K ration

American  

noun

1. an emergency field ration formerly used for U.S. armed forces when other food or rations were not available, consisting of three separate packaged meals of concentrated or dehydrated food.

---

K ration British  

noun

1. a small package containing emergency rations used by US and Allied forces in the field in World War II

---

Etymology

Origin of K ration

First recorded in 1940–45; K for Ancel Keys (1904–2004), American physiologist

Example Sentences

Keys already had gained fame for developing the K ration, the portable food packet carried by paratroopers and other GIs in combat during World War II.

From Washington Times • Nov. 24, 2014

The man lips onto a horn, or a woman, with about as much feeling as other men show for a K ration.

From Time Magazine Archive

All wept for joy when liberated, ravenously gobbled up the Army's K ration � the best food they had tasted in more than a year.

From Time Magazine Archive

Among experts interviewed: Dr. Paul Dudley White and Ancel Keys, physiologist and co-inventor of wartime K ration.

From Time Magazine Archive