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archie

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Archie¹

  • /ˈɑːt͡ʃi/ UK
  • /ˈɑɹt͡ʃi/ US

Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃi

Where it comes from

Clipping of Archibald + -ie.

The sense “anti-aircraft artillery” is said to be from airmen dodging hostile fire and shouting “Archibald, certainly not”, the refrain of a then popular music hall song of the same name first performed by George Robey in 1911. This habit probably originated with the pilot and commander Amyas Borton (1886–1969).

proper noun

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Archibald, from the Germanic languages, also used as a formal given name.
  2. rare A female given name.
  3. A ghost town in Peninsula Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States.
  4. A city in Cass County, Missouri, United States.
  5. A former rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada, now part of Ellice-Archie.

noun Archies · archie

  1. World War I, slang, uncountable Anti-aircraft artillery. But then, dodging airbursts of Archie on the Western Front hadn't exactly been a joyride either.
  2. World War I, countable, slang A piece of anti-aircraft ordnance. An inquisitive aeroplane, which had been hovering over the scene, was picked off as by an Archie and made a forced landing, man and machine buried in filth.

Archie²

  • /ˈɑːki/ UK
  • /ˈɑɹki/ US

Where it comes from

Clipping of Archimedes + -ie.

noun Archies

  1. informal An Acorn Archimedes computer. FOR ARCHIE USERS. At last, a powerful database with details of every track (over 700 to date) on Classic CD discs from issue 1 to the present day is available for uses of Acorn (Archimedes) computers.

archie³

noun archies

  1. alternative, countable, uncountable Alternative form of Archie (“anti-aircraft artillery”). I had to take a large turn, for the "archies" were shooting pretty close.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: mick, mickey, hear, arch, eva, ground fire, flak, ack-ack, aa, aaa, antiaircraft fire, ack, shellfire, barrage, skyfire, gunfire

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Cite this
MLA

"archie." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/archie. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

archie. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/archie

Chicago

"archie." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/archie.

BibTeX
@misc{archie_2026,
  title = {archie},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/archie},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}