quisle means to collaborate with an (occupying) enemy power; be a quisling. It carries an Arena rating of 1363, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Why “quisle” is a great word
To betray one's country by actively collaborating with an occupying enemy power. The verb is a back-formation from the noun 'quisling' (a traitor, especially one who collaborates with an occupying force), which is an eponym from Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian military officer who headed a puppet government under Nazi occupation. Unlike 'defect'—which suggests abandonment—or the neutral generality of 'collaborate,' to quisle is to enter into a specific, shameful covenant of shared governance with the conqueror. It is the scent of the occupier's coffee in the council chambers of one's own capital, the sound of one's own voice on state radio reciting the new decrees, and the practiced signature on documents that consigns others to the cold—the slow, administrative smothering of a homeland, carried out not with a dagger but with a rubber stamp.
Etymology
Back-formation from quisling.
verb
- To collaborate with an (occupying) enemy power; be a quisling.“He is surrounded by a potential American Quisling (Mr. DENNIS ARUNDELL) who grizzles and Quisles noisily, an unhappy secretary (Mr. BRUNO BARNABE), and an even more unhappy wife (Miss MARGARETTA SCOTT).”