redshirt

plural redshirts

1. historicalA supporter of the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, especially a member of his thousand-man army which conquered Sicily.First known use 19th c.

   Loyal regiments from Naples and other provinces of the mainland fought valiantly and were victorious un several skirmishes against the redshirts near Capua.

   2011, David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy, Penguin, published 2012, page 196

2. historicalA revolutionary or anarchist.First known use 19th c.
3. UShobbiesA college athlete who spends a year not participating in official athletic activities, but does not lose his or her eligibility to participate in following years.First known use 20th c.
4. slangfictionAn unimportant character introduced only to be killed in order to underscore the peril to the important characters; an expendable character.

   Sensing danger, Captain Kirk decided to beam down to the surface with Spock, McCoy, and a couple of redshirts.

   1 more example

   I am not a goddamn redshirt! I have a purpose!

   2017, 42m, in 12 Monkeys, season 3, episode 6

5. USgovernmentA person responsible for loading and unloading weapons, artillery, and equipment from aircraft.
6. alternativeAlternative form of Red Shirt (“member of the UDD”).

   As armoured personnel carriers rumbled on to Bangkok's deserted streets, thousands of troops fanned out in a cordon across the city, surrounding the redshirts' fortified protest camp.

   2010 May 19, Ben Doherty, “Thai soldiers arrest protest leaders in bloody 'final crackdown'”, in The Guardian

present singular third person redshirts · participle present redshirting · participle past redshirted · past redshirted

1. UScollegiate sportsTo place an athlete in a status wherein the athlete will spend a year not participating in official athletic activities, but will not lose his or her eligibility to participate in following years.

   The university decided to redshirt the freshman linebacker to give him an extra year to build up his bulk.

   1 more example

   Being asked whether I was going to be redshirted had some status associated with it.

   2004, George R. Mills -, A View from the Bench, →ISBN

2. UScollegiate sportsTo take on a status wherein one will spend a year not participating in official athletic activities.

   Hillman, who had come to Indiana without a scholarship (he now had one) from a Los Angeles suburb, wanted to redshirt so that he would have two years of eligibility left after Alford graduated. Smith didn't want to redshirt, he wanted to play.

   2012 -, John Feinstein, Season on the Brink, →ISBN, page 62

3. USTo hold a child out of kindergarten for one year in the hope that the child will do better academically and socially.

   1985, March 1, "Some Educators Oppose Redshirting 5-Year-Olds," The Omaha World-Herald Parents who redshirt their 5-year-olds instead of enrolling them in kindergarten are a concern to some Nebraska educators who are trying to reverse the trend of holding children back until age 6 to start school.

plural Redshirts

1. alternativeAlternative form of Red Shirt.

   Like the leaders they opposed, they had participated in the "Redshirt" campaign of 1876 and 1877 that redeemed the state for home rule and founded the new establishment.

   1986, Joel Williamson, A Rage for Order, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Families and supporters of the Redshirt protesters in Thailand handed in a letter to the London embassy yesterday calling for an end to the killings and suppression of pro-democracy campaigners.

   2011, A Year on The Sauce, →ISBN, page 19

   In this process, known as the Risorgimento, Garibaldi led his Redshirt followers to decisive victories over the Spanish Bourbon and Austrian Habsburg dynasties that still ruled much of Italy.

   2013, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Istanbul, Rome and Jerusalem: Titans of the Holy Cities, →ISBN