four-minute warning
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
four-minute warning (plural four-minute warnings)
- (idiomatic) A UK government public alert system in use during the Cold War to advise of an imminent nuclear attack.
Usage notes[edit]
- Four minutes was not a precise time, but an approximation of the time between the confirmation of a Soviet nuclear missile attack and the impact of those missiles on their targets.