active

active duty

1. Current, full-time service in the military. My son is in the army, and I worry so much when he's on active duty.
2. By extension, full-time service in another area of life. I'm still on active duty until I retire at the end of the month.
See also: active, duty

active shooter

A perpetrator (of a potential mass shooting) who is actively shooting at people, typically targeting victims in a crowded and confined space. If there is a report of an active shooter, police aim to respond within minutes. The police were quick to respond to the active shooter situation and disarm the attacker.
See also: active, shooter

on active duty

Serving in the military full time, especially being in or prepared to go into battle. My son is in the army, and I worry so much when he's on active duty. After being on active duty for so long, I don't feel fully comfortable being a civilian anymore.
See also: active, duty, on
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

on active duty

in battle or ready to go into battle. (Military.) The soldier was on active duty for ten months. That was a long time to be on active duty.
See also: active, duty, on
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

active duty

Full-time service, as in Julian is 81, but he still comes to the office every day and is very much on active duty . This term comes from the military, where it stands in opposition to reserve, which refers to troops still in the military but not actively engaged. It is occasionally transferred to civilian matters as well. [First half of 1800s]
See also: active, duty
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • active duty
  • full of years
  • be full of (oneself)
  • full up
  • full circle, come
  • full of hot air
  • be full of beans
  • glass
  • seize the moment
  • on a full stomach
References in periodicals archive
Al-Ameen Islamic Active Allocation Plan - VIII###August 27, 2019###75.4090###75.4090
UBL Fund Managers Limited - Latest Fund Prices for August 28, 2019
Aside from the health features, Samsung also decided to give the Active 2 some neat features now found on the first model.
Galaxy Watch Active 2 Does What Apple Watch Can For Less
"True active" ETFs therefore may have active security selection.
Industry Icon Introduces Active ETFs
The latest active job openings-to-applicants ratio, at the time when this article was written, was 1.43 times for February 2017.
Shortage of Labor Force Varies Between Industries
To correctly evaluate findings from the various surveys, transportation agencies need to have an understanding of the strengths, limitations, and lack of comparability of the techniques used to assess active transportation.
Report now available on active transportation surveillance
Blass Employment Corporation, will continue to operate under the Active Staffing Services banner, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Active Staffing Services.
Active Staffing Services Grows in Empire State
The Conference aims at promoting the Balkan region as one of the best and undiscovered destinations for active tourism in Europe.
Active tourism--a challenge for Balkan countries: active tourists stay longer at their destinations, where they travel and spend more money, stressed executive director of the Association for Active Tourism ATTA, Christopher Doyle
It has long been known that HIV-negative people with a prior history of active TB have a high risk of experiencing recurrence of active disease.
Risk of recurrence of active TB is high for people with HIV
if we allow a PSA to go above 20 in men on active surveillance before we recommend active treatment, we will be treating only high-risk patients who have progressed on active surveillance.
Active surveillance may not catch on
Kane said that also included in the guidance was the establishment of an observer/controller/mentor relationship between the active and reserves that is focused on realistic training to standard that will prepare all SDDC units for their worldwide missions.
New focus on reserve training
Parental Active Involvement was assessed with items such as "How often parents checks homework?" and "How often parents help with homework?" The Parental Active Involvement Scale has a reliability Cronbach's alpha of .71 (M = 2.74, SD = .80).
Parental involvement, homework, and self-regulation
367(a) rules, PLC or its subsidiary must have an active business outside the U.S.
U.S. companies take "AIM" at the U.K. stock market
Since its introduction in Windows 2000, Microsoft's Active Directory has improved the way organizations share network resources such as users, groups, computers, printers, applications, and files.
Active Directory, Third Edition
LogicalApps, a provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, has brought out its new ACTIVE Governance solution.
LogicalApps
The board will evaluate active duty line officers in the 2002 and 2003 accession year groups--except officers with less than two years' current active service or 15 or more years' active service as of Sept.
Air Force print news (Oct. 19, 2005): personnel center will conduct Force Shaping Board