khaki election

British

noun

a general election held during or immediately after a war, esp one in which the war has an effect on how people vote

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of khaki election

C20: first used of the 1900 general election, during which the conduct of the Boer war was an election issue

Example Sentences

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It would be Britain's third khaki election since the turn of the century.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sir Oswald's Record: Educated for the army at Sandhurst; fought in France with the 16th Lancers, later with the Royal Flying Corps; first returned to Parliament as a Conservative in the "Khaki Election" of 1918; returned as an Independent in 1922 and 1923; returned as a Laborite in 1926 by beer-loving Smethwick.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023