Get the inside tip with America's number one radio show about language, A Way with Words

Dictionary definition of “wizzo”

wizzo

n. among military aircraft personnel, a weapons systems operator. Subjects: English, United States, Military, Technology, Jargon, Acronym

Etymological Note: Pronunciation of the first letters of weapons systems operator or officer.

Comments? | Cites | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Citations: 1986 Russel Watson, John Barry, John Walcott Newsweek (Apr. 28) “Reagan’s Raiders” p. 26: A skilled “Wizzo”—weapons-systems operator—can achieve good accuracy with only one aiming device, but the planners established the “double lock” rule to make sure the right targets were hit. 1991 Tulsa Tribune (Okla.) (Jan. 18) “Combat beginner says strike awesome” p. 17A: His “wizzo” weapons system officer, Maj. Billy Wilhite, 36, of Monroe, La., said, “Nobody has ever shot at us before.” 2004 Michael Shinabery Alamogordo News (N.M.) (Dec. 16) “American F-4s future is mothballed”: Lt. Col. Mark Buccigrossi’s the back-seat wizzo—vernacular for the acronym WSO, or weapons system officer/navigator—in the F-4 Phantom.

Posted 17 Dec 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Recent Catchwords

macaroon technique n. (2/19)

sorry gift n. (2/19)

break the ton v. phr. (2/19)

ghost shift n. (2/17)

stock n. (2/13)

startle factor n. (2/13)

hair crush n. (2/13)

seagen n. (2/13)

rollup n. (11/30)

simming n. (11/8)

nimbleton n. (11/6)

kitchen n. (11/6)

skuke n. (11/6)

parlor n. (11/6)

broccoli journalism n. (10/19)

strap hanging n. (10/8)

parclo n. (10/8)

Dipper n. (10/8)

jeggings n. (10/5)

dittoism n. (10/5)

More catchwords...

Lexicographer's Rules

New verses to “My Darling Clementine” (4/19)

How do you pronounce “both”? Please take the survey! (3/9)

Garbanzos or chickpeas? (3/4)

Buzzwords of 2009 in the New York Times (12/20)

A note found inside Birds of the Pacific Coast (12/16)

Now accepting nominations for the 2009 “word of the year” and the 2000-9 “word of the decade” (11/15)

How much underworld slang is still used from 80 years ago? (10/27)

Remembering William Safire (9/27)

The elephant in the language (8/12)

Updates will continue to be slow for Double-Tongued (7/19)

More blog entries...

A	B	C	D	E
F	G	H	I	J
K	L	M	N	O
P	Q	R	S	T
U	V	W	X	Y
Z	0-9
Search

Lance Hidy commented on flymph (3/23)

sunnyboy0 commented on seagen (2/12)

Trafficman2 commented on parclo (2/12)

paul Teague commented on Taig (2/5)

paul Teague commented on Taig (2/5)

vickie commented on moded (1/5)

midsummer commented on gleek (1/3)

to run away is to Die In Tragedy commented on robotripping (12/4)

TheAnalyst commented on mouth-breather (12/4)

Peter Williams commented on strap hanging (10/30)

hebotick commented on sorry gift (10/18)

urbanclothingguy commented on sorry gift (8/20)

Lolo commented on vacationship (8/17)

teresag commented on pump head (8/3)

kcjones007 commented on wooby (7/15)

Subscribe to the RSS feed. • Subscribe to the mailing list. • Browse the archive. • Add to Technorati Favorites. • © 1999-2012 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary.