Blighty one

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English

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Etymology

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From the fact that such a wound would have one be sent back to England (Blighty).

Noun

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Blighty one (plural Blighty ones)

  1. (military slang) A wound that is relatively minor, but sufficiently severe that one will be sent to the hospital in England.
    • 2012, J. R. Ackerley, My Father and Myself, →ISBN:
      Though my thoughts did not formulate themselves so clearly or so crudely at the time, I had a “Blighty” one, that sort of wound that all the soldiers sighed and sang for (“Take me back to dear old Blighty”), and my platoon, in which I had taken much pride, could now look after itself.
    • 2014, Tony Bradman, Stories of World War One, →ISBN:
      'Well, Smudge,' says Danny, 'I heard you'd copped a Blighty One.'
    • 2014, Judith Saxton, The Glory, →ISBN:
      'Well, lad, you've got yourself a Blighty one, by the looks!' The orderly patted Mark's neatly bandaged torso.
    • 2014, E.G.D. Living, Walking into Hell 1st July 1916: Memoirs of the First Day of the Somme, →ISBN:
      How often on the march one had looked back oneself into a passing ambulance and wished, rather shamefully, for a “Blighty” one.