merchandising

merchandising (usually uncountable, plural merchandisings)

merchandisings (plural)
merchandizing (alternative)

/ˈmɝt͡ʃənˌdaɪzɪŋ/

From Late Middle English marchaundising (“commerce, trading; commodities, goods; (plural) dealings with other persons”) [and other forms], from marchaundisen (“to engage in commerce, traffic”) (see further at merchandise (verb)) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds). The English word is analysable as merchandise + -ing (suffix forming nouns from verbs).

nb...

marchandising, marchaundisinge, marchaundisyng, marchaundisynge

suffix

Now, these strikers: Honest, they're not such bad people. Just foolish. They don't understand the complications of merchandizing and profit, the way we businessmen do, but sometimes I think they're about like the rest of us, and no more hogs for wages than we are for profits.

1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXVII, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section V, page 318:

With the ubiquitous branding and expert merchandizing of museums today, it is easy to forget that graphic design was once a low priority for them.

2009 February 27, Steven Heller, “Noel Martin, inventive catalog designer, dies at 86”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-02-08:

(also attributively) gerund of merchandise

(originally US) The promotion of goods for sale in a store, especially through advertising, attractive displays, discounts, etc.; also (generally), the promotion of any goods or services for sale.

myynninedistäminen

promotion of goods for sale in a store; promotion of any goods or services for sale


mumblety peg

mumbledypeg (alternative)
mumbletypeg (alternative)
mumble-the-peg (alternative)

Others played mumbletypeg with rusty stolen jackknives, or simply drowsed in the sunlight, waking now and then to exchange their sorry belongings [...].

1967, William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Vintage, published 2004, page 296:

Bailey played mumbledypeg with the older boys around the chinaberry tree […]

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 17, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 94:

(US) Any of several forms of a game in which a jack-knife is thrown so that it sticks into the ground close to the player's feet.


doted

en-adj

doted (comparative more doted, superlative most doted)

more doted (comparative)
most doted (superlative)

doted wood


redlining

en-noun

redlining (countable and uncountable, plural redlinings)

(systematic denial): From the red outlines used by the HOLC to mark D-rated neighborhoods with minority occupants.

Admittedly, our metropolitan plan was an exercise in hope. There were million reasons why it might not have worked. But it represented a responsible way to try to begin atoning for the public housing ghettos, the racial zoning and covenants, the redlining, the “Negro removal,” and the other policies and practices that had given us the two separate and unequal societies described by the Kerner report.

2007, Alexander Polikoff, Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto, Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 120:

(Canada, US) The systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices.


mossback

From moss + back (in senses 1 (“person with old-fashioned views; one who is very conservative or reactionary”) and 2.3 (“fish that is large and old”) probably a variant of mossyback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it.
Sense 2.4 (“largemouth bass”) may refer to the back of the fish being a dark green colour.

(informal, historical) A person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865); a mossyback.


moonlighter

(US, regional) One who serenades by moonlight.


rager

From Middle English rager, raiger, ragere, equivalent to rage + -er.

Clearly, the kernel of inspiration behind this whole out-of-control rager was nostalgia for less politically correct times.

2016 December 7, Peter Debruge, “Film Review: 'Office Christmas Party'”, in Variety (magazine), Los Angeles, C.A.: Penske Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-15:

Part of the Born X Raised story, almost unintentionally, has become their big — and growing only bigger — ragers.

2022 March 17, Julissa James, “Inside most legendary streetwear brand party in Los Angeles”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, L.A.: Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-07:

Experts urged interventions to break the fever, but unlike the last mini-mania, in 2016-17, policy makers pretty much did nothing while the Bank of Canada, understandably concerned about the pandemic-beset economy, made sure money stayed cheap. The house party kept on partying. It was a rager, and no one called the cops.

2022 June 10, “Canada’s housing frenzy was the party of all parties. Get ready for a hangover”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, O.N.: The Woodbridge Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-29:

The homeowner theorized that the intruders saw that the house was up for sale and targeted it for their rager.

2022 June 22, Selim Algar, “Incensed owner of $8M Florida mansion ransacked by teens wants them prosecuted”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-03:

(slang, US, Australia, New Zealand) A boisterous and out of control party.


intrastate

This isn't an interstate highway so it must be only an intrastate road.

The difference between intrastate and interstate prison transfers, Justice Blackmun said, "is a matter of degree, not of kind," while confinement in a mental hospital is qualitatively different than an ordinary prison sentence.

1983 April 27, “STATES CAN TRANSFER PRISONERS TO OTHER STATES, COURT HOLDS”, in The New York Times:


intrastate

(US) A highway completely within a state (not an interstate).


double-dip

en-verb

double-dip (third-person singular simple present double-dips, present participle double-dipping, simple past and past participle double-dipped)

double-dips (present singular third-person)
double-dipping (participle present)
double-dipped (participle past)
double-dipped (past)
double dip (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-double-dip.wav

(US, finance) To use a single debt instrument to obtain interest tax expense (and therefore a lower tax base) in two or more tax jurisdictions.


dumb bunny

And one day he pulls me out of the tenth grade to go work with him in the same shop, cutting patterns! Ao I can make some gelt! (Angry) From the tenth grade! No wonder I'm such a dumb bunny! While my brother Jules is finishing college, ready to become a chiropodist!

1998, Frawley Becker, 411 Joseph: A Play in Two Acts, →ISBN:

Grayce had a nursing instructor who “labeled” students and grouped them in unflattering ways. Grayce was put in the “dumb bunny” category.

2007, Beth Houser, Kathy Player, Pivotal Moments in Nursing, →ISBN, page 107:

His tone was dismissive. As if, Bunnatine, you dumb bunny.

2015, Kelly Link, Get In Trouble: Stories, →ISBN, page 159:


mudroom

mudrooms (plural)
mud room (alternative)

We made sure to hang our wet clothes on the hook in the mudroom when we came in from the snow.

In the mud room, I grabbed my wool-lined jacket and headed back out.

2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.2, at p.28

(Canada, US) A room used as a barrier between indoors and outdoors.


moviegoer

(chiefly Canada, US) Person who regularly frequents movie theaters.


ACA

(US, politics) Initialism of Affordable Care Act (“H.R. 3590”)., from the U.S. national law "Affordable Care Act" (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)


movie theater

movie theaters (plural)
movie theatre (alternative)

(US) A building where movies are shown to an audience; a cinema.


meatpacking

The administration’s focus on meatpacking is reflective of a larger shift in thinking about the costs of monopoly power.

2022 January 15, Binyamin Appelbaum, “Building a Better Meatpacking Industry”, in The New York Times:

(US) The slaughter and further processing of animals for meat.


minivan

→ Japanese: ミニバン (miniban)

→ Korean: 미니밴 (minibaen)

→ Russian: минивэ́н (minivɛ́n)

→ Thai: มินิแวน (mí-ní-wɛɛn)

A small van, especially (Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) one primarily used for family transport.


REP

Republican Party
w:Republican Party (United States)

(US, politics) Abbreviation of Republican Party.


DEP

en-noun

DEP (countable and uncountable, plural DEPs)

A DEP allows a recruit to complete education before joining the military.

(US, military, countable) Initialism of delayed entry program.


federale

[fɛdəˈɹɑːli]

Back-formation from the plural, from Mexican Spanish federales, from federal.

And all the federales say / They could have had him any day / They only let him hang around / Out of kindness, I suppose

1972, Townes Van Zandt (lyrics and music), “Pancho and Lefty”:

(informal, US, slang) Alternative letter-case form of Federale: A member of the Mexican Federal Police.


midtown

midtown (countable and uncountable, plural midtowns)

(US) The part of a city between uptown and downtown


homebody

homebodies (plural)
home-body (alternative)
home body (alternative)

Although my uncle likes to travel, my aunt is a homebody, so he usually comes with us while she stays home with her cats.

After Phillis left Mrs. Weston's room, she was on her way to her cabin, when she noticed Aunt Peggy sitting alone at the door. She was rather a homebody; yet she reproached herself with having neglected poor old Peggy, when she saw her looking so desolate and dejected.

1852, Mary Henderson Eastman, “chapter XIV”, in Aunt Phillis's Cabin:

Daddy did improve over the next few weeks, but it became apparent that he would be unable to live alone. I believe this must have been one of the most difficult times in his life. Not only had he lost his wife, he had lost his health and his home. He had always been a home body, insisting on being home by sundown. There were chores to do, his animals to tend. He was busy and happy.

2000, Roberta Zybach Yarbrough, A Trek in the Desert. Finding a Path Through Grief, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 63:

(Canada, US, informal) A person who prefers to remain at home, rather than participate in social events elsewhere.


hotcake

hotcakes (plural)
hot cake (alternative)

→ Alutiiq: haatkiik

→ Cantonese: 克戟 (hak¹ kik¹)

→ Cebuano: hatkeyk

→ Japanese: ホットケーキ (hottokēki)

→ Spanish: hotcake

For breakfast he ordered a stack of hotcakes with butter and syrup.


oiler

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From Middle English oyler, equivalent to oil + -er.

Near-synonym: greaser

There were a lot of renegades down towards the Mexican line who made a raid once in a while, and a few oilers livin' near had water holes in the foothills, […]

1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 4, in Arizona Nights:


mom-and-pop

Mom-and-pop diners are disappearing from American streets and being replaced by bland corporate giants.

(US, Canada, typically of a business) Small and unsophisticated, typically because operated by a couple or a family.


molder

en-verb

molder (third-person singular simple present molders, present participle moldering, simple past and past participle moldered)

molders (present singular third-person)
moldering (participle present)
moldered (participle past)
moldered (past)

From Middle English moldere (“baker”); equivalent to mold + -er.

The old book was left to molder until only the cover was left to show it had ever been written.


juice loan

(slang, US) A loan at usurious interest rates, normally made by members of organized crime.


Arlington

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial

From the Old English personal name Ælfrēd + Old English ing (“called after”) + Old English tūn (“estate”), "estate named after Alfred". Many of the place names in the United States derive from Arlington House, formerly the plantation of Robert E. Lee.

(US) Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, an American military cemetery.


down-home

en-adj

down-home (comparative more down-home, superlative most down-home)

more down-home (comparative)
most down-home (superlative)
downhome (alternative)
down home (alternative)

Just as Mr. Clinton began a comeback with a down-home plea for forgiveness, Mrs. Clinton now seems determined to prove, perhaps to the point of overcompensation, that she will not repeat the mistakes that plagued her 2008 campaign.

2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, It’s Not Hard to Be Humble in an Effort to Regain Power”, in The New York Times:

(chiefly US) Simple and unpretentious, especially having the characteristics of a Southern rural lifestyle.


drop-off

drop-offs (plural)
dropoff (alternative)

Fifty car parking spaces, a drop-off point, five spaces for blue badge holders and lighting masts are all included in the plan, as is cycle parking on the station forecourt and ticket vending machines.

2020 May 20, “Network News: Plan submitted for £18.6 million station at Soham”, in Rail, page 21:

en:space reserved for detraining or debussing

(especially US) A space reserved outside a bus or railway station for vehicles stopping to drop off passengers for onward transit.


Skookum

(US, historical) A kind of Native American-themed souvenir doll once common in tourist areas.


most Rikki-Tik

Probably derived from the Rudyard Kipling character Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a fast-moving and quick-witted mongoose in the story of the same name.

Get that done most rikki-tik.

(slang, US, chiefly military) quickly, immediately


most Rikki-Tik

(slang, US, chiefly military) quick, immediate


twerp

Of uncertain origin; originally British slang of the 1910s. In a letter, dated 6 October 1944, J. R. R. Tolkien mentions a contemporary of his at Oxford University T.W. Earp, calling him "the original twerp"; but no corroborating evidence for this etymology has come to light. Other suggestions include: a clipping of Antwerp (“type of racing pigeon that flew between Antwerp and London”); the onomatopoeic twirp (“imitation of the sound of a bird”); a dialectal variant of dwarf (compare Middle English dwerf); Welsh twp (“a fool”).

Get out of my way, you little twerp!

(US, childish) A small or puny person; one regarded as insignificant, contemptible.

ничто́жество

a small or puny person; one regarded as insignificant, contemptible

(US, childish) A person who can be bullied playfully, or easily teased. Sometimes used as a pet-name (often for a younger sibling).

ettertje

a person who can be bullied playfully, or easily teased


junior high school

en-noun

junior high school (countable and uncountable, plural junior high schools)

intermediate high school

school between elementary and high school

In California the term originally used was "intermediate high school," later shortened to "intermediate school," but the term "junior high school" is rapidly supplanting the others.

1919, Guy Vernon Bennett, The Junior High School, Warwick & York, page 1:

(US) A school for children who have completed elementary school or grade school, but are not yet old enough for high school. It often includes grades 7 and 8, and possibly also 6 or 9.

初級中學 /初级中学

school for children that have completed elementary school


gullywasher

gullywashers (plural)
gully-washer (alternative)
gully washer (alternative)

"Then maybe some preacher got a tad too zealous on Sunday" Thinking of his " frog-strangler," Lucy said, "In Montana, we'd call this a gullywasher." " Gullywasher. I like that." She could hear him, up there on the island in Thomas Jefferson's ...

2008, Jonathan Raban, Surveillance, Vintage, →ISBN, page 110:

(US, informal, Southern US, Midwestern US, Western US) An intense, but usually short-lived, rainstorm.


Minnesota nice

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From Minnesota + nice, coined by radio personality Garrison Keillor.

Dr. Gibson called me in part because she knew I like to provoke, tickle, and prod. She knew I would respond yes, with Minnesota Nice, but what she really was after was my [...] New Yorker attitude...

1989, Helping Learners Learn at a Distance: Fifth Annual Conference on Teaching at a Distance, Madison, Wisconsin, August 8-10, 1989, The University, page 28:

Having lived in the open land of southwest Minnesota for more than thirty years, I have learned the limits of Minnesota nice.

1992, A. W. B. (Alfred William Brian) Simpson, In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention Without Trial in Wartime Britain, Oxford University Press, page 80

Minge (pronounced with a hard G) is close to a personification of "Minnesota nice," the quiet cheerfulness and pleasantness which permeates much of life in […] much of its politics.

1993, Michael Barone, Grant Ujifusa, Almanac of American Politics, 1994: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors, National Journal, published 1993, →ISBN, page 727:

each moment draining sweat that pools around in a tradition of politeness—
 disturbed here now by swarms of gnats—some natives call "minnesota nice"

1996, Quincy Troupe, “Minnesota Nice”, in Avalanche: Poems, Coffee House Press, →ISBN, page 67:

The natives joked about Minnesota Nice, and outsiders called it conformity, but civility was in fact the norm and any rip in its fabric a vice.

1997, David Lebedoff, Cleaning Up: The Exxon Valdez Case, from 3 Drinks to 5 Billion Dollars, Free Press, →ISBN, page 28:

People who like one another often go along with one another's ideas to keep everyone happy. In Minnesota, people often call this "Minnesota nice." The intent is not to hurt anyone's feelings.

1999, Rosalie T. Torres, Hallie Preskill, Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations, →ISBN, page 31:

(US) A style of pleasantness, courtesy, cooperation, and helpfulness associated with Minnesota culture; a form of Northern Plains charm.


Minnesota nice

Their new anchor, or family member, as they call him, isn't resonating with the viewers, who aren't sure he's Minnesota nice

2006 July 28, Brooke Gladstone, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, On the Media, WNYC

(US) Pleasant, courteous, cooperative, and helpful (as associated with Minnesota culture).


garbage can

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(Canada, US) A receptacle, usually roughly cylindrical and wider at the top than at the bottom, which serves as a place to discard waste materials.


ticky-tacky

Probably reduplication of tacky. Apparently coined by Malvina Reynolds in the early 1960s (see quotation, below).

And the boys go into business, and marry and raise a family / In boxes made of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same.

1962, Malvina Reynolds (lyrics and music), “Little Boxes”:

(US) Cheap, low-quality building material, especially as that used to make conventional suburban housing of a uniform design.


ticky-tacky

My first impression was that Phoenix was another American Dream (a la L.A.) come true—ticky-tacky tract housing complexes and mini-malls stretching boundlessly into the flat desert horizon.

2013, K.T. Berger, Where the Road and the Sky Collide, page 112:

(US) Made of this material; cheaply built, of low quality.


play along

en-verb

play along (third-person singular simple present plays along, present participle playing along, simple past and past participle played along)

plays along (present singular third-person)
playing along (participle present)
played along (participle past)
played along (past)

I have doubts about your plan, but I'll play along for now.

(idiomatic, US) To cooperate or go along with a plan.

I haven't told him yet, I'm still playing along with his scheme.

(idiomatic, US) To pretend to cooperate or go along with a plan.


G-note

It seems that the President [...] hit the till for a few G-notes for the love of a blue-eyed brunette with a record of seven convictions as a prostitute.

1957, William Frank Buckley, National Review, volume 3, page 282:

Satch took receipt of his two G-notes at a propitious moment.

2000, Mark Ribowsky, Don't look back: Satchel Paige in the shadows of baseball, page 168:

My tight-skirted kitten pressed two G-notes into my hand. "Please, Mr. Monroe. I don't know where else to turn."

(US, informal) A one-thousand dollar banknote.


hang the moon

hang the moon (third-person singular simple present hangs the moon, present participle hanging the moon, simple past and past participle hung the moon)

hangs the moon (present singular third-person)
hanging the moon (participle present)
hung the moon (participle past)
hung the moon (past)

"Everybody in the 8th Wing thinks he hung the moon," says one of Olds's aviators. "We'd follow him anywhere."

1967 June 2, “The Old Man and the MIGs”, in Time:

If I had two dozens roses and an older bottle of wine,
If I really could have hung the moon,
Would it change your mind?

Did you really think last night would last forever?
Did you really think that guy hung the moon?
Right now you hate yourself 'cause you know better
But there's no use crying over spilled perfume.

1994, Pam Tillis, Dean Dillon, Spilled Perfume:

(idiomatic, US) To place the moon in the sky: used as an example of a superlative act attributed to someone viewed with uncritical or excessive awe, reverence, or infatuation.


Chicana

/t͡ʃɪˈkɑːnə/


rock candy

en-noun

rock candy (usually uncountable, plural rock candies)

(US) A form of confectionery made by crystallizing sugar around a string.

kandiscukor

a form of confectionery made by crystallizing sugar around a string


hist

en-verb

hist (third-person singular simple present hists, present participle histing, simple past and past participle histed)

hists (present singular third-person)
histing (participle present)
histed (participle past)
histed (past)

1952, R. A. Atkinson, Uncle Aaron Peddles a Possum, 2010 [1976], J. Mason Brewer (editor), Dog Ghosts and The Word on the Brazos (Combined edition), page 30,
When he spy de train a-comin' 'roun' de curve, he hists de hankershuf way up ovuh his haid for hit to stop, an' when de engineer rech de spot whar Unkuh Aaron stannin', he jumps down outen his seat to de groun' an asts Unkuh Aaron de why he stop de train.

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


ofay

Unknown; perhaps from an African language (possibly Yoruba ófé (“to evade, disappear”)). Pig Latin for foe, though popularly posited, is probably not accurate.
A possible point of origin is Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary, where the word is defined as "Policeman or law enforcement, 'The Man'".

For example we have words like ofay, pink, fade, space, Mr. Charlie, cracker, peckawood, hoojah, and so on—nice words and bitter.

[1929, Claude McKay, Banjo, published 1957, →ISBN, page 217:

You get outa my alley, Lucas -- and take that ofay with you, hear?

1983 May, Kurt Busiek, “The Chemistro Connection”, in Power Man and Iron Fist, volume 1, number 93, Marvel Comics Group:

The rival, the foe, the ofay, veins stretched and bulged between white knuckles.

(US, ethnic slur, slang) A white person.


ofay

en-adj

ofay (comparative more ofay, superlative most ofay)

more ofay (comparative)
most ofay (superlative)

“You better tell your little ofay kid friend move along.”

1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN:

‘Baby,’ April Elgar said, ‘you may be an uptight ofay milk-toast limey bastard, but you ain’t no fag.’

1984. Anthony Burgess, Enderby's Dark Lady

Everything is strictly peachy keen, as the ofay kids say.

1959. Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

(US, ethnic slur, slang) White; white-skinned.


'cuz

(US) Informal spelling of 'cause (“because”).


rainmaking

His firm's goal was to fill their gender quota—and simultaneously do some rainmaking by hiring the daughters of CEOs.

2005, Steve Sailer, Why (Some) Men Don’t Support Summers:

(US, informal) Hiring someone who creates business opportunities or revenue.


highfalooting

(US, informal) Alternative form of highfalutin


flunker

(slang, Canada, US) Someone who has flunked: failed in an examination, been kept back to repeat a grade, or flunked out of school.


AK

(US) Abbreviation of Alaska, A state of the United States.


onesie

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-onesie.wav

From the Gerber Childrenswear brand name Onesies. The name became generic and was reinterpreted as a plural, hence the new singular and decapitalized "onesie". Equivalent to one + -sie.

Name given to a number of one-piece attires

(US) A one-piece garment for an infant or small child, generally worn over a diaper.


reapportionment

en-noun

reapportionment (countable and uncountable, plural reapportionments)

In this context Endean pointed to the upcoming reapportionment of congressional districts according to the 1980 Census figures saying, "Everyone is up in the air over what their district will look like. Liberals are afraid they'll be gerrymandered into conservative districts.

1981 February 7, Betty Krier, quoting Steve Endean, “Pro, Anti-Gay Lobbies Plan Bills For Congress”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 28, page 3:

The act of reapportioning; a second or subsequent apportionment.

(US, politics) Reassignment of representation in a legislature, especially of U.S. House of Representative seats, in accord with changes in the census population determination.


bare-butt

(Canada, US, slang) With the buttocks exposed, as for a spanking or a mooning.

It has taken millions of years of evolution — pelagic, geologic, biological, and cultural — to create the Monterey Peninsula of today, a charming series of communities that appeal to bare-butt, stoned-out hippies as much as to some of the wealthiest and most talented people in the world.

2001, Thom Akeman, Monterey Peninsula: A Cypress Shore, Graphic Arts Center Publishing, published 2001, →ISBN, page 7:

Although Horcón has tolerated bare-butt bathing for some years, the municipalidad of Pichilemu wants to be the first to officially accept nudism, despite the opposition of its parish priest, who declared 'nudism leads to adultery'.

2005, Tim Burford, Chile: The Bradt Travel Guide, Globe Pequot Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 369:

[…] All the while, he's paddling toward the beach, and when he got up there, the shark was cruising around on the inside. So he took his shorts off, threw them to the shark and just walked bare-butt down the beach. […]

2009, Stuart Holmes Coleman, Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the Soul of Hawaiian Surfing, St. Martin's Press, published 2009, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, slang, by extension) Stark naked.


interurban

interurban car, interurban line, interurban railroad

On the steam roads, the engine, representing with its tender an enormous weight, is required to generate enough power not only for its own propulsion, but drag after it a train of cars. Several important consequences result from this difference between steam and electric traction. First, on the electric railway single cars may be used, taking their power as required under such headway as may be required to accommodate the traffic, while the steam engine must for the sake of economy be loaded somewhere near its capacity, so that the service is necessarily less frequent than that offered by the interurban.

1909, Thomas Conway (Jr.), The Traffic Problems of Interurban Electric Railroads, page 7:

Q. Took the interurban at Denison? A. Yes, sir. Q. And went from there to McKinney on the interurban?

1916, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 20:

The act was elective and included the hazardous employments listed (they fill 112 pages of print) and include railroads, mines, interurbans, logging, iron and steel manufacture, packing houses, construction work, etc., etc.

1919, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 117:

... but debits and credits arising from the operation of such street electric passenger railways, including railways commonly called interurbans, as are at the time of the agreement not under Federal control, shall be excluded.

(Can we date this quote?), Southern Pacific Company, Corporation Annual Reports to Shareholders, page 30:

Returning to Seattle we took the interurban to Everett, 32 miles north, $1.30 for the round trip

1927, The Union Pacific Magazine, volume 6, page 13:

In 1945, Vancouver had 347 street cars (not counting interurbans)

(Can we date this quote?), Canadian Transportation and Distribution Management, volume 53, page 15:

Why did people ride the interurban? No one knows. If you had asked a rider, he might have said "Fast, convenient, comfortable, economical“ – yet those are the same reasons that people give for riding in automobiles.

1960, Felix E. Reifschneider, Interurban Limited, page 8:

(rail transport, US) An electric railway carrying mainly passengers between two or more urban centres.


slab

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

Video screens have also become a standard part of slab interiors.

2016, Langston Collin Wilkins, “Officially Ridin' Swangas: Slab as tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Houston, Texas”, in Michelle L. Stefano, Peter Davis, editor, The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage, page 206:

After a few loops around the park, some drivers—most of them Black and Latino men in their twenties and thirties driving customized lowriders, bright, candy-colored slabs, and jacked-up trucks with flashy chrome rims—packed into a nearby middle school parking lot.

2021 March 23, Peter Holley, “They Just Moved Into an Austin Neighborhood. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions.”, in Texas Monthly:

(US, slang) A large, luxury pre-1980 General Motors vehicle, particularly a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac.


catch out

en-verb

catch out (third-person singular simple present catches out, present participle catching out, simple past and past participle caught out)

catches out (present singular third-person)
catching out (participle present)
caught out (participle past)
caught out (past)

(intransitive, dated, US, slang) To leave an area by jumping on a train; to ride the rails away.


red-eye

en-noun

red-eye (countable and uncountable, plural red-eyes)

red-eyes (plural)
red eye (alternative)
redeye (alternative)

The noun is derived from red + eye; sense 2.3 (“strong but poor-quality whiskey”) and sense 3 (“overnight airplane flight”) are probably so named because they may cause people to develop bloodshot eyes.
The verb is derived from the noun.

The red-eye (Vireo olivaceus), [...] The first (the red-eye) is one of the most abundant birds in the woods of the northern states. In the spring months, he is one of the most conspicuous of our singers, and, though his notes are short, they are very musical and lively.

1851, J[ohann] G[eorg] Heck, “Sub-order 3. Dentirostres, Tooth-billed Birds.”, in Spencer F[ullerton] Baird, transl., Iconographic Encyclopædia of Science, Literature, and Art. … Translated from the German, … In Four Volumes, volumes II (Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, and Surgery), New York, N.Y.: Rudolph Garrigue, […], →OCLC, pages 550–551:

The Red-eye sings with clear to slurred whistles using a variety of phrasings. It scolds with a harsh "dzur." [...] Red-eyes are common in city and town parks.

1998 June, W[illiam] Bruce McGillivray, Glen P[eter] Semenchuk, “Shrikes and Vireos”, in The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds, Edmonton, Alta.: Federation of Alberta Naturalists, →ISBN, page 196:

(countable) Any of various animals that have red eyes.

(Canada, US) The red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus), a small American songbird.

The egg of the round herring or red-eye Etrumeus whiteheadi (E. micropus, E. teres) is smooth, spherical (diameter around 1·4 mm) with a narrow perivitelline space and has a large lightly segmented yolk and no oil globule [...].

1986, L. V. Shannon, S. C. Pillar, “The Benguela Ecosystem. Part III. Plankton.”, in Harold Barnes, Margaret Barnes, editors, Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, volume 24, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 155:

This is probably less of a barrier to mesopelagic species such as lanternfish (Lampanyctodes hectoris), redeye (Etrumeus whiteheadi) or gobies (Sufflogobius bibarbatus), all of which are capable of more extensive vertical migration than the small epipelagic fish.

2006, Carl van der Lingen et al., “Forecasting Shelf Processes of Relevance to Living Marine Resources in the BCLME”, in Vere Shannon et al., editors, Benguela: Predicting a Large Marine Ecosystem (Large Marine Ecosystems Series; 14), Amsterdam, Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Elsevier, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 330:

(South Africa, US) Any of various round herrings of the genus Etrumeus.

Agkistrodon contortrix Linnaeus.—Cotton-mouth, Highland Moccasin, Rattlesnake Pilot, Red-eye.

[1905, F. N. Notestein, “The Ophidia of Michigan with an Analytical Key”, in Seventh Report of the Michigan Academy of Science: […], Lansing, Mich.: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., state printers, →OCLC, page 120:

Agkistrodon contortrix
Agkistrodon contortrix#Translingual

(US) Either of two subspecies of the copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), a venomous pit viper native to the United States: either the broad-banded copperhead or Texas copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus), or the highland moccasin or northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen).

Redeyes inhabit clear-water streams with an abundance of shoals and are usually confined to headwater sections.

1970 April, A. J. McClane, “The Sunfish Family”, in Clare Conley, editor, Field and Stream, volume LXXIV, number 12, New York, N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 116, column 2:

Bring back the days of cane poles and lazy summer mornings and creeks full of sassy rock bass. […] “All you gotta do,” advised Thornhill, fingering through a minnow bucket for a lively victim, “is find a hole with a redeye in it . . . like that little spot over near the bank.”

1980 June 22, Sam Venable, “Minnow Magic: Tiny Streams Can Hold Hefty Rock Bass — If You Know Where To Search”, in The Knoxville News-Sentinel, number 30,083, Knoxville, Tenn., page D8:

He remembered turning over the flat rocks in the shallows to catch crawdads, remembered the sungrannies and redeyes around the ends of trees fallen into the river.

1994, John Ed Pearce, “The Fatal Clash on Crane Creek”, in Days of Darkness: The Feuds of Eastern Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 151:

(US) Any of various sunfishes of the family Centrarchidae, especially the redeye bass (Micropterus coosae) or the rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris).

Near-synonym: rotgut

[W]hat I am trying to explain to you is that I have rather cracked grains and that a visit from you would not solve anything, especially with a jug of red eye when my stomach is gone.

1967 April 29, Charles Bukowski, “[Letter to Darrell Kerr]”, in On Writing, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, published 2015, →ISBN:

She set the bottle of red-eye on the bar, along with a tumbler. [...] I sipped, wheezed, let that first firewater slide down and start some trouble in my gut, and then sipped again. You had to ease into red-eye, and not take her all at once.

2010, William W[allace] Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone, chapter 16, in Savage Guns (Pinnacle Western; Cotton Pickens; 3), New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, →ISBN:

(countable) Types of beverages or sauces.

(US, slang) A strong but poor-quality whiskey.

Types of beverages or sauces.
A strong but poor-quality whiskey.

I waited too late to book my holiday flight, so I had to take the red-eye.

In fact, you don't see many business travelers on the redeye — the flights that leave West Coast cities after 10 p.m. and touch down at East Coast airports around 6 a.m. […] Redeyes tend to be full of leisure travelers, budget travelers, people involved in bicoastal romances and students.

1990 January 14, Martha T. Moore, “Who flies the ‘redeyes’?”, in The Herald Statesman, volume 126, number 36, Yonkers, N.Y., page G7:

Fortunately, most of these were former French colonies, and through a combination of quiet diplomacy and well-placed French nationals in the various air-traffic-control centers, the 300-mile-long stream of American aircraft flew the width of Africa as uneventfully as a red-eye flight from LAX to JFK.

1994, Tom Clancy, Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 281:

The red-eye back to San Francisco was only about half full. Michael had a window seat and Willy stretched his six-foot-three inch frame out into the aisle as they waited for take-off.

2007, Ellen Klages, “Triangle”, in Portable Childhoods, San Francisco, Calif.: Tachyon Publications, →ISBN, pages 61–62:

He delighted in flying first class to New York on a red-eye and then putting in a full day's work. He functioned on pure adrenaline, often working twenty-hour days.

2014, John Glatt, “Up and Running: April to June, 1968”, in Live at the Fillmore East and West: Getting Backstage and Personal with Rock’s Greatest Legends, Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 136:

(countable, US, aviation, travel, colloquial, also attributively) An overnight airplane flight or train trip.


cheesery

(US) A bakery, cooking house, plant or other factory that specializes in making cheese.


CAAA

Clean Air Amendment Act of 1990
w:Clean Air Act (1990)

(US) Acronym of Clean Air Amendment Act of 1990.


ISTEA

(US, law) Initialism of Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.


TWU

Transport Workers Union
w:Transport Workers Union

(US, labor union) Initialism of Transport Workers Union.


TRB

Transportation Research Board
w:Transportation Research Board

(US) Initialism of Transportation Research Board.


BATF

w:Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

(US) Initialism of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)


BATFE

w:Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

(US) Initialism of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


USSS

(US) Initialism of United States secret service.


CWA

Civil Works Administration
w:Civil Works Administration

(US, historical, 1933–1934) Initialism of Civil Works Administration.

DOJ is asking for $64,618 per day, per violation of the CWA and $55,808 per day or $2,232 per barrel of oil or unit of hazardous substance, per violation of the CWA – but it was not immediately clear from the suit how many days the DOJ considered the violation to be applicable.

2023 March 31, Alisha Ebrahimji and Andi Babineau, “US Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern following train derailment in East Palestine”, in CNN:

But CWA is focused on upping investment in job creation, not just low prices. As part of the proposed merger, AT&T has agreed to make significant investment in new mobile broadband services which could lead to the creation of up to 96,000 new jobs.

2011 September 4, Will Marshall, “Why America Needs a New Deal for Labor and Business”, in The Atlantic:

In January, workers at Google formed a solidarity union in affiliation with CWA. The following month, Medium workers announced plans to unionize as well (the organization recently failed to win majority support in a third-party election and is momentarily pausing organizing activities).

2021 March 2, Brian Heater, “Following unionization, Glitch signs collective bargaining agreement”, in TechCrunch:

Communications Workers of America
w:Communications Workers of America

(US) Initialism of Communications Workers of America.


FERA

w:Federal Emergency Relief Administration

(US) Initialism of Federal Emergency Relief Administration.


FWP

Federal Writers' Project
w:Federal Writers' Project

(US) Initialism of Federal Writers' Project.


HOLC

Home Owners' Loan Corporation
w:Home Owners' Loan Corporation

(US) Initialism of Home Owners' Loan Corporation.


NYA

National Youth Administration
w:National Youth Administration

(US, historical) Initialism of National Youth Administration.


NIRA

National Industrial Recovery Act
w:National Industrial Recovery Act

(US) Initialism of National Industrial Recovery Act.


PRRA

w:Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration

(US) Initialism of Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration.


USHA

(US) Initialism of United States Housing Authority.


WPA

Sadie wears a big straw hat, and she has climbed up the ladder and set a wicker basket on the top step. She looks so fine and wholesome, like a girl in a WPA poster.

2022, Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Vintage (2023), pages 364-365:

(US) Initialism of Works Progress Administration.


IBA

IBA (countable and uncountable, plural IBAs)

(military, US) Initialism of Interceptor Body Armor.


musclebrain

(US) A person who actively participates in physical sports, possibly highly skilled in sports, but does not do well in academic activities, like math and science.

(US, slang, derogatory) A large, strong, but inept, bumbling, buffoonish or unintelligent man.


reviser

(law, US) In several states, an official charged with the responsibility for making new statutes technically consistent with the existing body of law.


your Honor

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-your Honor.wav

(US, formal, addressing a judge or magistrate) you


celiac

From Latin coeliacus, from Ancient Greek κοιλιακός (koiliakós), from κοιλία (koilía, “belly”). Cognate with coelom.

(US, anatomy) Of, pertaining to or located within the abdomen or abdominal cavity.

celíaco

of or pertaining to the abdominal cavity

(US, medicine) Of or pertaining to c(o)eliac disease.


pinto bean

From Spanish pinto (“painted”), named for its mottled skin.

Phaseolus vulgaris
Phaseolus vulgaris#Translingual

(US, usually in the plural) Any bean of several varieties of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), common in the US and Mexico.


AEB

AEB (countable and uncountable, plural AEBs)

(US, military, countable) Abbreviation of airborne engineer battalion (a battalion of combat engineers trained to parachute into their deployment zone)


spring roll

Calque of Chinese 春捲 /春卷 (chūnjuǎn, literally “vernal/spring-time spool”), equivalent to spring + roll.


phonorecord

(US, law) A physical object that contains a permanent record of a sound.


shooting iron

shooting irons (plural)
shooting-iron (alternative)

"It ain't the rifle, Harry," Sam said good-temperedly; "it is the eye that is wrong, not the shooting-iron."

1895, G. A. Henty, chapter 15, in In the Heart Of The Rockies:

Look like a fool walking about with an empty shooting-iron in my hand.

1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XXV, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 267:

"Look like a damn fool walking about with an empty shooting-iron in my hand."

1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page xxv. 183:

The U.S. Army's newest war tool, the M-3 submachine gun, unveiled last week. [...] a stark, crude, unlovely shooting iron.

(chiefly US, colloquial, dated) A firearm, especially a handgun.


butt-naked

Probably related to (and perhaps simply a variant of) buck naked. It is not clear which of the two forms came first, but the earliest written evidence suggests that buck naked is present some four decades earlier.

They could hardly have all marched off butt-naked.

1998, John Peel, The Outer Limits: The Vanished, New York: Tor Kids, →ISBN, page 8:

He cannot picture life without alcohol, drugs or butt-naked rooftop escapades.

2008, Chris Kovach, chapter 11, in Alcoholics Synonymous, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, informal) Stark naked, completely nude.


street hockey

(Canada, US) An informal version of hockey (ice hockey) played on a quiet street, with a ball instead of a puck.


nobby

en-adj

nobby (comparative nobbier, superlative nobbiest)

nobbier (comparative)
nobbiest (superlative)

Undertaking?—why it's the dead-surest business in Christendom, and the nobbiest.

1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, published 2007, page 152:

1925 April 11, Busybody, "Jottings About Town", in The New Yorker, page 25,
Quite nobby are the suitings appearing on some of our better Fifth Avenue young men.

Alcibiades, was the nobbiest boy in Greece.

1933, Josephine Herbst, Pity Is Not Enough, page 37:


jello

en-noun

jello (usually uncountable, plural jellos)

jellos (plural)
Jell-O (alternative)
Jello (alternative)

Genericization of the brand name Jell-O.

The jello was gone in five minutes and the cigarette smoked.

1940, Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Houghton Mifflin, published 2004, →ISBN, page 306:

Distribution of cherry jello was stepped up to college campus towns across America.

2002, Rich Zubaty, Your Brain Is Not Your Own, →ISBN, page 159:

She didn't want to eat anything heavy and decided that jello had zero fat content.

2006, Xana, Harvest Moon, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 178:

(Canada, US) A dessert made by boiling gelatine, sugar and some flavoring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.


chimichanga

/t͡ʃɪmiˈt͡ʃæŋɡə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chimichanga.wav

From Mexican Spanish chimichanga (“trinket, thingamajig”), but the original sense is disputed and obscure. See chimichanga.


social security number

en-noun

social security number (plural social security numbers)

social security numbers (plural)
Social Security number (alternative)
social-security number (alternative)

(US) A nine-digit number issued to citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents by the Social Security Administration under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2), introduced primarily to track people for taxation purposes, and in recent years serving as a de facto national identification number.

სოციალური უსაფრთხოების ნომერი

nine-digit number issued in the US under the Social Security Act


CPT

CPT (countable and uncountable, plural CPTs)

Colored People's Time
Colored People's Time#English

(US, dated derogatory slang, sometimes reclaimed) Initialism of Colored People's Time.


picometer

(US) (metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10⁻¹² meters; alternative spelling of picometre.


pruno

From prune + -o. Originally (by 1940s) referring to fermented prune juice, later applied to any fermented fruit juice.

(US, prison slang) An improvised alcoholic drink made by fermenting whatever ingredients are available.


close enough for government work

en-adj

close enough for government work (not comparable)

en-au-close enough for government work.ogg

Originally nonironic (meaning good enough to meet especially high standards); later evolved to mean good enough, though only barely.

(US, idiomatic, humorous, derogatory) Adequate; acceptable as government work, imperfect but not worth the time nor effort of improving.


mootah

moota (alternative)
mooter (alternative)
mota (alternative)
muta (alternative)
mutah (alternative)

Rapp smoked his muta while he played the new guitar, and I blew on my kazoo.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 52:


slugging

en-noun

slugging (countable and uncountable, plural sluggings)

The feuding for control of the Jersey waterfront made news as sluggings, bombings, and beatings continued on the Jersey City docks.

(US) A blow or blows with the fist; a beating.

(US) The act of hitting a ball hard; slogging.


second-degree murder

second-degree murder (countable and uncountable, plural second-degree murders)

tappo

act or crime of murder with intent, but without premeditation

roughly equivalent concept in Finnish law

szándékos, de nem előre megfontolt szándékkal elkövetett emberölés

(law, chiefly US, Canada) The criminal offence of murder in a form defined as less serious than first-degree murder; the precise distinction may vary by jurisdiction but typically involves second-degree murder being intentional but not premeditated.

(law, chiefly US, Canada) An act that constitutes the crime of second-degree murder.


triple O

Fight sequences fall into one of three categories: “MAMs” (many against many), “OHMs” (one hits many), and “triple O′s” (one on one). Group fights — MAMs and OHMs — are more difficult to choreograph than triple O′s, and TV shows that included well-choreographed MAMs and OHMs received higher marks than those devoid of mass attacks.

The triple O′s (One On One fights) are all between women (the scenes where the Bride fights Budd and Bill are too short to count as fights as one strike does it in both cases) who in Asian action fashion politely complement^([sic]) each others′ skills.

2007, Rikke Schubart, Super Bitches and Action Babes: The Female Hero in Popular Cinema, 1970-2006, page 308:

“On the other hand,” Jen grinned wickedly, “you might have another triple-O.”

2007, Susan Lyons, She′s On Top, page 20:


twerk

Blend of twerp + jerk, found primarily in the 1930s-era works of Walter Dumaux Edmonds.

"'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"

1930, Walter Dumaux Edmonds, The Big Barn, page 207:

"But even then the poor twerk's whiskers and little eyes looked kind of wistful as if the clothes had got him and was taking him somewhere..."

You don't need those twerks who walk in off the street.

2003, Bernard Kamoroff, Small Time Operator, →ISBN, page 19:

(slang, dated, US) A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.


whole note

(Canada, US, music) A semibreve, a musical note four beats long in 4/4 time.


spearchucker

From spear + chucker, in the offensive sense, alluding to a stereotype of Africans as primitive savages who use spears in hunting and war.

The other night, Jackson's on the radio asking if anybody in the area has seen two spearchuckers winging it off on foot with a pile of nigger clothes in their hands. Jesus Christ. Spearchuckers? Niggers? The guy's KKK material.

1983, Maurice Punch, Control in the Police Organization, MIT Press:

9:45 A man across the circle from me shouted, "Hey spearchuckers! Hey spearchuckers! Why don't you turn bright red! Oh!, They're not spearchuckers, they're Indians.

1991, 1990 Witness Report: Chippewa Spearfishing Season : Violence, Ineffective Law Enforcement, and Racism:

Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australian

(British, US, Australia, offensive, ethnic slur, slang) A black (African or African-American or an Aboriginal Australian) person.


fluid ounce

Any of various units of volume used for liquid measure, all approximately 1.73–1.83 cubic inches or 28.4–30 milliliters.

(US) A unit of volume equal to one sixteenth of a US pint or approximately 29.6 ml


packsack

The boy has a little packsack, in which he can carry twenty-five pounds for a short portage.

1899 November 19, “Deer Hunting in Minnesota”, in New York Times, page 12:

(chiefly US) A backpack, knapsack, rucksack or similar bag packed with provisions or personal items, especially as carried by a traveller or a hiker, and often slung over the shoulder.


COMUSNAVCENT

US Naval Forces Central Command
w:U.S. Naval Forces Central Command

(US, military) Abbreviation of US Naval Forces Central Command.


trashman

trashmen (plural)
trash man (alternative)

(US, Canada) Someone whose job it is to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.


garbage man

garbage men (plural)
garbageman (alternative)

(Australia, US, Canada) Someone, usually male, whose job it is to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.


guayabera

So he was quite peremptory when a slight, soft-spoken man in a guayabera, trousers, and sandals began chatting with him and did not seem likely to stop.

2013, Amy Wilentz, Farewell, Fred Voodoo, Simon & Schuster, page 85:

(chiefly US) A light, open-necked, short-sleeved shirt worn by men in Latin America and the West Indies.


loosey-goosey

en-adj

loosey-goosey (comparative more loosey-goosey or loosier-goosier or loosey-goosier, superlative most loosey-goosey or loosiest-goosiest or loosey-goosiest)

more loosey-goosey (comparative)
loosier-goosier (comparative)
loosey-goosier (comparative)
most loosey-goosey (superlative)
loosiest-goosiest (superlative)
loosey-goosiest (superlative)
loosey goosey (alternative)
loosy-goosy (alternative)

They said that he couldn't hit International League pitching because he was too loosey-goosey at the plate.

1946 July 8, “By Jim Coleman”, in The Globe and Mail:

“All these other guys are scared to death,” the pinch-hitter kept telling himself as he walked towards the plate, “I’m loosey-goosey, I’m loosey-goosey, I’m loosey-goosey.”

1955, Trent Frayne, “Why Big-League Goalies CRACK Up”, in Maclean's, archived from the original on 2022-04-09:

(sports, originally baseball, Canada, US) relaxed


yazoo

Named after the Yazoo River, a tributary of the Mississippi with this characteristic.

(US) A tributary that runs parallel to a river (especially when separated by a natural levee).


assmonkey

assmonkeys (plural)
ass monkey (alternative)

Near-synonym: assclown

"Look," said Mayer, suddenly nervous, "there's no sense in acting like complete ass monkeys over this. I'm sure we can reach a mutually beneficial settlement."

2000, Martin DiPietro, “The Pull”, in Nest: 28 Tales of Pulp Fiction, →ISBN, page 72:

“You little assmonkey!” The kid danced away to the front of the car.

2002, Brian Rockstroh, Far From Grace, →ISBN, page 10:

"God, love," I said, "Annnnnd ... trampolines!" ¶ "You are such an assmonkey."

2004, Stacey Cochran, The Band, →ISBN, page 188:

(Canada, US, slang, humorous) An obnoxious or contemptible person; a jerk.


FOUO

(US) Initialism of for official use only.


redbird

Then she chanced to look up and catch sight of a redbird in a tree.

(Canada, US) Any of several unrelated American songbirds having red plumage, especially the tanager or cardinal.


winter-killed

(US) Of crops, having been killed by winter weather.


NJQSAC

(US, education) Initialism of New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum.


RUC

(military, US) Initialism of reporting unit code.


select agent

(US, law) A pathogen or biological toxin which has been declared to have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety.


callout

So many people attended the basketball callout that the coach decided to form two teams.

(US) A meeting or rally held in order to find interested participants, e.g. for an activity or sports team.


metering

en-noun

metering (countable and uncountable, plural meterings)

meterings (plural)
metring (alternative)

(chiefly US) The process of marking a stamp with a meter.

(chiefly US) The marking itself; franking.


trash can

trash cans (plural)
trashcan (alternative)

(US, Philippines) A receptacle which serves as a place to discard waste materials.


forty-ninth parallel

(Canada, US) A nickname for the approximately 1200-mile (1900-kilometer) portion of the border between Canada and the USA, extending along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude from Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Ocean.

(Canada, US, nonstandard) A nickname for the entire border between Canada and the USA.


executive order

executive order (plural executive orders)

Today I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America, and the revolution of common sense.

2025 January 20, Donald Trump, Inaugural Address (2025):

(law, chiefly US) An ordinance issued by the authority of the head of the executive branch of government.

أَمْرٌ تَنْفِيذِيٌّ

decree issued on the authority of the executive branch of government


dollars to donuts

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dollars to donuts.wav

Dollars to donuts you'll like the price, too . . . only $132.50

1962, Chain Store Age, volume 38, Chain Store Publishing Corporation, →OCLC, part 2:

Dollars to donuts, your spouse or lover will take the cue, and begin the day this way too.

1988, Eva Shaw, Your Astrological Guide to Fitness, Mills & Sanderson, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC:

(US, informal, figurative) I can tell you (used to assert the speakers confidence in the veracity of the statement).


run someone ragged

en-verb

run someone ragged (third-person singular simple present runs someone ragged, present participle running someone ragged, simple past ran someone ragged, past participle run someone ragged)

runs someone ragged (present singular third-person)
running someone ragged (participle present)
ran someone ragged (past)
run someone ragged (participle past)

/ˈɹʌn ˌsʌmwʌn ˈɹæɡɪd/

/ˈɹʌn ˌsʌmwʌn ˈɹæɡəd/

From run + ragged (“exhausted, tired, run down”).

They’ve been running him ragged trying to keep up with the demand for new features.

A little man by modern-day goon-basketball standards, the five-foot ten-inch speedster [Ralph Beard] handles bigger opponents by running them ragged.

1950 January, Stanley Pashko, “Scanning the Sports Scene”, in Irving Crump, editor, Boys’ Life: The Magazine for All Boys, volume XL, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Boy Scouts of America, →OCLC, page 16, column 1:

Rebeca is busy with the children, who are busy getting into mischief. The baby runs her ragged.

1992, Teresa Kao, “Nikki”, in The Quality of the Light, West Linn, Or.: Gangor Press, →ISBN, page 166:

The choice of priorities he had chosen gave him the right to demand acceptance of his ways and ignore the needs of others. It gave him the power to insist on servitude and, without thought, dismiss Arnam's pride. It gave him the right to torment, the right to run him ragged when he chose, [...]

2010, Kaiser Jamal, chapter 1, in A Haunting of Shadows, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 24:

He's letting me hire four new rangers. Isn't that great? The increase in tourists are running us ragged.

2012, Kathryn Meyer Griffith, chapter 17, in Dinosaur Lake, [Scotts Valley, Calif.]: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, →ISBN; republished [Los Gatos, Calif.]: Smashwords Edition, 2014, →ISBN, page 346:

England ran Tunisia ragged in that spell but were punished for missing a host of chances when Ferjani Sassi equalised from the penalty spot against the run of play after Kyle Walker was penalised for an elbow on Fakhreddine Ben Youssef.

2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2019-04-21:

(originally US, idiomatic) To exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody.


hell and half of Georgia

Seems to me I been on foot all over hell and half of Georgia, since this ruckus began.

1946, Constance Noyes Robertson, The Unterrified, H. Holt and Co., page 426:

Idiot, she scolded herself. You've tracked Alex through hell and half of Georgia, only to fall in a stupid well!

2001, Sallie Bissell, In the Forest of Harm, page 262:

The hitch is that the ship is so powerful—it must be, to do the things for which it has been designed—that its twin rotors blast away Hell and half of Georgia with the turbulence it causes on landing or taking off.

2006, Ted G. Arthurs, Land with No Sun: A Year in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne, page 23:

(idiomatic, US) A very large region; everywhere.


ARCA

Automobile Racing Club of America
w:Automobile Racing Club of America

(US, sports) Acronym of Automobile Racing Club of America, a stock car auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1952.


premo

en-adj

premo (comparative more premo, superlative most premo)

more premo (comparative)
most premo (superlative)

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Clipping of premium + -o, or a variant form of primo (“best, first-class”).

Like, you know, this guy at the dance was like soooo foxy mondo!! Like totally awesome. He could have been like a model for like GQ, for sure! He was premo[,] definitely not a zod.

1983, “Candidly Gannon”, in Lance, volume 32, Erie, P.A.: Gannon University, page 121:

I wish they would have shown much more of Nancy Vee and you when you did the initial g/g in the car... what little we saw was premo, absolutely premo!

1998 May 31, voya...@ix.netcom.com, “tina tyler posts again”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica (Usenet):

I've been to his place once Brad and I have to say that his games were absolutely premo!

2008 May 22, TZodd / GravitaR, “FS Pins in Ann Arbor, MI”, in rec.games.pinball (Usenet):

It's where I like to escape to, for some there's not a lot to do there. I mean there is premo sportfishing, diving, windsurfing, and SUPs stand up paddleboards and kayaks, also I'm content to lie in the hammock all week and catch up on my reading, and, if it rains, hang out at Chaos and play Jenga or Ouija with the bartender and staff.

2016, Savanna Redman, Butterfly Bones: Visions Are the Voice of the Soul, Nereid Press, →ISBN, page 323:

(US, slang, rare) Excellent, attractive.


inside baseball

baseballin hienoudet

technical matters usually only of interest to or noticed by baseball insiders

There always has been a tendency to overlook the catcher, possibly because so much of him is covered up during the game, but more because the greatest part of his work is inside baseball and of the kind which the general public can neither see nor appreciate.

1914, Paul Withington, Lothrop Withington, The Book of Athletics, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard:

Here, the game is marked by the "little things" that have come to be defined as "inside baseball".

1993, Michael A. Katovich, “Humor in Baseball: Functions and Dysfunctions”, in The Journal of American Culture, volume 16, number 2, pages 7–16:

(US, idiomatic, baseball) Technical matters concerning baseball generally not apparent or of interest to spectators.

But in fact, redistricting remained very much a game of inside baseball.

2003, Sam Hirsch, “The United States House of Unrepresentatives: What Went Wrong in the Latest Round of Congressional Redistricting”, in Election Law Journal, volume 2, number 2, pages 179–216:

[…] the more inside-baseball the name, the nerdier the subject matter.

2015 June 11, Paul Ford, “What is Code?”, in Bloomberg:

(US, idiomatic, by extension) Matters of interest only to insiders.


archeologist

(chiefly US) Alternative spelling of archaeologist


spizzerinctum

(US, informal) Chutzpah, guts, nerve, or backbone.

(US, informal) Determination, ardor, or zeal.


black bag

(chiefly US) The pouch or case traditionally carried by medical doctors, especially when making house calls, and containing medical instruments and supplies.


garbage bag

The road was full of garbage bags awaiting the arrival of the trash men.

(Canada, US) A plastic bag produced for the disposal of household waste.

كِيس قُمَامَة

plastic bag for the disposal of household waste


trash bag

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The road was full of trash bags awaiting the arrival of the garbage men.

(Canada, US) A plastic bag for the disposal of household waste.

(Canada, US, derogatory, informal) A disrespectful person.


neoliberalism

en-noun

neoliberalism (countable and uncountable, plural neoliberalisms)

(US) The ideology associated with the New Democrats and the Democratic Leadership Council.


sepon

(US, dialect) Alternative form of suppawn


certiorari

/ˌsɝʃəˈɹɛəɹaɪ/

/ˌsɝʃəˈɹɛəɹi/

/ˌsɝʃəˈɹɑɹi/

/ˌsɜːʃəˈɹɛəɹaɪ/

/ˌsɜːʃəˈɹɛəɹi/

/ˌsɜːʃəˈɹɑːɹi/

From the present passive infinitive of Latin certiōrō (“to make certain”), from the words used at the beginning of these writs when they were written in Latin: certiorārī volumus (“[we] wish to be made certain”).

(US, law) A grant of the right of an appeal to be heard by an appellate court where that court has discretion to choose which appeals it will hear.


bring it

(US, emphatic) Used to respond affirmatively and aggressively to a challenge by issuing one in return.


deadbeat dad

If the '90s offer one villain by consensus, it is the deadbeat dad, that selfish fugitive condemned by liberals and conservatives alike for his irresponsible behavior and generous contributions to the cycle of welfare dependency.

1995 April 3, David Van Biema, “Dunning Deadbeats”, in Time:

(chiefly US and Canada, idiomatic, derogatory) A man, especially one who is divorced or estranged from his partner, who fails to provide monetary child support when he is legally required to do so.


ETS

ETS (countable and uncountable, plural ETSes)

(military, US) Initialism of end of term of service or expiration of term of service.

(military, US) Initialism of estimated time of separation.


Finglish

fingliska

way of speaking Finnish using English terminology

(US, dated) A variant of Finnish language that is spoken by the descendants of Finnish immigrants to North America, the vocabulary of which is heavily influenced by English. It is far from being a uniform language, mainly exists in spoken form, and seems bound to disappear.

American Finnish

variant of Finnish spoken in North America


criminalist

(US) A person who specializes in the collection and examination of forensic evidence at a crime scene.

kriminalisto

specialist in the examination of forensic evidence at a crime scene


huckleberry above a persimmon

"He's a huckleberry above a persimmon, for sure," Katherine said, following her gaze. "I hear tell he broke a lot of hearts in San Antone when he married you."

2001, Cynthia Sterling, A Husband by Law, page 48:

(US, idiomatic) Someone or something that is better than others.


smart chance

(US, colloquial) A substantial quantity of something.


above one's bend

I shall not attempt to describe the curiosities at Peale's Museum; it is above my bend.

1835, Davy Crockett, An account of Col. Crockett's tour to the North and down East:

It would be above my bend to attempt telling you all we saw among the Redskins.

1848, James Fenimore Cooper, The Oak Openings:

(idiomatic, US, dated) Beyond one's power or ability.


honey dipper

honey dippers (plural)
honey-dipper (alternative)

(chiefly US, informal) A worker who collects household sewage from sewage tanks.


wifie

Dialectal diminutive of wife (“woman”), equivalent to wife + -ie.


aluminize

en-verb

aluminize (third-person singular simple present aluminizes, present participle aluminizing, simple past and past participle aluminized)

aluminizes (present singular third-person)
aluminizing (participle present)
aluminized (participle past)
aluminized (past)

US, Canada, and Oxford British English standard spelling of aluminise.


aluminized

US, Canada, and Oxford British English standard spelling of aluminised.


shake and bake

shake and bakes (plural)
shake-and-bake (alternative)
shake 'n bake (alternative)
shake 'n' bake (alternative)

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From the brand name Shake 'n Bake, a powdered seasoning, so called because one could put it in a plastic bag with meat, then easily season the meat by shaking.

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

(US, military, slang, historical) A non-commissioned officer with little experience, qualified through a special course.


itinerant worker

en-noun

itinerant worker (plural itinerant workers)

(US) One who maintains no permanent residence, one who is homeless


down cellar

I had to run down cellar to turn off the water main.

(US, idiomatic) Downstairs; the opposite of upstairs.


high and dry

(US, idiomatic, slang, of a sandwich) With no condiments.


torque off

en-verb

torque off (third-person singular simple present torques off, present participle torquing off, simple past and past participle torqued off)

torques off (present singular third-person)
torquing off (participle present)
torqued off (participle past)
torqued off (past)

Possibly an alteration of tick off. Metaphorical use of mechanical verbs (including torque, jack, and grind) with people and their emotions as the direct object is also seen elsewhere, as with for example torque up, grind one's gears, and jacked up.

It is hard to remember a talented player who so comprehensively bothered, annoyed, outraged and just plain torqued off the customers quite like Owens.

2004 March 5, Ray Ratto, “Better off, but at what price?”, in San Francisco Chronicle:

(chiefly US, transitive, idiomatic) To annoy, distress, or anger.


torqued off

en-adj

torqued off (comparative more torqued off, superlative most torqued off)

more torqued off (comparative)
most torqued off (superlative)

Also-rans such as Dale Jarrett, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne were torqued off after hanging close all year only to find themselves shut out of a shot at the title.

2004 September 15, John Rolfe, “My championship format for NASCAR”, in SI.com, retrieved 2010-08-12:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, slang) Annoyed, upset, angry.


reportorial

reportorial (comparative more reportorial, superlative most reportorial)

more reportorial (comparative)
most reportorial (superlative)

So there I was, in the front row of course (it was my reportorial duty), with a bunch of gay men and straight women.

1988 August 20, Chris Reed, “The English 'Strip-tique'”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 6, page 11:

A master of simple, solid, apoetical, reportorial English.

1988 November 4, Anthony Adler, “Hitting the Skids”, in Chicago Reader:

Among the customers, a columnist for the local newspaper was having lunch and a beer or two, though he could not restrain his reportorial instincts.

2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 28:

These are very different kinds of books — Cade Metz’s is mainly reportorial, about how we got here; Kevin Roose’s is a casual-toned but carefully constructed set of guidelines about where individuals and societies should go next.

2021 March 19, James Fallows, “Can Humans Be Replaced by Machines?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(chiefly US) Of, pertaining to or characteristic of a reporter.


NLETS

(US) Initialism of National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.


ANI

(US, telephony) Initialism of automatic number identification.


comfort food

en-noun

comfort food (countable and uncountable, plural comfort foods)

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From comfort + food. First use appears c. 1962 in the Independent (Pasadena, California).

After the relationship ended, she overindulged on comfort food every night.

In his recently published "The Thin Book by a Formerly Fat Psychiatrist," Dr. [Theodore Isaac] Rubin applauds "comfort foods" for dieters. He states that it is important for dieters to have a comforting food on hand that can be quickly prepared – "fat people are most receptive to comfort." At the top of his list of comfort foods is tea. He recommends it to dieters because it's calorie-free, can be drunk hot or cold and gives a little lift …

1966 March 25, Betty Boxold, “Betty’s Column”, in A. A. Smyser, editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, home edition, volume 55, number 145, Honolulu, Hi.: Porter Dickinson, →ISSN, →OCLC, page C-2, column 1:

[C]omfort food’s power may lie primarily in the associations it calls to mind. People who have positive family relationships are more likely to reach for reminders of those relationships in times of sadness—and often, those reminders come in the form of something edible.

2015 April 4, Cari Romm, “Why Comfort Food Comforts: A New Study Looks at the Intersection of Taste, Nostalgia, and Loneliness”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-06-07:

Food, often high in carbohydrates or sugar, consumed to feel comfort or alleviate stress rather than to receive nutrition.

troosteten

food consumed to feel comfort or alleviate stress


rifampin

rifampin (countable and uncountable, plural rifampins)


mithridatization

From mithridatize + -ation, in reference to Mithridates VI of Pontus.


tacops

Once developed, the TACOPS section reviews the ATO and SPINS for mission data (routes, A2C2 data).

2005, William R. Duggan, Coup D'Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning, page 52:

In his next assignment he served as the troop EWO; these duties led to his becoming the brigade EWO and, eventually, the brigade tactical operations (TACOPS) officer.

2005, W.R. Clemons, The Case for Consolidating Tactical and Operational Systems:

"Looks like Navcom is tied into TacOps," Miska said, peering over his shoulder.

(US, military) Abbreviation of tactical operations.

(US, military) Abbreviation of tactical organization paperless service support system.


ass clown

(Canada, US, slang, derogatory) Alternative form of assclown.


summer boarder

(US) A person who spends the summer in a country boarding house.


summer cottage

(Canada, US) A cottage rented out in the summer to vacationers.


summer stock

(US) Plays put on at theaters during the summer, especially outdoors and during the summer vacation.


nooner

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A simple recess for lunch can turn into a nooner—a midday sexual encounter.

1998 Dec. 11, Benjamin Lee, Daily Collegian (University Wire), State College Pennsylvania

If you're going to knock off a nooner with a co-worker at a bad motel you have to scrawl your worn Hancock on the desk blotter.

2006 September 22, “Funnyman Dennis Miller Returns to FNC!”, in FOX News:

(chiefly US, informal) A sexual encounter during lunch hour, especially one which is illicit.


tough call

Will it work? It's a tough call.

2001 June 25, Belinda Luscombe, “Dusting Off Fashion's Old Bags”, in Time:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A choice or judgment which is difficult to make, especially one involving only two alternatives.


for XYZ reasons

(US, idiomatic) For reasons unknown and not worth speculating on.


half step

(music, US) The distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or about 1.059 or 18/17.


Eye-talian

Representing a deliberate mispronunciation of Italian.

No, sir, lose your colonies, and you'd have Eye'''-talian cities without their climate, Eye'''-talian lazaroni without their light hearts to sing over their poverty, (for the English can't sing a bit better nor bull frogs,) and worse than Eye'''-talian eruptions and volcanoes in politics, without the grandeur and sublimity of those in natur'.

1848, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Judge Haliburton's Yankee Stories, page 175:

"She is brown as a chipmunk, and her eyes is as big and lovin' as them of the little Eye-talian girl you've been talkin' about." "It-talian, not Eye-talian, Phil corrected […]."

1918, Sidney McCall, Mary McNeil Fenollosa, Sunshine Beggars, page 94:

“Hey, Pensiero, ya know whut a Eye-talian submarine sounds like, on dat new sonar?"

1995, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, page 642:

(chiefly US, slang, pronunciation spelling, derogatory) Italian, usually in reference to an Italian American person or Italian American culture.


my fellow Americans

A less sexist adaptation of earlier salutations my countrymen, fellow countrymen, &c. after women attained the right to vote.

(US) Used to establish credibility and connection with an audience of Americans, used mostly in speeches by US politicians.


shinplaster

From shin + plaster.
Probably coined during the American War of Independence (1775–1783). Named for its resemblance to, and suitability for makeshift use as, a bandage for dressing the shin.

(historical, US, Australia, , and New Zealand informal) An essentially worthless note of paper money.


Baja Midnight

The earliest known use of the term is from the southern cape of Baja California, as used by the windsurfers and fishermen from the United States. Its earliest use has been placed to 1990, Los Barrilles, BCS, though it may have been in use prior to that time.

(US, Baja California) A time of night when one is tired or feels as if it were midnight before it actually is, usually considered to be between 8pm and 9pm local time.


WUBA

WUBA (countable and uncountable, plural WUBAs)

(US, Navy) Acronym of Working Uniform, Blue Alpha:

Originally referred to the everyday academic attire of midshipmen.

Acronym of Working Uniform, Blue Alpha:
A female midshipman


envie

Borrowed from French envie (“urge, craving”). Doublet of envy.

"Oooo, yum." Linda licked her lips. "I had an envie for that." An envie is an urge. She walked to the oven, opened it, and looked in.

2009, Shane Hebert, The Ballad of Corey Robichaux, self-published, page 27:

2018, Mark Vaughan, The Beacon 2: Battle of Nuclear Creek, self-published, unnumbered page,
"I had an envie for something sweet so picked up King cakes for dessert. Bit of a lagniappe too, she gave us a dozen not ten."

"Sorry about that," he said to the man. "I'm by myself here these days. I had an envie for some Popeye's fried chicken, and dammit if you can't get that kinda thing off your mind until you just get up and go get it."

2020, Morris Ardoin, Stone Motel: Memoirs of a Cajun Boy, University Press of Mississippi, unnumbered page:

(US, chiefly Louisiana) A strong desire or craving, especially for (a particular kind of) food.


Juneteenth

en-proper noun

Juneteenth (countable and uncountable, plural Juneteenths)

Juneteenths (plural)
juneteenth (alternative)

Blend of June + nineteenth, commemorating the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger (1821–1876) issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, to enforce President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862. The General Order stated that all previously enslaved people in Texas were now free. Entered wider usage after becoming a federal holiday in 2021.

There was^([sic – meaning were]) not so many colored people in the city as usual on Saturday evening, all of them, very near, being out at the "Juneteenth siliibration."

1891 June 25, “Local news”, in Brenham Weekly Banner, volume XXVI, number 26, Brenham, Tex.: J[ohn] G. Rankin, →OCLC, page [7], column 1:

If there is plenty of sunshine within the next ten days there will be sufficient supply of watermelons in Southwest Texas to take care of the "Juneteenth" celebrations of San Antonio's colored population.

1912 June 15, “Watermelons are Moving”, in Fruit Trade Journal and Produce Record, volume XXXXVII, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Fruit Trade Journal Company, →OCLC, page 12:

"'Twere Juneteenth day," she began reverentially, "when my light firs' broke. The darkies all bunched up down in the live oak grove were a-singin' an' a-dancin', 'spressin' their glory 'cause they warnt no mo' slaves nohow.["]

1921, Julia Walcott Hoffman, chapter I, in Pearl o’ Great Price or A Woman’s ’Sperience, Chicago, Ill.: Gift and Music Shop, →OCLC, page 11:

"But whut if it rains?" asked Josy. "It always do rain on Juneteenth." / "Dat's jes' de way of it," said John. "Someone is always a-th'owin' cold water on eve'ything I does."

1922, Hubert Anthony Shands, chapter VIII, in White and Black, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 50:

He had invited her to attend the Juneteenth picnic as his guest all day. And now he had done something that never, in all his life, had he heard of any colored boy doing before—planned an expensive outing right on the eve of the big annual event. [...] "Juneteenth"—white people also pretty generally use the phrase—is their Emancipation Day, and it is the one day in the year when every Caucasian is supposed to consider the comfort and enjoyment of his negro friends ahead of his own.

1925, J. Frank Davis, “Episode I. Juneteenth and Joada”, in Almanzar Evarts, Hero, Macon, Ga.: J. W. Burke Company, →OCLC, pages 13–14:

Truck drivers, business men, and school teachers belonging to the racial group have told me tales, but the best of tale-tellers has been some ex-slave buoyed up by the spirit of a Nineteenth of June celebration—the "Juneteenth"—the day on which all colored people in the South commemorate the freedom of their race from slavery. The significance of the day is so great and the tales I have collected are so bound up with the legalized slavery which, in 1865, this day put an end to, that I have used Juneteenth as a title. Nobody who does not understand a Juneteenth celebration can ever understand the Negro or his songs and tales.

1932, J[ohn] Mason Brewer, “Juneteenth”, in J[ames] Frank Dobie, editor, Tone the Bell Easy (Publications of the Texas Folk-lore Society; no. 10), Austin, Tex.: Texas Folk-lore Society, →OCLC, pages 8–54:

The annual celebration by Negroes of June 19—the day when emancipation from slavery became effective in the State [...]—is general; few Texas Negroes would consider working on "Juneteenth" if it can be avoided. The holiday is generally observed by a picnic at which everyone eats, dances and sings to his heart's content.

1940, Writers’ Program, Work Projects Administration, Texas, “Folklore and Folkways”, in Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State (American Guides Series), New York, N.Y.: Hastings House, published 1943, →OCLC, part I (Texas: Yesterday and Today), page 97:

As I chewed on my extra-hot barbecue sandwich, Mr. Artis Lovelady, the vendor and celebration sponsor, explained why he was having a Juneteenth observance: "I just wanted to do something, just wanted to kinda bring back old times and let the younger people see what we used to do to celebrate it on account of our Emancipation Proclamation."

1987, William H. Wiggins, Jr., “Following the Freedom Trail”, in O Freedom!: Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations, Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 5:

But what they [black people] chose to emphasize by means of traditional activities each year was the memory of gaining freedom. Consequently in African-American communities, especially in the South, a day of prayer, preaching, and festivities usually known as "Juneteenth" came to be observed [...].

1991, Michael Kammen, “The Civil War Remembered—but Unreconciled”, in Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture, 1st Vintage Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published February 1993, →ISBN, part 2 (Circa 1870 to 1915), page 122:

There's been a heap of Juneteenths before this one and I tell you there'll be a heap more before we're truly free!

1999, Ralph Ellison, chapter 7, in John F. Callahan, editor, Juneteenth: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 131:

On June 19, 1883, an eighteen-gun salute on the plaza in front of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, signaled the start of the annual Juneteenth observance.

2005, W[illiam] Fitzhugh Brundage, “Celebrating Black Memory in the Postbellum South”, in The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory, Cambridge, Mass., London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 55:

Proud Pelham in Navarro County had a long history of major Juneteenths. Every year on June 19, pigs and goats roasted over open pits or old bedsprings, while fish deep-fried in lard in big washpots hung from trees.

2005, Thad Sitton, James H. Conrad, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings”, in Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture; no. 15), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 105:

Senator Taylor, with unanimous consent, asked that when the Senate adjourn, it do so in honor of "Juneteenth Day," to symbolize the struggle for freedom and equality in the United States. [...] Indeed, Juneteenth Day is much more about the future than the past. It is a day where we gather to continue the struggle. We all realize the true freedom still eludes many of us.

2009 June 17, Lena C. Taylor, “Announcements, Adjournment Honors, and Remarks under Special Privilege”, in State of Wisconsin Senate Journal: Ninety-ninth Regular Session (Wisconsin State Senate), Madison, Wis.: State Printer, →OCLC, page 218, column 2:

[M]aking Juneteenth a federal holiday is both urgent and necessary. [...] A Juneteenth federal holiday would be more than a "day off," but one filled with educational experiences about the institution and affliction of slavery, community conversations on race and reconciliation, and cultural experiences that bring the history, challenges, and contributions of Black Americans to the forefront of the nation's consciousness.

2020 June 14, Seth Cohen, “No More Excuses – It’s Time to Declare Juneteenth a Federal Holiday”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-14:

(US) Also more fully as Juneteenth Day: the United States national holiday commemorating the end of slavery, observed on June 19.

Abraham Lincoln
Emancipation Proclamation
General Order No. 3
Gordon Granger
Union Army

Dia De l'Emancipació

holiday celebrated in the U.S. on June 19, commemorating the end of slavery


grannies

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And there I was, standing in the middle of the room, in my bra and undies, wearing a Burger King crown, balancing on one leg and praying. A peal of laughter arose from the rest of the girls, who were all clothed. ‘I knew she’d be wearing grannies!’ I heard someone say.

2007, Karen Yampolsky, Falling out of Fashion, Headline Publishing Group, published 2009, →ISBN:

“I’m just a little shocked.” / Monica laughs. “Shocked! You should have seen his face when he pulled down my shorts! He looks at me and says, ‘I wasn’t expecting a hot number like you to wear grannies.’ Then we have hot wild sex in the parking lot of the gym!” […] “What did Jena say?” / Monica laughs. “I guess you didn’t expect me to catch you climbing out of a Ford wearing grannies!’”

2011, Lexi Michaels, Time for a Fresh One, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 19:

“See, you’ve been enhancing yourself all along. A thong serves a specific purpose as does a balconette, or demicup, otherwise you’d just be wearing grannies all the time, right? I mean, if all you wanted to do was cover your ass and support your boobs.”

2012, Quincy Poaches, Dismal: The Maria Patterson Memoirs, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 167:

(US, Canada, slang, derogatory) Granny panties.


pardner

(informal, dialect, chiefly US, chiefly as a term of address) A friend or companion.

(informal, dialect, chiefly US, chiefly as a term of address) A partner.


from sea to shining sea

Originally used in the charters of some of the English colonies in North America.

(US, poetic) From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.


Abraham Lincoln

en-noun

Abraham Lincoln (plural Abraham Lincolns)

From Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), the sixteenth president of the United States of America, noted for his integrity and for abolishing slavery.

It was the same expression Grampa had worn the first time they played this game, right before he declared himself the winner. / He waffled over his options a few seconds longer, then tossed the required coins in the middle of the table and added two more. “I lift your Abraham Lincolns with an additional two.” / Garner rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “How many times have I got to tell you people? You’re supposed to say, ‘I raise you,’ not lift!” / “All right. I raise you two Abraham Lincolns.”

1995 September, Jan Zimlich, Not Quite Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Love Spell, Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc., →ISBN, page 179:

Find a penny, pick it up, and all day, you’ll have good luck. But you sure won’t have much buying power. Today, 1 pound of Abraham Lincolns ($2) will purchase what 4 tiny ounces bought in 1970.

1997, U.S. News & World Report, volume 122, page 14:

When we think about penny slot machines, the first thing that comes to mind is the image of inserting a few “Abe Lincolns” into the machine and spinning the wheel in hopes of winning a few bucks.

2007, Native American Casino, volume 7, page 18:

My kids have a piggy bank full of pennies. They love to dump the pennies on the floor and count them. Stacks of Abraham Lincolns. One hundred Abraham Lincolns equals one George Washington.

2014, Jon Weece, Jesus Prom: Life Gets Fun When You Love People Like God Does, Nelson Books, →ISBN, page 110:


French dressing

French dressing (usually uncountable, plural French dressings)

Italian dressing

vinegar, oil, herbs and spices; a vinaigrette

(US) A salad dressing that is a uniform viscous sauce with a tangy sweet flavor. It is generally made from vegetable oil, vinegar, ketchup (or tomato puree), water, paprika, other spices, and sweeteners.


organ donor

2006, Bill Lankhof, Head Case, Slam! Sports (Canada), 14 Jun. (retrieved 21 Aug. 2008),
Wearing a motorcycle helmet is optional in Pennsylvania, but that's no reason for Ben Roethlisberger to go out and practise his organ donor technique.

(chiefly US, slang) A motorcyclist, especially one who does not wear a protective helmet.


pony keg

Depending on the crowd, a keg or pony keg may be the way to go. […] For fewer than 20 guests, consider a pony keg, which serves 80 drinks.

2006 February 1, Sadie Jo Smokey, “Beer lineup impressive for Super Bowl Sunday”, in The Arizona Republic, archived from the original on 2006-02-12:

(US) A container for beer holding 7.75 US gallons, equal to half the size of a standard beer keg.


enhanced interrogation

enhanced interrogation (countable and uncountable, plural enhanced interrogations)

/ɪnˈhænst ɪnˌtɛɹəˌɡeɪʃən/

/ɪnˈhɑːnst ɪnˌtɛɹ.əˌɡeɪʃən/

In 2009, the Obama Administration released guidelines on enhanced interrogation written in 2003 and 2004 by the CIA Office of Medical Services. ^((OMS).1-3(appendix F)) The OMS guidelines, even in redacted form, and opinions from the US Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel show that CIA physicians, psychologists, and other health care personnel had important roles in enhanced interrogation.

2010 August 4, Leonard S. Rubenstein, JD, Stephen N. Xenakis, MD, “The Ethics of Enhanced Interrogations and Torture: A Reappraisal of the Argument”, in JAMA, volume 304, number 5, American Medical Association, →DOI, pages 569–570:

If Cheney calls it enhanced interrogation, he argues, this still doesn’t change the meaning of the word torture, which Cheney and the public know perfectly well. But cognitive linguists like Lakoff (1996) remind us that the public can be manipulated into believing that torture is “merely” an enhanced interrogation technique and thus does not protest.

2014 January 25, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 35:

Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011).

2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12:

(US, politics, euphemistic) The practice of using techniques normally considered torture that are claimed not to be torture according to a carefully parsed interpretation of legal language.


jerkwater town

(US) A small town with minimal facilities and conveniences.


jerk water

en-verb

jerk water (third-person singular simple present jerks water, present participle jerking water, simple past and past participle jerked water)

jerks water (present singular third-person)
jerking water (participle present)
jerked water (participle past)
jerked water (past)

The Santa Fe, called the Jerk Water route because they "jerked" water from ponds and wallows for the engine, still frayed out at the Kansas line.

1954, Mari Sandoz, The Buffalo Hunters: The Story of the Hide Men, page 171:

[…] by bailing from near streams with buckets, (the brake-man called this operation jerking water) and from this the road gets its name of jerkwater road.

1975 Mar, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana Magazine of History, volume 71, number 1, page 355:

(US, rail transport, apocryphal) To fill a steam locomotive water tank manually from natural water supplies (a hypothetical process whose use has been discredited).

In 1870 at Montrose, N.Y., the New York Central made the first installation of a track pan and scoop to permit locomotives to take water on the fly. Since these installations invariably were in tiny communities, and since they permitted locomotives literally to “jerk water”

1979, The Train Dispatcher - Volumes 61-62, page 49:

The early, crude "jerk water" device applied by the New York Central is shown in figure 8.24.

2001, Anthony J. Bianculli, Trains and Technology: Track and structures, page 19610:

Towns with track pans no longer had as many trains stop there, and they became derisively known as “jerkwater” towns, where the trains would jerk water and just keep on going.

2016, Kevin EuDaly, Mike Schafer, Steve Jessup, The Complete Book of North American Railroading, page 335:

(US, rail transport, dated) To scoop water from a track pan mounted on the tracks directly into a steam engine's tank without stopping.


jerk water

en-adj

jerk water (comparative more jerk water, superlative most jerk water)

more jerk water (comparative)
most jerk water (superlative)

c. 1920, Ring Lardner, The Real Dope
But any way from the number of jerk water burgs we went through you would think we was on the Monon and the towns all looks so much like the other that […].

(US, colloquial, derogatory) Of inhabited places, small, insignificant, isolated, backwards


jerk-water

jerk-water (comparative more jerk-water, superlative most jerk-water)

more jerk-water (comparative)
most jerk-water (superlative)

That seems to disappoint them, for every sociologist likes to go back to some jerk-water college and tell those who are in the sociological class how they had to get their information by pantomime."

1907, Charles Stelzle, Christianity's Storm Centre: A Study of the Modern City, page 103:

(US, colloquial, derogatory) Of an inhabited place, small, isolated, backward.

He had risen to the head of the greatest street car system in the world from the position of brakeman on a jerk-water railroad.

1915, Daniel Jacob Hauer, The Economics of Contracting: A Treatise for Contractors, Engineers […], volume II, page 212:

Can the keen-minded Mr. Willard at Baltimore be more anxious than the keen-minded Mr. Rea at Philadelphia to undertake the management of jerk-water branches in Connecticut or in Rhode Island or down on Cape Cod ?

1922, Edward Hungerford, Our Railroads To-morrow, page 297:

(US, colloquial, derogatory, rail transport) Railroads with low traffic.


eat one's Wheaties

en-verb

eat one's Wheaties (third-person singular simple present eats one's Wheaties, present participle eating one's Wheaties, simple past ate one's Wheaties, past participle eaten one's Wheaties)

eats one's Wheaties (present singular third-person)
eating one's Wheaties (participle present)
ate one's Wheaties (past)
eaten one's Wheaties (participle past)

An allusion to the breakfast cereal Wheaties, long advertised as the "Breakfast of Champions", and its long-standing association with sports celebrities.

But he just couldn't get the ball through the goal posts (poor Harry . . . he didn't eat his Wheaties, or else his shoe was on backwards).

1971 October 19, Haney Reilly, “Another game, another loss but Hawkeyes looked better”, in Telegraph-Herald, Iowa, USA, retrieved 2011-07-01, page 17:

Jo-Ann Wonsik answered a Herald want ad for a career requiring day after day of heavy lifting. . . . "And you've got to eat your Wheaties on this job," she said.

1994 September 11, “Garbage Collector Lifts Away Worries”, in Miami Herald, page 1B:

Of all the movie promotions in all the towns in all the world, Keanu Reeves had to walk into this one: a California Institute of Technology forum at which he was asked, “How could an alien being grow so fast without violating standard mass- and energy-conservation laws?” . . . He paused. “I ate my Wheaties.”

2008 December 10, Felicity Barringer, “Science Students Get a Real-Life Lesson, in Science Fiction”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-07-01:

(US and Canada, idiomatic) To prepare or fortify oneself for an activity requiring exertion.


on the outs

I marvel that a mind on the outs with itself should have nevertheless made a painstaking record of its every tremor.

1961, Joan Didion, “On Self-Respect”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:

A second ill of this day lies in the trend of getting more and more on the outs with those who have been more successful than we.

1964, John Anton Dahl, Student, School, and Society: Crosscurrents in Secondary Education, page 83:

1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
He's staying at my place because he & Bridg are on the outs.

"The first country, Nicaragua, was a give-away," noted one State Department observer, referring to the GSP review of the country most on the outs with the administration.

1998, Henry J. Frundt, Trade Conditions and Labor Rights: U.S. Initiatives, Dominican and Central ..., page 68:

The fact that he and her sister seemed to be more on the outs than ever may have been half her motivation in leaving the door open a crack.

2003, John Wingspread Howell, Naked in Church, page 409:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) On unfriendly terms; estranged.


sneezeweed

en-noun

sneezeweed (countable and uncountable, plural sneezeweeds)

"Sir, you mustn't shout."
"I want to reverse the decline. Rebound to boom. Land in a field of golden sneezeweed."
"Sir, I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. I must hand over now to the manager."

1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 247:

outracing cyclones and rangefires, switchbacking up the eastern slope of the Rockies through meadows of mule-ear and sneezeweed, on over the great torn crestline, to be delivered at last into these unholy mountains Webb grew to manhood in […]

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 98:

(US) A plant of the genus Helenium, especially Helenium autumnale.