ghost soldier
n.— «The phrase “ghost soldiers” has a negative connotation in Army parlance—a reference to the administrative practice of filling units with names on paper, but not actual able-bodied soldiers.» —“Troops bask in Bush’s praise” by Michael Gilbert News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) June 19, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...