catch a packet
British military slang, particularly from the World War I and II era, meaning to be wounded by enemy fire or caught in an attack — to take a hit.
Definitions
British military slang, particularly from the World War I and II era, meaning to be wounded by enemy fire or caught in an attack — to take a hit. A 'packet' in this context refers to something unpleasant delivered to you without warning, like a bullet or shell. The phrase has the characteristic British military understatement: describing being shot or blown up with the casual vocabulary of receiving a parcel. It can also extend to any sudden misfortune. The expression is largely historical now but appears often in wartime memoirs and period fiction.
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(military, slang, idiom) To be fired upon.
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Semantically related
- 62%
British English for a cigarette packet — the small cardboard box that holds a pack of cigarettes. 'Fag' is standard informal British slang for a cigarette with no offensive connotation in UK usage. The phrase also appears in 'back-of-a-fag-packet' calculations, meaning a quick, rough estimate jotted down with minimal care or precision, often used to critique a plan as underthought or improvised.
- 62%
(UK, informal) A cigarette packet.
- 61%
(nautical) Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat. Packet boat, ship, vessel (Wikipedia).
- 60%
A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel.