moonlight requisition

noun, verb — 3 senses

moonlight requisition

noun
1

Government, Military, Politics, War Slang Unauthorized taking of materiel; theft of supplies for use in one's own unit.

  • They were clever in finding local material, such as parachutes, for making bedcovers or curtains, and so-called "moonlight requisitions" were sources of supply for material to make furniture.1966, Margaret Craighill, “The Women's Army Corps”, in Robert Anderson, Albert Glass, Robert Bernucci, William Mullins, editors, Neuropsychiatry in World War II, volume 1, →OCLC, page 468:
2

Euphemistic, Slang Theft or receipt of stolen goods.

  • One problem that became apparent from almost the first acquisition, was that of vandalism and pilfering. It seemed that as soon as a party moved, the area "jungle telegraph" would alert those in the habit of making "moonlight requisitions" to become active.1973, John Postlewait, Harry Knudson, “Some experiences in land acquisition for a land disposal system for sewage effluent”, in Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Recycling Municipal Sludges and Effluents on Land: July 9-13, 1973, Champaign, Illinois, Washington: Environmental Protection Agency, →OCLC, pages 33–34:
Synonyms
theft

moonlight requisition

verb
1

Government, Military, Politics, War Slang To steal or use materiel without authorization.

  • The soldier learns informally in his basic military training experience to "moonlight requisition" or steal that which his unit needs.1990, Clifton Bryant, “The social context”, in Deviant Behavior: Readings in the Sociology of Norm Violations, New York: Hemisphere, →ISBN, page 18:
Synonyms
steal

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.