Desert Rats
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Sobriquet of the 7th Armoured Division which, already in the Western Desert before the outbreak of war in 1939, served in the Eighth Army throughout the
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Desert Rats” mean?
Sobriquet of the 7th Armoured Division which, already in the Western Desert before the outbreak of war in 1939, served in the Eighth Army throughout the
Is “Desert Rats” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.