Bolo - Definition and Overview

Bolo can be, in historical order:

1. A Bolo knife, a machete used for agricultural purposes and as a weapon.
2. A slur in the US Army from the early twentieth century for recruits who could not attain an adequate degree of marksmanship. It comes from the idea that they should grab a bolo and attack hand-to-hand.
3. A Bolo punch, is a wide sweeping uppercut used in boxing.
4. A slang term for Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, as they were not trained in professional armies and yet quite violent.
5. B-18 Bolo, a United States Army Air Corps bomber aircraft from the 1930s.
6. Bolo A type of enhanced artificially intelligent tank appearing in the science fiction of Keith Laumer. The word was vaguely taken from the US Army use.
7. Bolo, a computer game in which players battle each other with tanks.

There is an additional use of the term, probably not connected with any of the above:

• A Bolo tie, a decorative string with an ornament clasp worn around the neck, worn in the American West.

The term is also sometimes confused with bolas, a throwing rope with weights at both ends to entangle prey.