stand-to

plural stands-to · plural stand-tos · alternative stand to

1. governmentA state of readiness assumed by ground troops at dawn and dusk in wartime.

   "Stand-to" at dusk for about an hour, work all night, "stand-to" for an hour before dawn. That's the general programme.

   1915, Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That, (1929), Penguin Modern Classics 1960, p. 86

present singular third person stands-to · participle present standing-to · participle past stood-to · past stood-to · alternative stand to

1. governmentTo assume such a state of readiness.

   I passed the word along the line for the company to stand-to arms. The N.C.O's whispered hoarsely into the dug-outs: ‘Stand-to, stand-to,’ and out the men tumbled with their rifles in their hands.

   1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 141