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Cannon fodder

noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Military forces considered to be expendable. uncountable

    ""A foolish old half-pay officer," boomed Sir Hilton. "Go back to your club, sir, and play bridge with other superannuated cannon-fodder, sir.""

  2. 2
    soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire wordnet
  3. 3
    Any group of contestants that have no hope of success. broadly, uncountable

    "It is arrogant to simply dismiss San Marino and say they should not be playing qualifiers at this level but it is hard to see what England and manager Southgate learned from this one-sided, rather soulless experience against a team who were little more than cannon fodder."

  4. 4
    Artillery ammunition. rare, uncountable
  5. 5
    An expendable minor character primarily included to make the protagonist(s) stand out. slang, uncountable

Etymology

Mid-19th century, from cannon (“artillery piece”) + fodder (“food”), a calque of German Kanonenfutter, itself possibly a calque of English food for powder. See the German for more.

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