recce

Etymology

Clipping of reconnaissance.

noun

1. (Britain, Canada, New Zealand, military slang) Reconnaissance.
   1953, J. (Julian) Maclaren-Ross, The Weeping and the Laughter: A Chapter of Autobiography Visiting the town on what in the more recent war we called a recce, she arranged a tennis-match with Dolly, guessing that the girl would be a bad loser.
   As he climbed into the car, his recce of the space behind the seats was still a little too obvious despite best efforts at subtlety. 2006, Vincent Tuckwood, Karaoke Criminals
   I'm afraid you two will have to go on a bit of a recce sometime soon. 2006, Steve Farndon, Escape Inc.
   He'd be over at Christmas to do a proper sort-through of Velerie's things, but in the meantime could Shannon have a quiet recce and make sure everything was secure? 2016, Laurence Fearnley, The Quiet Spectacular, page 92
   Rona disappeared into the little kitchenette and Nicol made a recce of the room. 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 279

adj

1. (Britain, Canada, New Zealand, military slang) Relating to reconnaissance.
   1946, United States. Congress. American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack There appears a captured photograph showing cruiser or battleship recovery of an old Jap float recce plane.
   These record imagery from all three recce sensors - IR, EO and SAR. 2006, Tony Holmes, US Marine Corps And RAAF Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom
   Reconnaissance (recce) patrols were the most effective solution that the British and Indian Army designed to identify Japanese units and their intentions, as these could move through the jungle without alerting the enemy to their presence. 2006, Hew Strachan, Big Wars And Small Wars: The British Army and the Lessons of War in the 20th Century

verb

1. (Britain, Canada, New Zealand, military slang) Reconnoitre.
   I told the boys to stock up with all they could, and went back to the village to recce for someone to pay as per orders. 1961, John Sibly, You'll Walk to Mandalay: A Novel
   Take him down there with Entry Two and recce first. If he can't confirm it, we pull out. 2006, James Scott, The Sweaties