lily pad

n. an outpost, advance camp, foreign base, or staging area; one in a series of stops. Subjects: English, United States, Military

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Citations: 1985 Doug Gibson Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) (June 15) “Edited any good books lately?” p. B1: This is obviously a system that creates not only stunned authors but also “star” editors. These stars whizz from house to house (often at dizzying speeds) trailing a galaxy of authors behind them; often they are able to establish their own imprints on the strength of their reputations. To adopt a more homely metaphor, the smaller pond of Canadian publishing does not allow for such swift hopping from lily-pad to lily- pad, nor does our national psyche respond so well to such a star system. 1988 Ralph E. Winter @ Westlake, Ohio Wall Street Journal (Nov. 29) “Nordson Is Poised to Compete in the ’90s”: At Nordson, Mr. Madar has been using what he terms a “lily pad to lily pad” growth strategy, jumping from one new market to another nearby one “rather than leap across the pond or into an entirely different pond.” 1998 Robert Goodrich St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Mo.) (Nov. 13) “Buildup Order Kicks Air Base Into High Gear” p. A7: McPhillips described the operation as “building an air bridge” to the Mideast, with stops at “lily pads along the way” in addition to aerial refueling. 2001 M2 Presswire (Nov. 27) “DoD news briefing”: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us, do you envision the force of Marines as the vanguard in the battle against terrorism in Afghanistan? Do you see them being used to seek out and destroy al Qaeda networks, or are they setting up a lily pad of sorts, for other units that will follow on? 2001 Hilary Mackenzie @ Washington, D.C. Ottawa Citizen (Can.) (Dec. 1) “Rebels close in on last Taliban stronghold”: Terrorist Osama bin Laden had a different agenda, he said. “He uses Afghanistan as a lily pad, a place to be, a place to go out and kill other people around the world.” 2002 Dennis Blair (Federal Document Clearing House) (Mar. 7) “House Committee On Appropriations: Subcommittee On Military Construction Holds A Hearing On FY 2003 Pacific Command Appropriations”: We went too deep in Guam with our closures. It’s the last piece of land in the west that we own. It’s United States owned. It’s going to be a lily pad for moving out. 2002 William Safire @ Washington, D.C. Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Sept. 19) “Germany no longer necessary” p. A15: We are already “reconfiguring our footprint”—that is, reviewing deployment of our troops globally to make us capable of applying mobile force anywhere rather than to sit in place to meet any specific threat. That’s part of the “lily pad concept,” on the analogy of frogs hopping around a number of forward bases.…Saudi threats to restrict our use of bases there caused us to build a Qatar lily pad. Would Germany also prove unreliable as a jumping-off point in a crisis? 2004 MSNBC (Sept. 22) “U.S. expands military outposts worldwide” (in Washington, D.C.): Among the places the military already has placed or hopes to base such new “lily pads” or jumping off points: the eastern European nations of Bulgaria and Romania; a pier in Singapore; and a tiny island off the oil-rich coast of West Africa.

Posted 23 Sep 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend