Nathan Hale

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Nathan Hale
    n 1: a soldier of the American Revolution who was hanged as a
         spy by the British; his last words were supposed to have
         been `I only regret that I have but one life to give for my
         country' (1755-1776) [syn: {Hale}, {Nathan Hale}]

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

Nathan Hale
 n.

   An asterisk (see also {splat}, {ASCII}). Oh, you want an etymology?
   Notionally, from "I regret that I have only one asterisk for my
   country!", a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan Hale just
   before he was hanged. Hale was a (failed) spy for the rebels in the
   American War of Independence.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Nathan Hale

   <character> An {asterisk} ("*", see also {splat}, {ASCII}).
   Notionally, from "I regret that I have only one asterisk for
   my country!" ("life to give" -> "ass to risk" -> "asterisk"),
   a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan Hale just
   before he was hanged.  Hale was a (failed) spy for the rebels
   in the American War of Independence.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1996-09-22)

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