Definition

A nautical rigging arrangement combining blocks and pulleys to tighten ship rigging with the grip of a vice, or the art of stowing cargo sideways like it owes you money. Essential knowledge for anyone who wants to sound credibly salty.

Example Usage

The rigger deployed a burton to tension the stays, preventing the mast from staging a mutiny.

Source: Maritime terminology, Common naval jargon

Related Terms

Intermediate

Asymmetric Warfare

Combat between opponents of vastly different military capabilities, where the weaker side uses unconventional tactics because they can't win a fair fight. Essentially, bringing a guerrilla insurgency to a tank battle because you left your tanks at home.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Intermediate

fast mover

Fighter jets providing close air support or interdiction, as distinguished from helicopters or slower aircraft. Because when you need air support, you want it yesterday.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Advanced

cadres

The skeleton crew of leaders and specialists who form the core of an organization, ready to bulk up into a full unit when needed. In military contexts, it's the officers and key personnel around whom a new regiment gets built; in revolutionary contexts, it's your dedicated true believers. Basically, it's your starting lineup of people who actually know what they're doing.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Advanced

debus

Military jargon for disembarking from a bus or transport vehicle, because apparently 'getting off the bus' wasn't tactical enough for the armed forces. This term reflects the military's love affair with creating specialized vocabulary for mundane activities. Troops debus when arriving at training sites, deployment zones, or anywhere else a regular civilian would simply 'step off the bus.'

🎖️ Military / Defense
Intermediate

Hoo-ah

Military slang that can mean literally anything from enthusiastic agreement to resigned acknowledgment, making it the Swiss Army knife of army vocabulary. Allegedly born from the acronym H.U.A. (Heard, Understood, Acknowledged), it's evolved into a catch-all grunt that conveys whatever emotion the situation demands. Think of it as the military's version of "aloha"—context is everything.

🎖️ Military / Defense
Advanced

gay bomb

A real but ridiculous non-lethal chemical weapon concept once considered by the US Air Force that would theoretically induce sudden attraction among enemy troops. Yes, the military actually spent time and money speculating about weaponized aphrodisiacs. It's exactly as absurd as it sounds and never made it past the proposal stage, thankfully.

🎖️ Military / Defense

Translate This Term

See “burton” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on XShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Advanced

blue ocean strategy

Creating an uncontested market space where competition is irrelevant because you're the only fish in the pond. The oppos...