Skirmishing

All along the road we met Canadians coming up and saw them advancing across the fields in skirmishing order,85 in one case their captain walking ahead swinging a bamboo cane .... ❋ John George (1918)

Father's supper, to watch her check off the rich dark caramels she unfailingly kept on hand for us, to share her wickedness in skirmishing to avoid outsiders, or to connive in her intrigue to outwit the cat of perpetual unpopularity in her esteem, – what other joys could drag us from these? ❋ Unknown (1914)

The White Company (or Europeans) of the C.M.R. under Lieut. Salis were ordered to cover the front of the column in skirmishing order, and to feel round the hills, but not to fire a shot unless fired upon. ❋ Unknown (1903)

“It doesn’t rise to the dignity of a battle,” he noted, “but is called skirmishing.” ❋ Jeffry D. Wert (2008)

Largely forgotten in the skirmishing were the proposals of President Obama's debt commission, which was co-chaired by Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson R-Wyo. ❋ Unknown (2011)

When different units get together in a camp the amount of thieving, technically called skirmishing, is beyond belief to anyone unaccustomed to camp life. ❋ George Davidson (N/A)

Now Weitzel believed that, by pursuing his advance in what might be called skirmishing order and working his way gradually forward from the vantage-ground of Fort Babcock, he might gain, without great addition to his losses, already heavy, ❋ Unknown (1865)

In the next place, the maid-servants, gaily dressed, run about, playing and jesting upon all they meet, and amongst themselves, also, use a kind of skirmishing, to show they helped in the conflict against the ❋ Plutarch (2003)

We lost odds and ends and followed the recognised custom, known as "skirmishing," and in the end were only short of our full complement by a crossbar and a bicycle. ❋ George Davidson (N/A)

They had to sleep without any covering, in their wet clothes, and it took the liveliest kind of skirmishing to get anything to eat. ❋ James Herbert Walker (N/A)

The camp site was eventually approached in a kind of skirmishing formation of many lines. ❋ Herbert Brayley Collett (1912)

We called it "skirmishing"; it was rather a pitched battle. ❋ Unknown (1873)

"skirmishing," and from this I suppose that nothing very decisive has yet occurred. ❋ Unknown (1957)

"skirmishing" a misnomer, 102, 103 slavery doomed in any event, 149 ❋ Unknown (1873)

A long period of skirmishing and mutual provocation between Georgia and Russia ended when Russian tanks rolled into Georgia and briefly threatened to go all the way to Tbilisi. ❋ Gideon Rachman (2011)

Sometimes when I get caught up in the policy debates, all the hollering and posturing of political skirmishing, I feel that I lose touch with the real stuff, the important stuff about teaching and education and schools. ❋ Rick Ayers (2011)

This week's referendum should, ideally, not be viewed through the prism of tactical party skirmishing. ❋ Unknown (2011)