route-march

English

Alternative forms

• routemarch, route march

Noun

route-march (plural route-marches)

1. (military) A long march for training purposes.
   • 2012, Rosemary Rowe, Whispering of Spies, →ISBN:

     Half of the unit was preparing for some training exercise, apparently a route-march carrying full kit.

   • 2013, Stuart Tootal, The Manner of Men: 9 PARA's Heroic D-Day Mission, →ISBN:

     He then proceeded to lead them on a route-march at a blistering pace that many struggled to keep up with.

   • 2013, Gerald Kersh, The Horrible Dummy and Other Stories, →ISBN:

     We had been out on a route-march. You know, I daresay, that nowadays a route-march is not simply a matter of marching. In a route-march there is involved a certain amount of field training.

   • 2015, Colleen Ryan Clur, Pixie Annat: Champion of Nurses, →ISBN, page 51:

     This young officer came up to me and asked me whether I would mind marching more slowly -- they were running out of puff. I thought I was supposed to go on a route-march and be back by a certain time.

2. (by extension, informal) A long grueling walk.
   • 1998, Jill Neville, The Love Germ, →ISBN, page 121:

     Anna, she sensed, was the kind of indomitable woman who could go on a route-march for seven days and nights without sleeping.

Verb

route-march (third-person singular simple present route-marches, present participle route-marching, simple past and past participle route-marched)

1. (military) To go or send on a route-march.
   • 2011, James Hurst, Game to the Last: The 11th Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, →ISBN:

     The troops drilled, trained, route-marched, and adapted to military life and to each other.

   • 2013, Alan Whicker, Whicker’s War and Journey of a Lifetime, →ISBN:

     The Battalion of East Surreys billeted in its sad empty houses was route-marched through the rain around Stirling.

2. (informal) To go or send on a long, exhausting tour by foot.
   • 2013, Paul Du Noyer, Deaf School: The Non-Stop Pop Art Punk Rock Party, →ISBN:

     I always describe Deaf School as my tertiary education, I was route-marched around galleries and museums for the entire week, with running commentaries by informed people.