stand fire
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.91 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To put oneself in the way of an enemy's firing.
Example Sentences
- "They were again under fire at Vaal Krantz, the shells dropping a few yards in front of them as the bearers removed the men. Hospital orderlies, water-carriers, nurses, bearers, all were willing to do or be anything in this dire need; and although not infrequently obliged to accept insults or to stand fire, they acquitted themselves with great credit, and earned the unstinted praise of the soldiers."
- "It is perfectly possible to take a thousand individuals, each of whom is individually fearless, form them hastily into a regiment, and collectively they will not stand fire. A thousand individual heroes may easily make one collective regimental coward. Such is the incomprehensible psychology of the mob."