plute

1909, Western Federation of Miners, Miner′s Magazine, page 95,
As a result, the plutes are in a panic.

1915, Gene Stratton-Porter, Michael O′Halloran, 2006, Echo Library, page 224,
“Exactly what the plutes are doing,” said Mickey. “Gee, Junior, if your Pa does all the things he said he was going to, you'll be a plute yourself!”
“Never heard him say anything in my life he didn′t do,” said Junior, “and didn′t you notice that he put you in too? You′ll be just as much of a plute as I will.”

1917, New Zealand House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 153,
Then one of the papers — the Wellington Truth — had a paragraph in it that on account of the strike being settled I was deprived of that trip to represent the “plutes” in Australia — so easily can one′s action be misconstrued and misunderstood.

1917 October 4, People, quoted in 1989, John Gunn, Along Parallel Lines: A History of the Railways of New South Wales, page 287,
Against the workers were arrayed the whole forces of Australian Capitalism — plutes (sic), press, politicians, pulpits and all the powers and forces of the State and Federal Government, with the Courts and all the forces of repression behind the State Capitalist Government.

And they can′t export it, because, Australia bein′ a workin′ man′s paradise, which is better than it bein′ a paradise for Plutes, their cost of production is too high for competition with countries where labour is sweated.

1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, published 2010, unnumbered page:

[…]but then the prostitutes of the plute press are always cunning flunkeys of the Most High.

1993, Frank Cain, The Wobblies at War: A History of the IWW and the Great War in Australia, page 180:

Straight talk. No double-talking you like the plutes do, ’cause with them what you always have to be listening for is the opposite of what they say.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 104:

(colloquial, Australia, US) A plutocrat, especially a rich industrialist.


(countable, US, slang) A number off the charts of a hypothetical scale of 1 to 10.

An exceptional specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.


en-noun

12 (countable and uncountable, plural 12s)

(slang, US, derogatory) Collectively, police or law enforcement.

Collectively, police or law enforcement.
See also: fuck 12


buttcrack

buttcracks (plural)
butt crack (alternative)


mamaw

mamaws (plural)
mammaw (alternative)
mawmaw (alternative)

Probably an affectionate alteration of mama or reduplication of mother.

(US, dialect, Southern US) One's grandmother, especially one's maternal grandmother.

(US, dialect, Southern US, less commonly) One's mother.


blame Canada

en-verb

blame Canada (third-person singular simple present blames Canada, present participle blaming Canada, simple past and past participle blamed Canada)

blames Canada (present singular third-person)
blaming Canada (participle present)
blamed Canada (participle past)
blamed Canada (past)

Blame Canada
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

From “Blame Canada”, a song from the satirical 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

So, if you don't like this performance, blame Canada!

2004, The Mockingbird Foundation, comp., The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music, 2nd edition, San Francisco, Calif.: Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 113:

We surely can't blame Canada. Nike, we suspect, is where we must point the finger for what has become the somewhat too familiar norm in television advertising put forth by major global sporting goods brands. As we all know by now, it was Nike and the agency's longtime marketing partner Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, Ore., that became famous for delivering a steady stream of soft-sell advertising that sold mood, atmosphere and brand image with minimal reference to the actual goods a particular television commercial might have been created to push.

2007 November 14, Lewis Lazare, “Ads are ‘sno’ big deal; Reebok spot gives Bears chance to sparkle”, in Chicago Sun-Times:

Basically, instead of blaming the U.S. government or society or poor parenting for the way our children behave (poorly), we'll just blame Canada. Everything is Canada's fault.

2013 April 22, “hopefulmom11”, “Blame Canada?”, in What to Expect: Pregnancy and Parenting, Every Step of the Way, archived from the original on 2015-10-01:

Blame their partner for something bad that happened […] It really depends on the circumstances for this one. If the something bad that happened was your dog getting run over, by your partner, then they might deserve to be blamed for it. Especially if they were drunk at the time. This doesn't necessarily mean you’re in an unhealthy relationship. Sometimes people are at fault. And if in doubt, just blame Canada.

2015 October 9, Siobhan Smith, “9 things couples in healthy relationships probably do – and it’s OK”, in WOW247, archived from the original on 2015-11-14:

(US, idiomatic, humorous) A catch phrase for shifting attention away from a problem or serious social issue by humorously laying responsibility on Canada.


esophageal cancer

en-noun

esophageal cancer (plural esophageal cancers)

esophageal cancers (plural)
oesophageal cancer (alternative)

(pathology, US) (oncology) A malignancy in the esophagus.


Bent Spear

(US, euphemistic, military) A significant incident with a nuclear weapon, nuclear components, or nuclear-bearing vehicle.


Broken Arrow

In the US, the code name for a serious nuclear weapons incident is "Broken Arrow". It is US policy neither to confirm nor deny the existence of nuclear weapons at any specific location; this also applies to Broken Arrow incidents.

2004, Roland Everett Langford, Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Radiological, Chemical, and Biological, page 97:

(US, euphemistic, military) An accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear components but does not create the risk of nuclear war.


Broken Arrow

The FAC urgently sends over his radio a cry for help: "Broken Arrow! Broken Arrow!' His message unleashes all available close air support in South Vietnam on a priority basis.

2003, Jacques-François de Chaunac, The American Cavalry in Vietnam: "First Cav", →ISBN, page 48:

Before Caras could respond, the General threw down the mike, turned to his second and said, "Get them all the air support we have, everything. This is Broken Arrow"

2008, Terry Ryan, Bring Out Your Dead, →ISBN, page 137:

Broken Arrow refers to the U.S. military's code word used during the Vietnam War. This call was used only in the direst of tactical situations, when a ground unit was overrun by enemy forces. When "Broken Arrow" was heard on the radio nets, all available aircraft were diverted to provide close air support for the endangered command.

2010, Danny W. Davis, The Phinehas Priesthood, →ISBN:

All Pulse elements, this is Home Plate. Broken Arrow. I repeat, Broken Arrow. Forward command of close air-support operations is Rebel Four One.

2017, Kevin Ikenberry, Vendetta Protocol, page 155:

(US, military) A code phrase indicating that a ground unit is facing imminent destruction from enemy attack and all available air forces within range are to provide air support immediately.


built like a brick shithouse

en-adj

built like a brick shithouse (not comparable)

EN-AU ck1 built like a brick shithouse.ogg

From the figurative extension of the idea that an outhouse is overbuilt if one builds it with bricks.

Sonia is a hot young blonde who is built like a brick shithouse! She is stacked and well put together.

2005 March 18, Hot Azz Sonia, “SONIA'S BUILT LIKE A BRICK SHITHOUSE!”, in alt.sex.phone.ads (Usenet):

(US, Canada, simile, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) (Of a woman) Having an athletic or muscular body; often implying also having large breasts or an attractive body.


Barrett's esophagus

Named after the Australian-born British thoracic surgeon Norman Barrett (1903–1979), who described it in 1950.

(US, pathology) An abnormal change (metaplasia) in the cells of the lower end of the esophagus thought to be caused by damage from chronic acid exposure, or reflux esophagitis.


Bumfuck, Egypt

BFE (alternative)
bumfuck (alternative)
bumfuck nowhere (alternative)
Bumfuck, Nowhere (alternative)
Bumfuck, Ohio (alternative)
Bumfuck, Idaho (alternative)
Bumfuck, Iowa (alternative)
East Bumfuck, Kansas (alternative)

One screwup and he could be splitting rocks on a chain gang somewhere in Bumfuck, Egypt.

1991, William H. Labarge, Hornet's Nest, page 96:

(vulgar, idiomatic, US, originally military slang) The middle of nowhere.


blackfish

en-noun

blackfish (plural blackfishes or blackfish)

(Canada, US) Either of two dark-coloured fish of the west Atlantic, the tautog of New England (Tautoga onitis) and the black sea bass (Centropristis striata).


East Jesus

So G. and I had a good piss-up together, as happy with one another as if we were both natives of East Jesus, Kansas, newly met in the Rue Scribe.

c. 1954, Behan, Brendan, The Letters of Brendan Behan (1992), page 55

I'm just a plain hillbilly from East Jesus Nowhere with this adopted child that everybody keeps on telling me is dumb as a box of rocks.

1998, Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees: A Novel, page 102:

Only gave him seventy-five for the night; said he'd get the rest if he worked a black rodeo way the hell and gone over in East Jesus, Texas.

1999, Sarah Bird, Virgin of the Rodeo, page 70:

Their staffs were also well looked after—except for the French, whom we packed off to motels in East Jesus in retaliation for their high-handedness toward the American delegation when they had been hosts a year earlier.

2000, David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership Nixon to Clinton, page 151:

(US) A fictional remote, backward, inhabited place.


blue balls

US English, 1910s, blue + balls (“testicles”).

[...] away the flesh and cause ulcers and buboes (blue balls).

It invades lymphatics, is carried to the inguinal lymph nodes, where multiple abscesses, buboes, or "blue balls" appear. A brawny edema of the labia, with deeply penetrating destructive ulcers may occur in the late stages.

1960, Laman Alexander Gray, A Text Book of Gynecology, page 47:

sexually transmitted infection
sexually transmitted infection

(US, dated, slang) Buboes (in a person of any sex) caused by a sexually transmitted infection; the infection that causes them.


my way or the highway

Gingrich . . . My Way or the Highway [title]

1995 June 2, “Gingrich . . . My Way or the Highway”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-10-07:

His my-way-or-the-highway attitude doesn't fit U.S. foreign-policy concerns or domestic issues.

2004 May 1, Chuck Knowlton, “Letters”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-06-30:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) An expression suggesting an ultimatum which indicates the listener(s) will either conform to the desires or teachings of the speaker or else be excluded.

要么拉倒 (yàome tīng wǒ de, yàome lā dǎo, literally “either listen to me, or forget it”)


swiftboat

en-verb

swiftboat (third-person singular simple present swiftboats, present participle swiftboating, simple past and past participle swiftboated)

swiftboats (present singular third-person)
swiftboating (participle present)
swiftboated (participle past)
swiftboated (past)
swift boat (alternative)

Uncertain: Possibly, swift + boat, or possibly based on an acronym for Shallow Water Inshore Fast Tactical Craft.
The use as a political term derives from a smear campaign against John Kerry when Texas tycoon Robert J. Perry hired several Navy swiftboat veterans to form the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which questioned the legitimacy of Kerry's status as a war hero.

No one should have been surprised that the Republicans would try to swiftboat Hillary in 2016, turning an accomplished diplomat into a feckless bungler who lied to cover up her own failures.

2015, David Brock, Killing the Messenger, →ISBN:

(US, politics, derogatory, transitive) To attack a politician with specious claims.


natatorium

en-noun

natatorium (plural natatoriums or natatoria)

/neɪtəˈtɔːɹɪəm/

Borrowed from Late Latin natatorium, noun use of the neuter singular of Latin natātōrius (“for swimming”). Equivalent to natatory + -ium.

This Association shall be known by the name, style and title of "The Natatorium and Institute for Scientific Instruction in the Improvement of the Physical Powers," and shall have for its object the attainment by scientific inquiry and investigation of the most desirable and beneficial mode of physical exercise, and by the scientific use of natatorial, orthopedic, gymnastic and such other physical exercise as may be prescribed by the By-Laws of this Association, to improve the health and physical condition of those who may avail themselves of the advantages of this Natatorium and Institution, in conformity with the terms of its By-Laws.

1860, Paul B. Goddard et al., To Philadelphians on Behalf of the Natatorium & Physical Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Chandler, printer, 306 & 308 Chestnut Street, Girard Building, →OCLC, page 16:

[page 124] Although the five public natatoriums in Milwaukee now accommodate about 1,200,000 bathers per annum, they are capable of serving 400,000 more people a year than at present. […] [page 126] [O]ne of the best ways to reform an unruly gang is to get them to be devoted to a vigorous, manly man. There seems to be very little of this spirit in the present natatoriums. This is due in part to the swarms in which the boys come to the pool whenever it is open to them.

1915, The Playground, volume 9, New York, N.Y.: Executive Committee of the Playground Association of America, →OCLC, pages 124 and 126:

Although the public does not pay an admission fee for the privilege of using natatoria facilities, the city charges ten cents for towels and soap, and ten cents for the rental of swimming trunks and bathing suits. In 1948 total revenues were $20,284 from this source for all natatoria.

1949, Griffenhagen & Associates, City of Milwaukee Report, [Chicago, Ill.], →OCLC, page 10:

THE WAIKIKI NATATORIUM'S FIRST EVENT. An outdoor, oceanside pool was envisioned as part of the Waikiki War Memorial Park, which honored Hawaii's soldiers killed in World War I. […] In 1927 the facility opened and became known as the Waikiki Natatorium. The 40 × 110-yard Natatorium was the world's largest open-ocean swim stadium.

1999, Dan Cisco, Hawai'i Sports: History, Facts, and Statistics, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 293:

A sunken chamber almost like a natatorium at some hot-springs resort, so cool and dim that you forgot after a while about the desert waiting out there to resume for you as soon as you stepped back into it. […]

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, ISBN 978-1-59420-120-2; republished London: Vintage Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-09-951233-2, page 226

Natatoria are often programmed as part of Rec centers. Like gymnasiums, natatoria may be of many different sizes, but they require large clear-span structures. In addition, swimming pools have specific requirements for soil conditions and foundation systems, as well as spatial relationships with equipment rooms and locker rooms. […] These unique features make it very unlikely that an existing building can be transformed into a natatorium for less cost than building new. If the other desired program elements can be adequately developed within existing space, the natatorium piece might be a sensible addition or future phase.

2009, National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, Campus Recreational Sports Facilities: Planning, Design, and Construction Guidelines, Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, →ISBN, page 58:

(US) A swimming pool, especially an indoor one; a building housing one or more swimming pools.

Gabrielson Natatorium
University of Georgia
natatorium


sickle-cell anemia

sickle cell anaemia (alternative)
sickle-cell anaemia (alternative)

Coordinate term: sickle cell trait

(Canada, US) The most common form of sickle-cell disease, with anemic effects.

鐮刀型紅血球疾病 /镰刀型红血球疾病

disease characterized by sickle-shaped red blood cells

鎌状赤血球症

かまじょうせっけっきゅうしょう


senioritis

I don't know, but "senioritis" is real, as I discovered in my senior year. Senioritis is a frame of mind particular to high-school seniors.

1984, W. Dean Memering, Frank O'Hare, The Writer's Work: Guide to Effective Composition - Page 121

And right now she has a raging case of senioritis. […] Whether you call it senioritis or senior slump, there's no disguising the collective sigh of relief […]

2003, Barbara Cooke, Carleton Kendrick, Take Out Your Nose Ring, Honey, We're Going to Grandma's: Hanging In ... - Page 111

I worked hard my senior year, something that was particularly difficult due to the senioritis that many others were feeling. But it paid off!

2007, Vault Editors, The College Buzz Book - Page 336

(US, Canada) A tendency of seniors in high school or college to skip class or slack off due to a desire to move on, or because they have already been accepted by a college and their further academic performance is no longer as relevant.


tramp chair

(US, historical) A small cage in the shape of a chair, designed to restrain a victim and put them on display.


Quonset

Named after Quonset Point, the place they were manufactured; the placename derives from an Algonquian language.

They gave her a round white visitor's badge at one of the gates, and she parked in an enormous lot next to a quonset building painted pink and about a hundred yards long.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 59:

Besides the wind, sand, tumbleweed, and Joshua trees, there was nothing at Muroc except for two quonset-style hangars, side by side, a couple of gasoline pumps, a single concrete runway, a few tarpaper shacks, and some tents.

(US, also attributive) A prefabricated building having a roof of corrugated iron and semicircular cross section.


divided highway

divided highway (plural divided highways)


assed

From ass + -ed; morphologically parallel with forms such as boned in big-boned, nosed in hard-nosed, and armed in one-armed.

a large-assed man

(US, slang, vulgar, in combination) Having a particular kind of ass or backside.

(US, slang, vulgar, in combination) Adjective intensifier.

I can’t be assed to get out of bed today.

We asked John if he wanted to come down the bar with us, but he couldn’t be assed.

(US, slang, vulgar) bothered; willing to make an effort.


-ass

tlb

(originally African-American Vernacular, chiefly Canada, US, slang, vulgar)

Partially from ass, and partially from a corruption or simplification of assed.

That's some Nixon-ass shit he's pulling.

What's that formal-ass language you're using? We're at a party!

-like

resembling; forms adjectives from nouns only


Republicans

(chiefly US, informal, often without the article) The Republican Party


doubler

(US, dialect) A tenement house having two families on each floor.


feeb

Clipping of feeble-minded.
Etymology tree
Anglo-Norman feblebor.
Middle English feble
English feeble
English mind
English -ed
English minded
English feeble-minded
English feeb

etymon

‘Everybody that knows anything about me knows that I wouldn't hurt a feeb.’

1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 128:

“Eeeyynnhh, too many feebs to deal with over the years, I guess—oh I'm sorry, hope I'm not offending—”

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 285:

(US, slang) Someone who is feeble-minded; an idiot.


widow's walk

Apparently in reference to the women who would watch for their husbands to return from the sea, but would sometimes learn that they had been killed.

(US) A raised platform on the roof of a house, especially one on a coastal house originally used for viewing the arrival of shipping


cooch

(US, obsolete) The hootchy-kootchy, a type of erotic dance.


zettameter

On the other extreme, our galaxy (we call it the Milky Way) is about 0.9 Zm (Zettameters, 100 million trillion meters) in diameter.

2015, Claude Phipps, No Wonder You Wonder!: Great Inventions and Scientific Mysteries, →ISBN:

What is the speed of light in Zm (zettameters) per second?

2016, Richard N. Aufmann, Joanne Lockwood, Richard D. Nation, Mathematical Excursions, →ISBN, page 364:

The size scale for the nuclear chemistry laboratory ranges from zeptometers (10⁻²¹ m) to zettameters (10²¹ m).

2017, Walter D. Loveland, David J. Morrissey, Glenn T. Seaborg, Modern Nuclear Chemistry, →ISBN, page 2:


yoctometer

Sheldon Cooper: My hair is growing at the rate of 4.6 yoctometers per femtosecond.

2012, Mark Cendrowski, The Big Bang Theory, Season 5, Episode 18, "The Werewolf Transformation"


yottameter

No longer do they have to say the visible universe is 1,000 yottameters in diameter. Now it's just 1 ronnameter, give or take a yottameter.

2023 January 10, Adam Rogers, “Move over, megatons”, in Business Insider:


R.Ph.

(US) Abbreviation of registered pharmacist.


ball-buster

ball-busters (plural)
ballbuster (alternative)

Unknown. By surface analysis, ball + buster.
Possibly derived from Yiddish בעל־הביתטע (baleboste, “mistress, lady of the house”), in which case synonyms like ball-breaker and ball-wracker may be secondary derivations. See also Beelzebub for connotations of the same supposed first element. Any deverbal formation conflated with back-breaking may have reinforced the native development.


goon squad

He denied charges that the union was using "goon squads," as strong-arm detachments are called on the West Coast, and asserted that any violence was provoked by the employers.

1938 September 9, Russell B. Porter, “Unionists Battle Store Employes in San Francisco”, in New York Times, page 9:

No one has ever accused Uganda's mercurial President Idi ("Big Daddy") Amin Dada of running a democracy. . . . In Kampala, the capital, much of the terror is committed by Big Daddy's personal goon squad, the 3,000-man Public Safety Unit.

1974 June 17, “Shooting the Moon”, in Time:

But becoming the "Spirit Father" to a group of cave dwellers threatened by "bandits, insurgent guerrillas" and "goon squads hired by greedy logging companies" gives him a newfound purpose in life.

2003, Michael Upchurch, "What's Cooking on Mindanao?" (Review of Dream Jungle by Jessica Hagedorn), New York Times, 5 Oct., p. A13

(chiefly US, informal, derogatory, idiomatic) A group of individuals serving as enforcers, bodyguards, assassins, and the like, especially persons hired for such a purpose and using violent, thuggish methods.

knokploeg

a group of individuals serving as enforcers, bodyguards, and the like


chipyard

(US) A storage area for sawdust and small pieces of wood at a sawmill.


chewing tobacco

en-noun

chewing tobacco (countable and uncountable, plural chewing tobaccos)

→ Kashubian: czułingtobaczi (Canada)

Coordinate term: snuff

(US) Tobacco, cut or ground finely, placed between cheek and gum to allow nicotine absorption through the mucous membranes.

en:tobacco product for chewing and sucking

(US, dated) Tobacco, cut into strips or shreds, chewed and then tucked between cheek and gum.


poll tax

poll taxes (plural)
poll-tax (alternative)

From sense poll (“head”) for “uniform tax per individual”; from sense poll (“voting place”) for “tax required to vote”.

(US) A tax that must be paid in order to vote.


big-box

en-adj

big-box (comparative more big-box, superlative most big-box)

more big-box (comparative)
most big-box (superlative)

Big-box retailers like Wal-Mart have driven local mom-and-pop stores out of business.

(US) Of or relating to a very large retail establishment built as a massive, free-standing structure


blind man's bluff

blind man's buff
blind man's buff#English

(chiefly US, games) Alternative form of blind man's buff


coast

en-verb

coast (third-person singular simple present coasts, present participle coasting, simple past and past participle coasted)

coasts (present singular third-person)
coasting (participle present)
coasted (participle past)
coasted (past)

From Middle English costeien (“to travel along a border or coast; to go alongside (something), skirt; to accompany, follow; to travel across, traverse; to be adjacent to, to border;”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman [Term?], Old French costoier (“to be at the side of”) […] (modern French côtoyer (“to pass alongside; (figuratively) to rub shoulders”)), from Latin costicāre, from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”); see further at etymology 1.

nb...

cost, costay, coste, costey, costie, coost, coostie, costen, costien

cog

(US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.


comstockery

Named after Anthony Comstock (1844–1915) (and the Comstock laws which he propagated) + -ery, coined in an editorial in The New York Times in 1895 and famously adopted by George Bernard Shaw in 1905.

named-after

1905, George Bernard Shaw, letter, New York Times, Sept. 26, 1905,
Comstockery is the world's standing joke at the expense of the United States.

1916, H. L. Mencken, column, Baltimore Evening Sun, July, 19, 1916,
A people unconvinced of the pervasiveness of sin, the supreme importance of moral problems, the need of harsh and inquisitorial laws--in brief, of the whole Puritan theological and political apparatus--would never have permitted the growth of such curious flowers as Comstockery, so obnoxious and so incomprehensible to all foreigners.

Yet while chiding extreme libertarianism, [David] Selbourne veers dangerously close to Comstockery in his tsk-tsking of noise that “masquerades as music,” gender fluidity, sperm banks, bad grammar, video plagiarists and other presumed vices.

2019 January 18, Mark Green, “Three Authors Consider Contemporary Politics, Anxiously”, in New York Times:

(US) Censorship of literature and performances because of especially broad definitions of obscenity or immorality.


syndication agency

en-noun

syndication agency (plural syndication agencies)


bunco-steerer

bunco-steerers (plural)
bunko-steerer (alternative)

Reef need act as no more than bunco-steerer, all the research chores and assumptions of risk to be borne by Archie as principal party

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 404:

(US, slang) A swindler; a cheat or con-man.


deadfall

deadfall (countable and uncountable, plural deadfalls)

Heaver forest growth on the north-facing slopes, together with considerable deadfall and soil cover, makes geologic interpretation there difficult.

1967, Calvin S. Bromfield, “Introduction”, in Geology of the Mount Wilson Quadrangle, Western San Juan Mountains, Colorado: […] (Geological Survey Bulletin; 1227), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 6:

(uncountable, Canada, US) Coarse woody debris; deadwood.

A fifth negative test pit was excavated near the largest creek at Middle Point. As well, the roots of all deadfalls within the corridor were examined for the presence of cultural material. Deadfalls were more common in the drier areas, especially near stream channels.

1988 February, Rachel Joan Dale, J. David McMahan, “Research Methodology and Results”, in Cultural Resources Survey of the Proposed North Douglas Highway Extension, Outer Point to Point Hilda (Project No. 68870) (Office of History and Archaeology; report no. 12), Anchorage, Ak.: Office of History and Archaeology, Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, →OCLC, page 9:

We should go up to the forest and see if we can find more dry deadfalls. That green wood you were trying to burn last night was all smoke and no heat.

2012, Robin Hobb [pseudonym; Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden], City of Dragons (The Rain Wild Chronicles; 3), London: Harper Voyager, →ISBN:

(countable, specifically) A fallen tree.

Coarse woody debris; deadwood.
A fallen tree.

It [the wolverine] is so cunning as rarely to enter a deadfall itself, but will carefully pull it to pieces and then eat the bait in safety. I was informed by hunters at Selkirk Settlement that they sometimes lost the successful result of several days' trapping by a single wolverine, which, following their path, would pull down every deadfall, or destroy any animal already caught.

1859, Robert Kennicott, “The Quadrupeds of Illinois Injurious and Beneficial to the Farmer. [Wolverine, or Glutton.]”, in Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1858: Agriculture (House of Representatives, 35th Congress, 2d Session; executive document no. 105), Washington, D.C.: James B[lair] Steedman, printer, →OCLC, page 246:

The beaver trap is a deadfall of considerable weight, nicely adjusted over the animal's road or track, frequently on a dam. […] The animal passing under the deadfall has to step on a little stick raised an inch or two above the ground, and this brings down the deadfall on its back.

1876, John J. Rowan, “The Trapper”, in The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada. […], London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 369:

It was a week after the taking of the black fox that Skookum Bill, on a short exploring trip a few miles west of their cabin, came across a deadfall which held a dead marten. He took the marten, and, when he returned, said to Dobbs: "I didn't know you'd built any deadfalls in the timber past the big draw?"

1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, →OCLC, chapter II, page 90, column 2:

Marten, wolverine, lynx, ermine, fox, mink, beaver, and land otter were plentiful in the general vicinity of Kijik and traps and deadfalls were set for them.

1974, Alaska Planning Group, United States Department of the Interior, “History and Archeology”, in Final Environmental Statement: Proposed Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, part II (Description of the Environment), section A (Existing Environment), pages 61–62:

(countable, Canada, US, hunting) A kind of trap for animals, consisting of a heavy board or log that falls on to the prey.

piège assommoir

trap consisting of a heavy object that falls on to the prey

Dens of the description of the "Tapis Franc," and the "deadfalls" of San Francisco and Sacramento, are now matters of history only, and it seems beyond the bounds of probability that similar haunts of vice, and the brutal and lawless scenes there enacted, will ever again be permitted to disgrace our country, and the name of civilization.

1873, [John O’Connor], “Wolf-traps—Continued”, in John Morris, editor, Wanderings of a Vagabond. An Autobiography, New York, N.Y.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 366:

[…] I was an occasional dram-drinker at their saloon. I was never imposed upon by them with bad liquor, nor in any manner cheated there. I did not learn they kept loaded dice, marked cards, or any back-room "deadfall"—to rake the pockets of fuddled or drugged customers.

1879 November, C[harles] E[dward] Pickett, Land-gambling versus Mining-gambling. An Open Letter to Squire P. Dewey, Relative to His Participation in the Land-gambling of San Francisco in the Early Days. From One Who Knows, 2nd edition, San Francisco, Calif.: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 9:

They had lived down in horse barns, army “A” tents with the old blood-stains onto them, city hotels with canopy beds, woke up in back rooms of deadfalls where the bars had toothmarks end to end.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 360:

(countable, US, slang) A cheap, rough bar or saloon.


Sazerac

Sazeracs (plural)
Sazarac (alternative)
sazerac (alternative)

Named for the Sazerac de Forge et Fils brand of cognac that was its original prime ingredient.

[…] a night that began at the establishment of Monsieur Peychaud, where the Sazeracs, though said to've been invented there, were not a patch, it seemed to Reef, on those available at Bob Stockton's bar in Denver, though those Absinthe Frappés were another matter.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 368:

(US) A cocktail made from whisky, Pernod or absinthe, bitters, and syrup.


APCO

w:Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International

(US) Initialism of Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International.


gross out

[T]his film is refreshingly low on scatological gags and other gross-out humor, preferring all-purpose bad jokes to bathroom ones.

1993 May 21, Janet Maslin, "From 'Rambo' to Rodham, Smirking All the Way" (film review of Hot Shots! Part Deux), New York Times (retrieved 22 April 2014)

. . . another ramshackle assortment of sight gags, scares, laughs and gross-outs […]

2014 April 19, Stephen Schaefer, "Wayans’ ‘Haunted’ sequel fails to scare up laughs" (film review), Boston Herald (retrieved 22 April 2014)

On the surface, the film is a globe-trotting gross-out caper in which Nobby, who's from a hellish version of the titular Lincolnshire town ("twinned with Chernobyl"), is reunited with his long-lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), who has become a spy for the British secret services.

2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):

(informal, chiefly Canada, US) Something which sickens, causes distress, or appalls by reason of being disgusting, gory, or repulsive.


gross out

en-verb

gross out (third-person singular simple present grosses out, present participle grossing out, simple past and past participle grossed out)

grosses out (present singular third-person)
grossing out (participle present)
grossed out (participle past)
grossed out (past)

Lisa likes him clean-shaven. "You know, when there's things crawling out of your beard or whenever you've got food left from lunch or dinner, I don't know, that just kind of grosses me out," she says.

2013 Aug. 22, Ann Oldenburg, "Beardless 'Duck Dynasty' brother reveals wild past" (video game review), USA Today (retrieved 22 April 2014)

The Stick of Truth is a game where you can choose to use a toilet and then, later, fling the result at your enemies to weaken them by grossing them out.

2014 March 4, Chris Suellentrop, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone Make a ‘South Park’ Game" (video game review), New York Times (retrieved 22 April 2014)

(informal, transitive, chiefly Canada, US) To sicken or distress (someone) by being disgusting, gory, or lewd.


on line

I'm waiting on line at the bakery.

Get on line while I shop.

(US, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) On a queue; waiting one's turn for something.


AFRICOM

(US, military) Acronym of Africa Command.


555-2368, 1-555-321-2368, and (555)234-2368 are all 555 numbers; they aren’t real.

(Canada, US, fiction) Pertaining to a fake telephone number. The local exchange and area code number 555 was reserved in North American dialing plan for fictional numbers, prior to the 21st century.


water fountain

Network Rail says the introduction of free water fountains at its managed stations has helped to save the equivalent of three million plastic bottles from entering landfill.

2020 March 11, “Network News: Water fountains cut plastic waste”, in Rail, page 23:

(US, Canada) A mechanical device designed to dispense small quantities of drinking water, usually in a public place such as a school or office.

飲水機 /饮水机

device designed to dispense drinking water


where there's smoke, there's fire

en-au-where there's smoke, there's fire.ogg

with a grain of salt
with a grain of salt

(UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) If there is a hint of something occurring it could indeed be true, but such rumors should be taken with a grain of salt.

لَا دُخَانَ بِلَا نَار

if there is a hint of something occurring it could indeed be true, but rumors should be handled with skepticism


whistle in the dark

whistle in the dark (third-person singular simple present whistles in the dark, present participle whistling in the dark, simple past and past participle whistled in the dark)

whistles in the dark (present singular third-person)
whistling in the dark (participle present)
whistled in the dark (participle past)
whistled in the dark (past)

(idiomatic, US) To speak of something despite having little knowledge of it.


whistle past the graveyard

whistle past the graveyard (third-person singular simple present whistles past the graveyard, present participle whistling past the graveyard, simple past and past participle whistled past the graveyard)

whistles past the graveyard (present singular third-person)
whistling past the graveyard (participle present)
whistled past the graveyard (participle past)
whistled past the graveyard (past)

(idiomatic, US) To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.

对着墓地吹口哨，指在害怕时故作轻松

to try to be cheerful in the face of one's fears

zweckoptimistisch sein

more idiomatic, but usually referring to emotions other than fear

두려우면서도 두렵지 않은것처럼 행동한다

duryeoumyeonseodo duryeopji aneun'geotcheoreom haengdonghanda

(idiomatic, US) To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.


walk the talk

walk the talk (third-person singular simple present walks the talk, present participle walking the talk, simple past and past participle walked the talk)

walks the talk (present singular third-person)
walking the talk (participle present)
walked the talk (participle past)
walked the talk (past)

(idiomatic, US) To perform actions consistent with one's claims.

faut que les bottines suivent les babines


air marshal

T.S.A. said its office of inspection makes quality assurance visits to ensure that the air marshals are properly prepared for their missions. […] Employees with the air marshals view their jobs as crucial to overall efforts to protect airplanes and airports from terrorist attacks.

2018 April 25, Ron Nixon, “Scandals and Investigations, but Few Arrests, for Air Marshals Program”, in The New York Times:

(US, law enforcement) An armed, undercover guard on a commercial-airline flight.


granger

/ˈɡɹeɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

From Middle English graunger, from Anglo-Norman granger, variant of Old French grangier, from grange, perhaps corresponding to Medieval Latin granicārium, from Vulgar Latin *granica, from Latin granum.

(US) A member of the Grange, National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, an association representing farmers.


Granger

From Grange + -er, related to etymology 1.

/ˈɡɹeɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

From the North, South, East, and West the Grangers came, on horseback and in every conceivable style of vehicle.

1873, Stephe R. Smith, Grains for the Grangers, Discussing All Points Bearing Upon the Farmers' Movement for the Emancipation of White Slaves from the Slave-Power of Monopoly, Union Publishing Company, page 237:

(US) A member of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.


prepping

(Canada, US) The practice of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.


funhouse

funhouses (plural)
fun house (alternative)

“It’s not good stewardship. If the guests wanted to walk through a funhouse with guys jumping out of the shadows saying ‘booga-booga,’ they’d go to one of the Halloween Houses in their hometowns. The Mansion’s better than that. I can’t be a part of this plan.”

2003, Cory Doctorow, chapter 6, in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom:

(originally US) A structure, usually at a circus or amusement park, enclosing several interactive attractions such as distorting mirrors, ramps, slides, stairs, rotating barrel slides, etc., that usually do not involve performers.

lustigt hus

in the lexicalized (without "det") singular definite "lustiga huset" (the funny house)


slimeball

slimeballs (plural)
slime ball (alternative)
slime-ball (alternative)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sley-
Proto-Germanic *slīmą
Old English slīm
English slime
Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-
Proto-Germanic *balluz
Old English *beall
Middle English bal
English ball
English slimeball
From slime + ball. Sense 1 (“a round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance”) is a calque of German Schleimkugel, from Schleim (“mucus, slime”) + Kugel (“ball”), while sense 1.1 (“a mucus-coated lump containing the cercariae of a liver fluke”) may be a calque of German Schleimball (from Schleim (“slime”) + Ball (“ball”)).

Schleimkugel

round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance which came from outer space

Even slimeballs were entitled to representation, though.

1987, Daniel Lynch, A Killing Frost, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 10:

And I put my hands on her jugs. She goes crazy. She says 'Take your hands off me slimeball!' So I go, 'Rona, watch your language!' And she goes, 'If you wanna have fun with your hands, why don't you pass the time playin' solitaire.'

1993, John Lahr, The Manchurian Candidate: A Play [...] From the Novel by Richard Condon, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, →ISBN, page 72:

[T]here will always be spies, and spooks, and counterspooks. Some of these slimeballs are perhaps breaking into Pentagon computers at this very moment, finding the dirty pictures some bored programmer stored on a corner of the hard disk.

1995, Dinty W. Moore, “Back to Nature”, in The Emperor’s Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth about Internet Culture, Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Workman Publishing, →ISBN, page 199:

He cursed Flak, then watched with horror as the slimeball explained to the world exactly how he, Kerber, had obtained the confession.

2010, John Grisham, The Confession: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN; Bantam Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, 2012, →ISBN, page 342:

He said it would be good for me, going to Grimsby; my hideous, horrible, sewer-minded, greeneyed slimeball of a two-faced, felonious bastard of an uncle.

2012, Willy Russell, The Wrong Boy, London: Black Swan, Transworld Publishers, →ISBN, page 102:

Meanwhile, the film's villain, played by Ben Mendelsohn, is a bigwig slimeball who wants to monopolize and monetize The Oasis through excessive pop-up ads. His true crime, though, is that he's a total noob who doesn't know his stuff.

2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-05-31:

(figuratively, originally US, colloquial, derogatory) A person who is slimy (that is, sneaky or underhanded) or otherwise undesirable.

slijmbal

person who is slimy or otherwise undesirable


stepmom

Susan Sasse of Chesapeake City, Md., vice president of the International Stepfamily Association, a nonprofit group, said: "What I hear from new stepmoms all the time, especially with older kids, is, 'They just hate me. They don't want to give me a chance. They think I'm taking their dad.'"

2000 August 17, Tamar Lewin, “Differences Found in Care With Stepmothers”, in The New York Times:

The Papster, my stepmom, her sister Angela the psychoanalyst, and Angela's husband Eric the kazillionaire were strolling along the canal.

Now that I’m a stepmom legally, I would argue that it’s a wonderful role: You learn how to parent with your partner before the stress of a newborn comes into the mix.

2020 April 16, Chloe Caldwell, “I Always Wanted to Be a Stepmom”, in The New York Times:

A few years later when Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn’t like the term “stepmom.” Instead they came up with the name “Momala.”

2024 July 21, Kamala Harris, “Kamala Harris on Being ‘Momala’”, in ELLE:


shifter

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(US, Pennsylvania) A switcher or shunter: a railroad locomotive used for shunting.


jump in

en-verb

jump in (third-person singular simple present jumps in, present participle jumping in, simple past and past participle jumped in)

jumps in (present singular third-person)
jumping in (participle present)
jumped in (participle past)
jumped in (past)

For the US slang sense, compare jump (“attack suddenly and violently”).

[Toothpick:] Been hanging with the homies in the hood for a while now / [Al Dog:] 'Bout time we jump your punk ass in / [Toothpick:] That's right. Let me tell you something in this world if you can't swim / [Al Dog:] You bound to drizzown / [Toothpick:] Yeah, and if you fall you better pick your punk ass up / [Al Dog:] That's right / [Toothpick, turning to the rest of the gang:] And the rest of y'all don't cut him no slack. Y'all fools get busy [they precede to a game of jump rope with the young man Toothpick and Al Dog were talking to jumping]

1996, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Phil Beauman, 53:46 from the start, in Paris Barclay, director, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, spoken by Toothpick and Al Dog (Darrel Heath and Alex Thomas):

His [my cousin's] uncle was already in the gang. […] So, we go up to the guys, we didn't even know how to ask, kinda like "Hey, uh, can we get jumped in?" And they're like, "Yeah, come on." And all I remember is I landed on the ground and he [one of the gang members] got on top of me and boom! I blanked out.

2018, Katie Galloway, 25:31 from the start, in Katie Galloway, director, The Pushouts (DVD), spoken by self (Victor Rios), Curious Matters; Cam Bay Productions:

[Jackie:] Look, I know you're saving up money to go to California, but I know those kids ain't as serious as you. So when you get tired of them, I'll be able to let you into our group. I mean, we'd probably have to jump you in or something, but... / [Elora:] You just ganged up on my friend. What makes you think I'm just gonna jump ship?

2021 August 23, Bobby Wilson, Tommy Pico, “What About Your Dad”, in Sydney Freeland, director, Reservation Dogs, season 1, episode 4 (television production), spoken by Jackie and Elora Danan Postoak (Elva Guerra and Devery Jacobs), via FX Network:

(US slang) To initiate into an organization, usually a gang, with violence.


CONOPS

(US, military) A statement or diagram describing how a military operation is to be carried out using the available resources.


OPCON

(US, military) Acronym of operational control. Command authority that may be exercised by commanders at any echelon at or below the level of combatant command.


drygulch

drygulch (third-person singular simple present drygulches, present participle drygulching, simple past and past participle drygulched)

drygulches (present singular third-person)
drygulching (participle present)
drygulched (participle past)
drygulched (past)
dry gulch (alternative)
dry-gulch (alternative)

/ˈdɹʌɪɡʌltʃ/

/ˈdɹaɪ.ɡʌlt͡ʃ/

Because in the American West, outlaws often killed people as they passed through a dry gulch; or because cattle rustlers drove stolen animals off the edge of such a gulch. (ref. John Ayto 1998)

‘Then one of them got into the car and dry-gulched me.’

1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, page 77:

You've delivered yourselves into the hands of capitalists and Christers, and anybody wants to change any of that steps across ’at frontera, they're drygulched on the spot—though I'm sure you'd know how to avoid that, Dwayne.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, pages 722–3:

(US, slang) To murder; to attack, assault, especially in an ambush.


skeezicks

skeezicks (plural)
skeesicks (alternative)
skeezacks (alternative)
skeezecks (alternative)

Because I know he's a sensible young skeesicks.

1912, P.G. Wodehouse, chapter 7, in The Prince and Betty, Vintage:

Yash, this strange-lookin old skeezicks is my brother Reef.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 749:


scabland

he was determined at least never to have to go back, never to end up again down some gopher-ridden trail through the scabland, howling at the unexplained and unresponsive moon.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 780:

(US, geography) High, flat land of igneous rock, with thin soil and deep channels formed by glaciers or glacial floods.


merchandize

merchandize (third-person singular simple present merchandizes, present participle merchandizing, simple past and past participle merchandized)

merchandizes (present singular third-person)
merchandizing (participle present)
merchandized (participle past)
merchandized (past)

(US) Alternative spelling of merchandise; to engage in selling of merchandise.


cotter pin

(US) A split pin, the ends of which project through an object being fastened and are bent back to hold it in place.


scoots

I had the scoots after eating that big bowl of chili con carne.


ice pellets

(chiefly Canada and US, meteorology) Sleet.


I approve this message

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-I approve this message.wav

(US, humorous) a phrase said after or before one makes a declaration to attach a mock solemnity to a strongly held belief


First Laddie

A pun on the term First Lady, with laddie.

Clinton suggests 'first laddie' title from UPI

The perils of having two presidents in the White House from The Australian

Imagining a Clinton White House from New York Magazine

(US, humorous) A man who is the spouse of a sitting president.


shopping mall

(US) A collection of retail stores, usually one with an indoor common area joining the stores, that is usually anchored by department stores.


vestee

It was difficult to tell what Yashmeen was thinking as she offered her lips. He was concentrating on not getting her vestee wet.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 914:


physical therapist

en-noun

physical therapist (plural physical therapists)

(US) A therapist who treats physical injury or dysfunction, usually with exercise.


go-devil

(US, colloquial) A gadget or unspecified device, as used in various industries.

A weight which is dropped into a bore, as of an oil well, to explode a cartridge previously lowered.

A device, such as a loosely fitted plug, which is driven through a pipe by the pressure of the contents behind the plug to clear away obstructions.

A rough sled or dray used for dragging or hauling loads.

He had three wagonloads of go-devil squibs he wanted to sell, you know, these little oil-well torpedoes, hold about a quart of nitro each? Beautiful.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 952:


on one's watch

[Robert] Gates emerged from the first week of hearings bearing only a few scratches. […] He even vowed to resign if illegal activity occurred on his watch.

1991 September 30, Michael Duffy, “The CIA: See No Evil, Hear No Evil”, in Time, archived from the original on 2016-04-16:

Woods dismissed the idea that anyone could get away with election fraud on her watch.

2005 February 19, Amy Silvers, “100 miles per hour for 102 years”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinal:

President George Bush today insisted American forces would not withdraw from Iraq "on my watch" and give terrorists the chance "to claim an historic victory over the United States".

2005 September 22, George W. Bush, quotee, “Bush: Troops will not withdraw on my watch”, in The Guardian:

“You look at what’s happening in Europe,” he continued, “you look at what’s happening in other places – we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”

2018 June 19, Lauren Gambino, quoting Donald Trump, “Trump says US will not be a 'migrant camp'”, in The Guardian:

[...] Fowler was responsible for a conservative small engine policy at the LMS, previously adopted on the Midland, which led to much double-heading - although the Royal Scot 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive was also introduced on his watch in 1928.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Evesham (1870)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 59:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) During the period of time when one is in a position of authority or responsibility.


bunny hop

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A dance from the big band era, a variation of the conga, in which dancers made small jumps with feet together.


misbranded

en-adj

misbranded (comparative more misbranded, superlative most misbranded)

more misbranded (comparative)
most misbranded (superlative)

(US, law) Of a product, containing incorrect information on the label that would tend to deceive consumers as to any aspect of the product.


automania

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From auto + -mania. Attested from the 20th century. Compare slightly earlier automaniac.

There seems to be need of a term to designate these new terrors of our streets, those speed crazed paranoiacs who are now doing so much to bring the automobile into disrepute.[…] Why not adopt the name “automania” for the disease and the automaniac to designate the person afflicted by it?

1902, “The Automaniac”, in Massachusetts Medical Journal, page 551:

The fact is, some of these people are seized with automania, and if they could not go fast, they would not care to go at all. Automania is the feverish desire to move at the greatest rate of speed of which the motor is capable, with no regard for the life of bipeds or quadrupeds.

1906 May, “Farmers’ problems”, in Farm Journal, page 178:

(US) An enthusiasm for motor vehicles and motoring.


Chicanismo

(US) A movement embodying pride in Chicano culture and ethnicity.


quadplex

(US) A building divided into four separate residences or commercial premises.


quadrominium

(US) A building divided into four residences as condominiums


quahogger

From quahog + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (relational noun suffix).

(US, nautical) A boat used to harvest quahogs.


sea trout

en-noun

sea trout (plural sea trouts or sea trout)

sea trouts (plural)
sea trout (plural)
seatrout (alternative)


quarterbacking

Plenty of past seasons’ events could look ill-conceived in the critical eye of Monday-morning quarterbacking, but previously, the show had earned the benefit of the doubt that missteps on the part of supposedly intelligent characters were a plausible lack of in-world foresight.

2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-22:

(US) The action of making criticisms after the event


that's all she wrote

Unknown; circa 1940s; thought to be a reference to Dear John letters. Ernest Tubb recorded a song titled "That's All She Wrote" (sheet music published in 1942), but earlier printed references exist (e.g. The Brownsville Herald, June 1935).

If you see a long yellow streak of all fine smoke / That’s my rocket pulling out, that’s all she wrote / […]

1951, Jackie Brenston, “My Real Gone Rocket”:

There was a note upon my door... I won’t be back no more / That’s all she wrote, "Dear John".

[…] Goodbye — that’s all she wrote.

Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote / And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat

Inside information taken down note by note / A silent footstep that's all she wrote

Bye bye, baby, bye-bye, she said in a letter / And that was all she wrote

He said a prayer, and that was all she wrote

2004, Gaither Vocal Band, “I Catch 'Em, God Cleans 'Em”:

I get five short beeps when the machine starts to boot, and then that's all she wrote[…]

2004, Michael Graves, A+ Guide to PC Hardware Maintenance & Repair, page 525:

I, I, got a little paycheck / You got big plans and you gotta move / And I don't feel nothing at all / And you can't feel nothing small / "Honey, I love you", that's all she wrote

2016 February 5, Wesley Schultz and Jeremy Fraites, “Ophelia”, in Cleopatra, performed by The Lumineers:

(idiomatic, originally US) Indicating an abrupt termination of a project, or of one’s hopes or plans.


carhouse

carhouses (plural)
car house (alternative)

(US, dated) A storage depot for streetcars.


peace bond

"... We're scared for you, and we think you oughta do something about him."
Atticus smiled wryly. "Do what? Put him under a peace bond?"

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 23, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

“She's awready^([sic]) about to get us put under a peace bond. She's all the time spying in that alley behind her shutters.”

1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 7, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 151:

(Canada, US, law) A court order forbidding one party to bother another.

lähestymiskielto

Court order forbidding one party to bother another


alarmer

From alarm + -er (agent noun suffix) or -er (measurement suffix).

This three-alarmer brought out no fewer than seven steam pumpers, which are drawing water from a fire cistern...

1991, Leonard Victor Huber, New Orleans: a pictorial history, page 277:

“A two-alarmer,” someone commented. “Must be a nasty one.” We slurped our soda and ran for the trolley. “Fire's in Loray,” the motorman told us as he rang his bell.

2007, Flora Ann Scearce, Cotton Mill Girl, page 118:

(US, in combination) A multialarm fire of a specified number of alarms.


110 proof

See proof.
Most hard liquor sold at retail in the United States is between 80 and 95 proof (40 to 47.5% by volume); higher proof alcohol is usually bootlegged.

(US) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: 55% alcohol by volume.


buttfucker

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2012, John Butler, Boys Hard at Work, page 143:

Jeff Palmer was gorgeous, he too had a wonderful physique, and his impressive cock stayed as hard as Tom Chase's; what set Jeff apart was that he was perhaps the most savage, most ferocious buttfucker any of them had ever seen.

2012, John Butler, Model/Escort, page 274:

(Canada, US, vulgar, derogatory) One who engages in anal sex.


liplock

liplock (countable and uncountable, plural liplocks)

liplocks (plural)
lip lock (alternative)
lip-lock (alternative)

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

We figgered a gal might give us a lil liplock.

1989, Charles Nelson, Panthers in the Skins of Men, page 25:

The character is also denied an affirming liplock with her female love interest—a former taboo that was long ago shattered by L.A. Law, Roseanne and, earlier this season, Relativity (men kissing men, on the other hand, remains, for now, a no-no).

1997 April 14, Bruce Handy, “Roll Over, Ward Cleaver”, in Time:

Dhiraj leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She gently returned the liplock.

(chiefly US, informal) A kiss or the act of kissing; especially a long, passionate kiss.


lip-lock

en-verb

lip-lock (third-person singular simple present lip-locks, present participle lip-locking, simple past and past participle lip-locked)

lip-locks (present singular third-person)
lip-locking (participle present)
lip-locked (participle past)
lip-locked (past)

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

And I'm hardly a lesbian assistant! I mean, I am an assistant, and I do like Ellen DeGeneres's talk show, and sometimes I watch The L Word, but that doesn't mean I want to lip-lock the ladies.

In Psalm 85, it says that "justice and peace/ mercy and truth" have kissed. In Jesus they lip-locked forever.

2009, Leonard Sweet, So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church:

Michelle and Evan begin to lip-lock, and Amy tries not to watch.

2010, Wes E. Samuels, Amy's Dreams, page 52:

(slang, chiefly US) To kiss for an extended period of time.


amendation

(US) The result of making an amendment to a document etc; an amendment


acre foot

(US, engineering, agriculture) A unit of measure, used for volumes of water, equal to one acre times one foot (that is, to the amount of water required to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot), which is 43,560 cubic feet, 325,851 gallons, 1,233 cubic meters.


sneezer

‘No cure for lads like you, is there?’ he said. ‘Except to throw you in the sneezer.’

1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 200:


babby

→ Irish: babaí

Phonetic writing of a dialectic form of baby. Popularized in online usage by the "How is babby formed?" meme from the mid-2000s.

(UK and US dialects, also Internet slang) A baby (human infant).


Timese

The company's first publication was Time, a new kind of weekly magazine that chronicled the affairs of the world in a stylized prose of inverted nouns and verbs that came to be known as Timese.

1989 March 5, “A Magazine Became a Giant”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-02-24, page 38:

"Prosy was the first issue of Time on March 3, 1923. Yet to suggest itself as a rational method of communication, of infuriating readers into buying the magazine, was strange inverted Timestyle. It was months before [editor Briton] Hadden's impish contempt for his readers, his impatience with the English language, crystallized into gibberish. By the end of the first year, however, Timeditors were calling people able, potent, nimble. 'Great word! Great word!' would crow Hadden, coming upon 'snaggle-toothed,' 'pig-faced.' Appearing also were first gratuitous invasions of privacy. Stressed was the bastardy of Ramsay MacDonald, the 'cozy hospitality' of Mae West. Backwards ran sentences until reeled the mind." — Wolcott Gibbs, profiling Henry Luce in Timese in the New Yorker, 1936.

1998 March 9, “75 Years Of Miscellany”, in Time, retrieved 2007-12-30:

(chiefly US) A style of writing found in Time magazine, especially during its early decades, characterized by exaggeration, catchy phrasing, and offbeat word order.


purpose statement

en-noun

purpose statement (plural purpose statements)

(US, finance) An affidavit stating the purpose for a proposed loan.


OG

(music, US, slang) Initialism of Original Gangsta; a person associated with the earliest era of gangsta rap.

Original Gangsta

Besides the standard tomatoes-over-cheese version, called the O.G., and an even more streamlined cheeseless tomato pie called the Plain Jane, Washington Squares exploits the structural stability of the crust with more elaborate arrays.

2021 March 8, Pete Wells, “Building Pizzas That Can Survive the Box”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

And we’d all go to the true O.G., Julius’. It’s the oldest gay bar in New York, plus it has delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries.

2021 April 12, John Wogan, “Friends Who Saw It All”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(by extension, US, slang) Anything associated with an earlier, more traditional, and perceivedly more authentic era.


OG

en-adj

OG (comparative more OG, superlative most OG)

more OG (comparative)
most OG (superlative)
O.G. (alternative)

To slow it down, the below song is a throwback remake using a song from 90's babies' parents' generation. It's definitely a majority favorite, and while I wouldn't say it's better than the OG version, it's definitely soothing to the ear.

2017 October 6, Fobilasha, Bollywood Weekly (Usenet):

A lot of people freak out at the idea of lard, but it's actually not that bad for you, and it's what they use in O.G., legit-sh*t tamales—and I'd imagine that's what the abuela in Coco is making

2018, Andrew Rea, “Tamales from Coco” (2:17 from the start), in Binging with Babish, season 1, episode 70, Andrew Rea (actor), New York: YouTube:

The Warehouse gym is a little off the beaten track, plopped south of an interstate highway, behind a hidden road. “You have to be kind of a real O.G. baller to know where it is,” Jewell Loyd said.

2021 February 27, Jonathan Abrams, quoting Jewell Loyd, “Jewell Loyd Is in the Gym, Building Her Game and a Community”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, slang) Traditional, authentic, old-fashioned, or old school.


bughouse

(US, slang) A flea-infested hotel, lodging-house etc.

Well, he was ready for the bughouse, certainly.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 277:

(US, slang) A hospital, especially a lunatic asylum.


bughouse

bughouse (comparative more bughouse, superlative most bughouse)

more bughouse (comparative)
most bughouse (superlative)

“Get up and dress. I can stand a rattlesnake, but I hate a liar. Do I have to tell you again?” He caught McGuire by the neck and stood him on the floor. / “Say, friend,” cried McGuire wildly, “are you bughouse? I’m sick—see? I’ll croak if I got to hustle. What’ve I done to yer?”—he began his chronic whine—“I never asked yer to⸺”

1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 177, columns 1–2:

'Just what's up on this train? It seems bughouse to me.'

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 254:

Ewball, man, that is some bughouse talk.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 1127:


mazuma

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

From Yiddish מזומן (mezumen, “cash”), from Hebrew מְזוּמָּן (m'zumán, “prepared, ready; cash”), passive present participle of זִימֵּן (zimén, “to prepare, appoint”).

uder

I can post some strong-arm talent outside, but even non-Union like everything else in town, after a while that runs into considerable mazuma—so we should be thinking about longer-term solutions.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 1181:


PMB

Do you rent a Private Mailbox (PMB)?

If you lease a private mailbox (PMB) from a private business rather than a PO box from the United States Postal Service, include the Private Mail Box (PMB) in the address field.

2006, California Package X Tax Forms Catalogue:

(US) Abbreviation of private mailbox. (a mailbox like a PO box but from a private company)


sparkling cider

en-noun

sparkling cider (countable and uncountable, plural sparkling ciders)

(US, trade term) A soft drink consisting of slightly carbonated apple juice to distinguish it from cider or hard cider, which is an alcoholic drink.


buro

Borrowed from French bureau (“desk”, earlier “coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize”), from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”).

cog

And I went up into the spare chamber, and sort o' fixed Philury's things to the best advantage; for I knew the neighbors would be in to look at 'em. And I was a standin' there as calm and happy as the buro or table, ...

1885, Marietta Holley, Sweet Cicely, Online edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2005:

One can only speculate about the appearance of the "New-fashion buro" advertised for sale in the Boaton Gazette of May 1, 1750.

1998 May, Phil D. Zimmerman, “The Stratford, Connecticut, bureau table: A re-examination”, in Antiques, volume 153, number 5, page 740:

chest of drawers
chest of drawers#English


catawampus

en-adj

catawampus (comparative more catawampus, superlative most catawampus)

more catawampus (comparative)
most catawampus (superlative)
catawampous (alternative)
catawamptious (alternative)
cattywampus (alternative)
cattywampous (alternative)
kittywampus (alternative)
kittywumpus (alternative)
caddywompus (alternative)
caliwampus (alternative)
caliwampous (alternative)
cankywampus (alternative)

The first part may be related to cater-corner. The second part may be related to wampish (“wriggle, twist about like a fish”).

"Waal, I noticed ez the aidge o' one o' them boards war sot sorter catawampus, ...".

1885, Charles Egbert Craddock, Down the Ravine:

(US) Out of alignment, in disarray or disorder: crooked, askew.


catawampus

more catawampus (comparative)
most catawampus (superlative)


catawampus

Perhaps from catamount (“cougar, puma, lynx”), influenced by the adjective above.

(US) A fierce imaginary animal, a bogeyman.


catawampus

There air some catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong; but don't mind them, they're company.

1844, Charles Dickens, chapter 21, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit:


leader of the free world

en-noun

leader of the free world (plural leaders of the free world)

(US) The president of the United States.


pan-broil

en-verb

pan-broil (third-person singular simple present pan-broils, present participle pan-broiling, simple past and past participle pan-broiled)

pan-broils (present singular third-person)
pan-broiling (participle present)
pan-broiled (participle past)
pan-broiled (past)

(US) To cook over direct heat in an ungreased skillet


flexitarianism

A combination of flexible + vegetarian + -ism. The earliest known use of the term occurred in the October 17, 1992, issue of the Austin American-Statesman, article by Linda Anthony, Acorn serves up 'flexitarian fare'.

(US) The practice of eating mainly vegetarian food, but making occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, cultural, or nutritional reasons.

flexitarisme

The practice of eating mainly vegetarian with exceptions

semi-vegetarianism

vegetarianism with occasional exceptions


Tillie

Tillie (disambiguation)
Tillie the All-Time Teller

From the ATM Tillie the All-Time Teller, introduced in 1974.


bird colonel

From the insignia of rank, which bears a depiction of an eagle.

This month at 47, Colonel Polich retires after 20 years of service; as a reservist and an engineer, bird colonel is about the highest peacetime rank he can achieve.

1960 July 4, “Pink Is for Learning”, in Time:

(US, slang, military) A member of the United States armed forces having the rank of full colonel, as distinct from a lieutenant colonel.


chinaberry

Melia azedarach
Melia azedarach#Translingual

(US) The bead tree or azedarach, Melia azedarach, a deciduous tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae, native to India, southern China and Australia, or its fruit.

‘The toilet is out back directly behind the chinaberry tree.’

(US) The soapberry (genus Sapindus, especially Sapindus saponaria), native to the Americas.

(US) Actaea rubra, a poisonous herbaceous flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to North America.


full bird colonel

en-noun

full bird colonel (plural full bird colonels)

(US, slang, military) Synonym of bird colonel


chicken colonel

chicken colonel (plural chicken colonels)

In 1944, when many of his West Point classmates—including Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower—had won general's stars, Van Fleet was still a chicken colonel commanding a regiment.

1951 May 14, “The Face Is Familiar”, in Time:

(US, slang, dated, military) Synonym of bird colonel


pencil-neck

pencil-necks (plural)
pencilneck (alternative)
pencil neck (alternative)

From pencil + neck, popularized by wrestler Freddie Blassie.

That pencil-neck from systems isn't going to tell me what I can't do.

Mom said, “Sell it to the circus, what the heck.” / Dad said, “Nope, this one's a pencil neck / And if there's one thing lower than a side show freak / It's a grit eatin', scum suckin', pencil neck geek.”

1977, Pete Cicero, Martin Margulies (lyrics and music), “Pencil Neck Geek”, performed by Freddie Blassie & The Geekettes:

On Thursday, March 28, Trump took the stage in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a campaign rally, where he unleashed a new schoolyard nickname: “little pencil-neck Adam Schiff.”

2020, Kevin Sullivan, Mary Jordan, quoting Donald Trump, Trump on Trial, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 217:

(idiomatic, US, derogatory) An insubstantial person; a weakling.


pencil-necked

en-adj

pencil-necked (comparative more pencil-necked, superlative most pencil-necked)

more pencil-necked (comparative)
most pencil-necked (superlative)

That pencil-necked geek isn't going to stop me.

Science fiction is more than inelegant prose for pencil-necked teenagers.

1997 July 7, Zina Moukheiber, “The geeks have inherited the earth”, in Forbes, →ISSN, page 348:

(idiomatic, US, derogatory) Insubstantial; weak.


tuchus

en-noun

tuchus (plural tuchuses or (humorous) tuchi)

tuchuses (plural)
tuchi (humorous plural)
toches (alternative)
tochis (alternative)
tochus (alternative)
tokhes (alternative)
tokus (alternative)
tookus (alternative)
tucchus (alternative)
tuchas (alternative)
tuches (alternative)
tuchis (alternative)
tuckus (alternative)

From Yiddish תּחת (tokhes, “buttocks”), in turn from Hebrew תַּחַת (tákhat, “buttocks”).

he sat on the top of mountains and read Wordsworth and Lenin aloud to extravagantly beautiful shikseh waitresses with golden pigtails down to their tocheses (no one ever said arse in this gathering, it was always toches) who repaid him with free Glühwein and he wasn't prepared to tell me what else.

2006, Howard Jacobson, Kalooki Nights, Vintage, published 2007, page 66:

House: You had a hot flash. Those guys kicked your guys hard enough to do lasting damage. You didn’t even look when presented with two reasonably attractive tuchi — yeah! I said it!
Reese: I was listening to my doctor.
House: People generally listen with their ears, leaving their eyes free to wander. I’m guessing that your testosterone level is just below Bieber [scil. Justin Bieber].

2012 February 20th, Sara Hess, Liz Friedman, “Man of the House”, in Colin Bucksey, director, House, season 8, episode 13, spoken by Gregory House and Joe Reese (Hugh Laurie and Jake Weber):

(slang, chiefly US) The buttocks, rear end, butt.


surviving spouse

surviving spouse (plural surviving spouses)

(taxation, US) An unmarried taxpayer whose spouse has been deceased for less than two taxable years, and who provides a home for one or more dependents of the deceased.


express lane

(chiefly US) A traffic lane on a limited-access road, intended for faster traffic, that has even more limited access.


local lane

(chiefly US) In a multi-lane controlled-access highway or expressway system, a lane which is physically separated from the (express) lane(s) closest to the median and which is intended for vehicles traveling relatively shorter distances, so that these vehicles may enter and exit the highway system without unduly interrupting the flow of traffic.


FR

(US, law) Initialism of Federal Register.


HN

(military, US, nautical) Abbreviation of hospitalman.


HU

utility helicopter
utility helicopter#English

(obsolete, US, army, aviation) prefix for utility helicopter designations


CHP

Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news release that the California highway patrol (CHP) has contracted with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company, to install 480 cameras that can identify and track vehicles by license plate, type, color and even decals and bumper stickers.

2024 March 29, Abené Clayton, “California deploys hundreds of freeway surveillance cameras in Oakland to fight crime”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

California Highway Patrol
w:California Highway Patrol

(US) Initialism of California Highway Patrol.


flap one's gums

en-verb

flap one's gums (third-person singular simple present flaps one's gums, present participle flapping one's gums, simple past and past participle flapped one's gums)

flaps one's gums (present singular third-person)
flapping one's gums (participle present)
flapped one's gums (participle past)
flapped one's gums (past)

What's that old coot flapping his gums about this time?

(idiomatic, colloquial, US) To speak idly; to talk without effect.


old-timey

en-adj

old-timey (comparative more old-timey, superlative most old-timey)

more old-timey (comparative)
most old-timey (superlative)

One of the main charms of the Southern scene was the number of "old-timey" practices that persisted.

1951, Margaret Cussler, Not by a Long Shot: Adventures of a Documentary Film Producer, page 51:

Whereas some of the potters making unglazed gardenware have expanded their production, others now also make some "old-timey" utilitarian glazed stoneware.

1994, Nancy Sweezy, Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition, page 274:

That white man buys up all this old-timey stuff he can get his hands on, all through this country. The very tools I lived by, he sells em for antiques.

2000, Nate Shaw, Theodore Rosengarten, All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw, page 524:

(US, informal) Reminiscent or representative of an older time.


not win for losing

Figure 1 depicts a number of these forces, and suggests the ways in which the Individualistic Ethic "could not win for losing."

1910, Hartley Withers, The Meaning of Money, page 42:

Manboy grinned, and looked up as Two-Way joined them, laughing. "Gabe, you is just naturally a Jonah to your own self, and can't win for losing no matter what.

1936, Reuben Davis, Butcher Bird, page 14:

(idiomatic, US) To repeatedly fail in one's gambles or efforts.


busser

Many owners have long sought to boost the pay of kitchen workers and bussers by forcing servers to share their tips.

2018 March 24, Lydia DePillis, “Few noticed, but Congress just banned restaurants from skimming tips”, in CNN:

Giovanni Duran, 42, came to California from El Salvador without federal authorization when he was 2 years old, brought by his family. He worked as a busser in a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles, Loreal said.

2025 February 11, Wendy Fry, “‘It was just a regular morning’: Californians picked up in recent ICE raids include kids, volunteers”, in SFGate:

(US) An assistant waiter; one who busses.


NOMAS

w:National Organization for Men Against Sexism

(US) Acronym of National Organization for Men Against Sexism.


category killer

en-noun

category killer (plural category killers)

(business, US) A retailer that offers a wider selection of merchandise in a category than existing retailers, at lower prices, thereby gaining substantial share of the market and "killing" the existing retailers.


hand truck

(Canada, US) An L-shaped box-moving handcart with handles at one end, wheels at the base, with a small ledge to set objects on, flat against the floor when the hand-truck is upright. It makes otherwise bulky and heavy objects easier to move.


road train

Road trains are big rigs made of tractors that pull more than one trailer.[…]They are driven in remote areas of Canada, the United States, and Australia. Australia is home to the largest road trains in the world.[…]It is common for Australian road trains to have up to six trailers attached to a single tractor, with each trailer holding up to 140 tons (127 tonnes) of freight.

2007, Adrianna Morganelli, Trucks: Pickups to Big Rigs, page 17:

Livestock road trains tend to travel in convoys and its^([sic]) best to pull over for a rest and watch them pass.

2007, Dick Eussen, Australia′s Savannah Way: Cairns to Broome, page 13:

Where there are two semi-trailers and one motive unit this is called a double bottomed articulated vehicle or road train. Especially in Australia, road trains may consist of more than two trailers. In the UK, serious consideration is being given to their use on motorways.

2010, Alan Rushton, Phil Croucher, Peter Baker, The Handbook of Logistics & Distribution Management, page 398:

(US, Australia, Canada) A transport conveyance consisting of a conventional prime mover truck pulling two or more trailers.

bridge; B; A; There are no (drawbar) connected Dolly Converter in the train

B-double (A Prime mover Towing a - trailer and a turntable

Double Roadtrain

A-double, Prime mover towing 2 semi Trailers, with one(1) -(Drawbar) Dolly Converter

Triple Roadtrain

A-triple, Prime mover towing 3 semi Trailers, with two (2) -(Drawbar) Dolly Converters

B-Triple (3 trailers, 2x trailers towing a third connected semitrailer

and connections

ie. Tractor/Prime-mover pulling 2x B-Doubles interconnected by an - (drawbar)

ABB Quad Roadtrain - 4 trailers ie. a Semitrailer towing an-connected .

BBA Quad

B-connections LoadShare on rear wheelsets with the following semitrailer, A-connected trailers do not LoadShare, ie. use a drawbar to the dolly

often with a more stable (3x) hybrid A-type drawbar interconnections


assumedly

en-adv

assumedly (comparative more assumedly, superlative most assumedly)

more assumedly (comparative)
most assumedly (superlative)

(chiefly US) In an assumed manner; presumably.


cuddler

At the Children's Hospital, an active cuddler's program was developed to provide stimulation for infants whose parents found it difficult to visit on a regualar basis. Cuddlers are recruited from within the hospital and the local community.

1995, David Walter Adams, Eleanor J. Deveau, Beyond the Innocence of Childhood:

A volunteer program at St. Vincent Children's Hospital is aimed at taking care of the littlest patients. Nancy Franciscy is one of 15 cuddlers at St. Vincent. The cuddlers are volunteers in the neonatal intensive care unit. The program began in the fall.

2007 April, People, places and things, ABC News:

(chiefly US) Someone who volunteers or works in a hospital by caring for babies (by showing human touch, giving cuddles etc.)


K-9 unit

Humorous homophone of canine from an old vaudeville show.

(US) A police dog or a police dog and its handler.


bar room

bar rooms (plural)
barroom (alternative)

(Canada, US) A room where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.


light rail

en-noun

light rail (countable and uncountable, plural light rails)

The new Denver light rail runs along the Interstate highway.

(US, Canada, rail transport) A kind of passenger railway in urban and suburban settings typically characterized by a mixture of tram (or in North America streetcar) and metro features, crossing streets at grade crossings and normally powered by electricity.

lättbana

translation of "light rail"; of rare usage


oh my

Which might mean shaping it, gelling it, snooting it, barn dooring it, and putting it on a stand or a clamp. Maybe taking the dome diffuser off. Perhaps zooming it. Oh my. And you thought you were just taking a picture.

(idiomatic, euphemistic, chiefly US and Canada) oh my God


cook off

en-verb

cook off (third-person singular simple present cooks off, present participle cooking off, simple past and past participle cooked off)

cooks off (present singular third-person)
cooking off (participle present)
cooked off (participle past)
cooked off (past)

(transitive, US, military) To pull the pin from a grenade and wait two or three seconds before throwing.

(transitive, US, military) As above, except to unintentionally wait so long that the grenade detonates.


title policy

(US) An insurance policy on a piece of real estate for which the title deeds may be incomplete or not properly searched.


NACA

(US) Acronym of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.


trip to the woodshed

en-noun

trip to the woodshed (plural trips to the woodshed)

Probably derived from the previous term "horseshedding," meaning to take a person privately (such as to a horse shed or woodshed, separate buildings away from the house) for private cajoling or reprimand.

More than a few of the 3,000 members of the National Association of Manufacturers, gathered for their annual convention in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last week, felt like small boys worrying about a trip to the woodshed. None knew how vindictive or friendly toward business the Truman Administration would be.

1948 December 13, “Sweet Reasonableness”, in Time:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) An occasion on which a reprimand or punishment is administered privately.


ass bandit

(dated, US, slang) A man who (eagerly) seduces young women.


piece of ass

Yeah. Maybe we/ll^([sic]) make the rounds of the bars. I could use a little nookie. Thats^([sic]) what I need, a good piece of ass.

1964, Hubert Selby Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn, New York: Grove Press, page 281:

(US, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) An act of sexual intercourse, especially a one-night stand.

(US, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) A very attractive woman, when considered as a sex object.

(rare, US, LGBTQ, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) A male prostitute.


bring to a boil

en-verb

bring to a boil (third-person singular simple present brings to a boil, present participle bringing to a boil, simple past and past participle brought to a boil)

brings to a boil (present singular third-person)
bringing to a boil (participle present)
brought to a boil (participle past)
brought to a boil (past)
bring to the boil (alternative)
come to a boil (alternative)

(US) To heat something until it reaches its boiling point.

沸騰 /沸腾

heat something until it reaches boiling point


superdelegate

superdelegates (plural)
super delegate (alternative)
super-delegate (alternative)

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

From super- + delegate. Originally written super-delegate or super delegate; the former is attested since 1981.

If no candidate won on the first round (something that hasn’t happened since 1952), voting would be opened up to 739 superdelegates, who are not pledged to any candidate. These superdelegates, also known as “automatically seated delegates,” include all Democratic members of Congress and Democratic governors, as well as other party leaders.

2024 July 8, Christa Case Bryant, Caitlin Babcock, “What it would take to replace Biden on the 2024 ticket”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(US, politics) A member of the Democratic Party who has been selected to attend the national convention to help select a nominee for president.

siêu đại biểu

a member of the Democratic Party who has been selected to attend the national convention


national convention

en-noun

national convention (plural national conventions)

(US, politics) A meeting of the major figures in a political party to outline a party platform, set party rules, select a nominee for president as well as rally supporters.

United States presidential nominating convention


oxeye daisy

Rudbeckia hirta
Rudbeckia hirta#Translingual

(US) The black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta.


after-school special

after-school special (plural after-school specials)

after-school specials (plural)
after school special (alternative)

(US) A television program broadcast in the mid- to late afternoon and directed toward adolescents.


after school special

after school special (plural after school specials)

after school specials (plural)
after-school special (alternative)

Coined in 1972 by the American Broadcasting Company.

(US) A television program broadcast in the mid- to late afternoon and directed toward adolescents, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues.


live pair

(US, politics) Two members of Congress who would have otherwise cast opposing votes, but who form an agreement whereby one announces the couple is a live pair and registers his or her own vote as present rather than for or against. Although not recognized or recorded in vote tallies, the effect is to allow the other member to be absent without affecting the outcome of the vote.


recreational vehicle

recreational vehicle (plural recreational vehicles)

desc

→ Canadian French: véhicule récréatif (calque)

(Canada, US) A self-propelled vehicle (motor home), or trailer designed for use as living quarters on overnight recreational activities and travel.


UCMJ

Uniform Code of Military Justice
w:Uniform Code of Military Justice

(military, US) Initialism of Uniform Code of Military Justice.


body shop

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

(US) A workshop in which damage to the bodywork of cars is repaired.


district attorney

en-noun

district attorney (plural district attorneys)

(US) The title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of alleged criminals.

fiscal

the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of alleged criminals


full bathroom

Coined to clarify the distinctions among a bathroom, a three-quarter bathroom, and a half bath.

(US) A bathroom with a toilet, sink, and bathtub.

three-quarter bathroom

lacking a bath but having a standing shower


three-quarter bathroom

three-quarter bathroom (plural three-quarter bathrooms)

three-quarter bathrooms (plural)
three-quarter bath (alternative)

(US) A bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower stall but without a bathtub.


handball

handball (countable and uncountable, plural handballs)

desc

→ Portuguese: andebol, handebol (Brazil)

sport involving bouncing a ball off a wall

(uncountable, US, Ireland) A sport in which players alternately strike the ball against a wall with their hand. Irish and American variants have slightly different rules.

(countable, US) The small rubber ball used in this sport.


defeatocrat

(US, derogatory) A member of the Democratic political party, seen as proponents of surrender and accepting defeat.


defeatican

(US, derogatory, used by political opponents) A member of the Republican political party, regarded as proponents of surrender and accepting defeat.


ammonium sulfate

(US, inorganic chemistry) An inorganic chemical compound, (NH₄)₂SO₄, commonly used as a fertilizer and as a food additive (E517) used as an improving agent.


aluminum silicate

en-noun

aluminum silicate (plural aluminum silicates)

aluminium silicate
aluminium silicate#English

(US) Alternative spelling of aluminium silicate


bonnyclabber

Said to be from Irish bainne (“milk”) + clábair (“muddied”) (see English clabber) or Scots Gaelic cognates thereof, with the anglicization of the first element influenced by bonny.

(Scotland and US dialects) Sour, soured, fermented or curdled milk; acidophilus milk.


deceptively misdescriptive

en-adj

deceptively misdescriptive (comparative more deceptively misdescriptive, superlative most deceptively misdescriptive)

more deceptively misdescriptive (comparative)
most deceptively misdescriptive (superlative)

(law, US) In U.S. trademark law, misdescriptive in a way that is likely to deceive consumers in a way that influences the decision to purchase.


TSA

Your next story of a travel pitfall the TSA isn't warning you about comes from Adam Felber.

2008 February 2, Peter Sagal, “Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me!”, in National Public Radio:

(government, US) Initialism of Transportation Security Administration.


painted lady

An archetypal American streetscape is lined with Aesthetic movement houses: Stick Style cottages with muscular roof trusses and exposed timbering; many-colored painted ladies with gingerbread porches; […]

2006, Karen Zukowski, Creating the Artful Home, Gibbs Smith, →ISBN, page 80:

(US, architecture) A Victorian house repainted with vibrant colors to accentuate the architectural design, especially in San Francisco, California.


light up

en-verb

light up (third-person singular simple present lights up, present participle lighting up, simple past and past participle lit up or (rare) lighted up)

lights up (present singular third-person)
lighting up (participle present)
lit up (participle past)
lit up (past)
lighted up (participle past rare)
lighted up (past rare)

Phrasal verb from light (“to make bright, ignite”, verb) + up (“to a higher degree”, adverb).

affix

(chiefly US, transitive, slang) To shock (someone) with a stun gun.

I guess he doesn't realize who's behind him, because the way he's darting and weaving, he's practically begging me to light him up.

(chiefly US, transitive, slang) To activate the emergency sirens on a police vehicle in order to pull someone over.


FB

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of fighter-bomber (used as a prefix)


auto mechanic

(US) A person skilled in repairing and maintaining automobiles and other motor vehicles.


police blotter

(US) A register, maintained by the desk sergeant, of people arrested or brought in for questioning to a police station; (UK) charge sheet.

We read about his DUI in the police blotter.

"If you talk to any of our readers, they'll have a favorite entry in the police blotter," says Nick Ehli, who has been at the newspaper 14 years, seven as managing editor. Everyone who works at the Daily Chronicle has done their shift composing the police blotter at one time or another, since it's a task given to newbies.

2014 June 18, Jaime Fuller, “All crimes are local: America’s police blotters, indexed. The Fix column.”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2021-04-27:

(US) A newspaper column publishing highlights therefrom.


boomeranger

(originally US, informal) Synonym of boomerang kid


boomerang baby

en-noun

boomerang baby (plural boomerang babies)


kernel corn

(US) Kernels of maize, either frozen or canned


booder

The term came into the popular vernacular in the jazz scene in 1920's Harlem.

(US, slang, dated, jazz) A catch-all phrase for an object, person, or place.


Bubba vote

From Bubba, a slang term for white male hillbilly or redneck.

(slang, US, derogatory) The rural, white, Southern portion of the US electorate.


Cpl

(military, US) Abbreviation of corporal.


let out

en-verb

let out (third-person singular simple present lets out, present participle letting out, simple past and past participle let out)

lets out (present singular third-person)
letting out (participle present)
let out (participle past)
let out (past)

We're gonna have practice tomorrow morning for an assembly we're giving on Thursday before school lets out for Easter.

1999, Laura Beckham, A Bad Seed: And Other Stories, page 47:

(Canada, US, intransitive) Of a school: to finish for the day or term, allowing the pupils to go home.


DFMR

(US, government) Initialism of Design for Minimum Risk: a process that allows safety-critical mechanisms to achieve fault tolerance through rigorous design, analysis, testing, and inspection practices rather than through true physical redundancy.


welfare Cadillac

en-noun

welfare Cadillac (plural welfare Cadillacs)

The imagery is of a person arriving at a welfare office in a Cadillac automobile (an expensive car) to pick up a welfare payment. The implication is that the person does not need the benefit, or that the benefits are too generous.

(US, idiomatic) The case of a person or group receiving public benefits, although the benefits are not actually needed by the recipient or are obtained by fraud.


grassplot

(US) An area of grass on which cars may be parked.


front yard

natad

area with greenery to the front of the house

(US, Canada) A yard to the front of a house or similar residence, typically having a lawn and often trees, shrubs, and/or flowers.


Airedale

Intercepting the Japs the next day, the Airedales shot down ten Zeros and two bombers.

1945, United States Navy, Power in the Pacific:

The call will go out to the pilots, "Pilots, start your engines"; to the airedales, "Stand clear of propellers." As a plane is ready for take off it will have two airedales, one at each wheel, ready to pull the wheel chocks away.

1993, Anthony F. Zollo, USS Intrepid, page 97:

(US, military, slang) A member of aviation personnel.


aline

en-verb

aline (third-person singular simple present alines, present participle alining, simple past and past participle alined)

alines (present singular third-person)
alining (participle present)
alined (participle past)
alined (past)

From a- + line, possibly from Middle English alinen (“copulate”), Middle French aligner.

Nuclear Orientation. Studies made of the photoneutron cross section in the region of the giant resonance, using an alined holmium target, directly confirmed the theory that this cross section is associated with the two axes of the deformed nucleus.

1963, US National Bureau of Standards, (Please provide the book title or journal name), digitized edition (Science), US Govt. Printing Office, published 2005, page 69:

Field-alined electron intensities were not found in the low-altitude signature of the plasma sheet.

1975, Royal Society, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Mathematics), Royal Society of London, page 167:

The first item to be studied is the present status of the technical development of radio and television in the non-alined countries.

1977, Joint Publications Research Service, Translations on Sub-Saharan Africa, page 34:

(US, rare, dated) Alternative form of align


alinement

en-noun

alinement (countable and uncountable, plural alinements)

(US, rare) Alternative spelling of alignment


altho

American English alteration of although.

This is a pitiful defence, for ’tis certain there are people who are not judged to be praiſe-worthy altho they be praiſed by others: […]

1684, Jean Claude, translated by J. R. R., The Catholick Doctrine of the Eucharist in All Ages, R. Royston, page 261:

The Usefull, the mechanic Arts, are those which We have occasion for in a young Country, as yet simple and not far advanced in Luxury, altho perhaps much too far for her Age and Character.

1984, George Will, quoting John Adams, US President, 1780, (Please provide the book title or journal name) (Political Science), Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(informal, chiefly US) Alternative spelling of although


premature antifascist

premature antifascist (plural premature antifascists)

(historical, US, often derogatory) One who opposed fascism at a time when the United States government was still on relatively friendly terms with fascist Italy and (to a lesser extent) Nazi Germany; especially a supporter of the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War.


go off the reservation

en-verb

go off the reservation (third-person singular simple present goes off the reservation, present participle going off the reservation, simple past went off the reservation, past participle gone off the reservation)

goes off the reservation (present singular third-person)
going off the reservation (participle present)
went off the reservation (past)
gone off the reservation (participle past)
go off the res (alternative)
go off the rez (alternative)

By analogy with a member of the tribe leaving an Indian reservation.

This hand was ready to give the works to any physician, a member of the Medical Association in good standing, who'd go off the reservation by daring to serve a medical co-operative on a full-time salary.

1943, Paul De Kruif, Kaiser Wakes the Doctors, page 79:

I'll never forget 1948 when these so called "liberals" (synthetics I call them) went off the reservation and gave New York to Dewey.

1960 January 31, Harry S Truman, “Dear Joe”, in Monte M. Poen, editor, Strictly Personal and Confidential: The Letters Harry Truman Never Mailed, published 1999, →ISBN, page 137:

(US, politics) To break with one's party or group, usually temporarily.


timezone

Alternative form of time zone (chiefly US)


Supreme Court

The highest court in a legal jurisdiction.

(US) The highest Federal court of the United States, ("the Supreme Court").

(US) The state court in many states of the United States, usually but not necessarily the highest court in that state.


hard money

en-noun

hard money (usually uncountable, plural hard moneys)

(US, politics) Money contributed directly to a candidate rather than to a party or committee.