army

To select, nominate, or assign someone to carry out a task or duty that he or she is unwilling or unprepared to undertake. My boss always army volunteers me to pick up lunch for the office.

A childish response to a threat, implying that an adversary is not powerful enough to carry out the threat alone (hence the need for an "army"). A: "If you don't leave, I'll make you get off this playground!" B: "Oh yeah? You and whose army?"

A well-fed army is most effective. The cook may be the most important person in the unit because an army marches on its stomach.

Prov. An army needs a regular supply of food in order to keep on fighting. The invading army will soon have to pull back. An army marches on its stomach, and they're out of food.

Inf. a phrase that responds to a threat by implying that the threat is a weak one. Bill: I'm going to punch you in the nose! Bob: Yeah? You and who else? Tom: Our team is going to slaughter your team. Bill: You and what army? Bill: If you don't stop doing that, I'm going to hit you. Tom: You and who else?

Shape up—things are done differently here. One of the stock comedy bits in World War II movies was the rude awakening that recruits received during basic training. Any buck private who tried to oversleep or do anything else that wasn't according to military procedure would be chewed out by his drill sergeant, with an unceremonious, “Hey, you ain't no civilian no more, mister—you're in the army now!” The phrase followed the soldiers home, and well into the '50s anyone who was corrected by an ex-GI was liable to be told, “Do it right, mister—you're in the army now!”