/ · 1894 Brewer’s · R · Ranks
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Risen from the ranks. From mean origin; a self-made man. A military term applied to an officer who once served as a private soldier. Such an officer is now often called a “ranker.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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