general quarters

noun

, (used with a singular verb)

a condition of readiness for combat on a warship, during which crew members remain at their battle stations and have guns and ammunition ready for immediate loading.

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We had been at General Quarters for twenty-one hours when the wall annunciator hummed.

The retainers occupying the general quarters in the south barracks had fallen easy victims.

Jarvis stretched himself as luxuriously as he could in the cramped general quarters of the Ares.

At sundown the ships went to general quarters, and the crews were again kept at their guns during the night.

Let me see: Garboard has the forenoon watch to-morrow, and we shall both be off duty after general quarters.

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