shirts joined the probing.

   1988, George C. Wilson, Supercarrier: an inside account of life aboard the world's most powerful ship, the USS John F. Kenedy, →ISBN

   The Red Shirts were the serious ones: they loaded and armed the weapons on the aircraft.

   2011, Max Gallimore, From Here to Caprock, →ISBN, page 266

alternative red shirt · alternative red-shirt

1. A climbing route on Mount Yamnuska in the Canadian Rockies.

   The accident occurred on the second pitch of the Red Shirt Route on Mount Yamnuska.

   1999, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, →ISBN, page 4

   2 more examples

   Later that summer Lofthouse and Greenwood teamed up with Heinz Kahl to climb the quintessential Yamnuska classic — Red Shirt.

   2003, Ben Gadd, Chic Scott, Dave Dornian, The Yam: 50 Years of Climbing on Yamnuska, →ISBN, page 42

   In this section, several difficult climbs interweave with the original Red Shirt route established in 1962.

   2006, Andy Genereux, Yamnuska Rock: The Crown Jewel of Canadian Rockies Traditional Climbing, →ISBN