suicide squad

English

Etymology 1

An allusion to the risk of injury.

Noun

suicide squad (plural suicide squads)

1. (military slang) A unit assigned to a particularly risky task.

   Synonym: suicide club

2. (American football, slang) Synonym of special team
   • 1971, LIFE, volume 71, number 23, page 3:

     The most violent men in pro football play on the suicide squads.

Etymology 2

In reference to the councillors' mission to abolish their appointed office and position.

Proper noun

the suicide squad

1. (New Zealand, historical, informal) a group of legislative councillors appointed by Prime Minister Sidney Holland to abolish the New Zealand Legislative Council (upper house)
   • 1950 October 17, “1950, Sydney Holland: Honourable suicide squad”, in New Zealand Herald‎^[1]:

     Prime Minister Sidney Holland is New Zealander of the Year for appointing a parliamentary suicide squad to abolish the undemocratic upper house, the Legislative Council.

   • 1999, Lord Cooke of Thorndon, “Unicameralism in New Zealand: Some Lessons”, in Canterbury Law Review‎^[2], volume 7, page 233:

     Popularly known as the suicide squad, they accepted office on the understanding that they would do away with it.

   • 2010, H. Kumarasingham, “Unicameralism: The Strange Eventful Death of the Legislative Council of New Zealand”, in Australasian Parliamentary Review‎^[3], volume 25, number 2, page 73:

     It was decided that twenty-six councillors be appointed for this purpose’, but before the Cabinet could discuss the mechanics of the very political act of appointing the ‘suicide squad’ the Cabinet Secretary was asked to absent himself from this crucial meeting.

   • 2016 January 21, “Legislative Council”, in Parliament of New Zealand‎^[4]:

     When National came to power in 1949, it restacked the Council — this time with the ‘suicide squad’. These members would accept a law to end the Council altogether.

Usage notes

For this sense, it is often in quotation marks.

References

• Lighter, Jonathan (1972) “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech‎^[5], volume 47, number 1/2, page 109