Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Soldiers, sailors, or other military personnel regarded as likely to be killed or wounded in combat.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
military forces considered to beexpendable - noun rare artillery
ammunition
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire
Etymologies
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treeseed commented on the word cannon fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal. An example is the trench warfare in World War I. The term may also be used (somewhat pejoratively) to differentiate infantry from other forces (such as artillery, air force or the navy), who generally have a much higher survival rate.
The term derives from fodder - food for livestock - however in this case soldiers are the metaphorical food for cannons.
_Wikipedia
February 5, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word cannon fodder
Also a computer game.
Can't... resist...
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word cannon fodder
Not to be confused with a Brooklyn priest who dreams up a new precept of church law.
September 10, 2008