doughboy

[doh-boi]

noun

1. Informal.,  an American infantryman, especially in World War I.

2. a rounded mass of dough, boiled or steamed as a dumpling or deep-fried and served as a hot bread.

doughboy

/ ˈdəʊˌbɔɪ /

noun

1. informal,  an infantryman, esp in World War I

2. dough that is boiled or steamed as a dumpling

Word History and Origins

Origin of doughboy¹

1675–85; dough + boy; sense “infantryman,” from mid-1860s, is obscurely derived; two plausible, but unsubstantiated claims: doughboy originally referred to the globular brass buttons on infantry uniforms, likened to the pastry; dough referred to a clay used to clean the white uniform belts

Example Sentences

There is circumstantial evidence that the Pillsbury doughboy, the brand’s seminal mascot, was first drawn by a Springfield plant manager who eschewed credit, not, as the company maintains, in a Chicago ad agency.

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Charlie Chaplin’s 1918 short “Shoulder Arms” featured a clumsy doughboy rescuing a French girl while on a secret mission; King Vidor’s 1925 epic “The Big Parade” braided battle scenes and courtship rituals.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I charged up San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders and joined the doughboys over there.

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Seventeen months later, after millions of American doughboys had taken up arms in Europe and 117,000 were killed, the Germans surrendered.

Read more on Washington Post

When I think of you bunking in leaky barracks, and all of the other sacrifices you and the other doughboys are making such a change seems a small thing.

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