doughboy

[doh-boi] /ˈdoʊˌbɔɪ/

noun

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

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

Origin

1675-85; dough + boy; sense “infantryman,” from mid-1860s, is obscurely derived; two plausible, but unsubstantiated claims: doughboy orig. 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

Examples from the web for doughboy

But they're still racing to de-carb themselves faster than the doughboy next door.

British Dictionary definitions for doughboy

doughboy

/ˈdəʊˌbɔɪ/

noun

(US, informal) an infantryman, esp in World War I

dough that is boiled or steamed as a dumpling

Contemporary definitions for doughboy

noun

See fried dough

Word Origin and History for doughboy

"U.S. soldier," 1864, American English, said to have been in oral use from 1854, or from the Mexican-American War (1847), it is perhaps from resemblance of big buttons on old uniforms to a sort of biscuit of that name (1680s), but there are various other conjectures.

Slang definitions & phrases for doughboy

doughboy

noun

An infantry soldier; grunt, paddlefoot

[1867+; origin unknown; perhaps fr a resemblance between the buttons of the infantry uniform and doughboys, ''suet dumplings boiled in seawater,'' a term fr the British merchant marine]