World War One Words Starting With the Letter B

Back of the line

Anywhere to the rear and out of the danger zone.

Barbed wire

Ordinary barbed wire used for entanglements. A thicker and heavier military wire is sometimes used.

Barrage

Shells dropped simultaneously and in a row so as to form a curtain of fire. Literal translation "a barrier."

Bashed

- Smashed.

Big boys

- Big guns or the shells they send over.

Big push

- The battles of the Somme.

Billets

The quarters of the soldier when back of the line. Any place from a pigpen to a palace.

Bleeder or Blighter

Cockney slang for fellow. Roughly corresponding to American "guy."

Blighty

England. East Indian derivation. The paradise looked forward to by all good soldiers,--and all bad ones too.

Blighty one

- A wound that will take the soldier to Blighty.

Bloody

The universal Cockney adjective. It is vaguely supposed to be highly obscene, though just why nobody seems to know.

Blooming

A meaningless and greatly used adjective. Applied to anything and everything.

Bomb

- A hand grenade.

Bully beef

Corned beef, high grade and good of the kind, if you like the kind. It sets hard on the chest.