ritualize

en-verb

ritualize (third-person singular simple present ritualizes, present participle ritualizing, simple past and past participle ritualized)

ritualizes (present singular third-person)
ritualizing (participle present)
ritualized (participle past)
ritualized (past)
ritualise (alternative)


thumb a ride

thumb a ride (third-person singular simple present thumbs a ride, present participle thumbing a ride, simple past and past participle thumbed a ride)

thumbs a ride (present singular third-person)
thumbing a ride (participle present)
thumbed a ride (participle past)
thumbed a ride (past)

(US, intransitive, idiomatic) To hitchhike.


grip car

grip cars (plural)
grip-car (alternative)

After dining Sam got on a grip car of the Wabash Avenue Cable, sitting on the front seat and letting the panorama of the town roll up to him.

1916, Sherwood Anderson, chapter 3, in Windy McPherson's Son, John Lane Company, New York, →OCLC:

Those were the days of the cable cars and we all jumped on a grip-car and set off visiting gaily.

1953, Edgar Johnson Goodspeed, As I Remember, Harper, →OCLC, page 81:

Seats in the grip car were very popular in the summer but in cold weather the closed car with its coal burning stove won out.

2021, Arthur Joel Bolinger, edited by Jeffrey H. Barker and Melissa Walker, Kansas Boy: The Memoir of A.J. Bolinger, University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 70:

(chiefly US, dated) A streetcar, especially a cable car.


repopularize

repopularize (third-person singular simple present repopularizes, present participle repopularizing, simple past and past participle repopularized)

repopularizes (present singular third-person)
repopularizing (participle present)
repopularized (participle past)
repopularized (past)
repopularise (alternative)


penny stock

Coordinate term: blue chip

Every so often, the practice reappears in the trading of “penny stocks”—cheap, rarely traded, shares. Years ago when volume was thinner, it was said to be common in blue chips too.

2000 August 10, “The price is wrong”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(finance, UK, US) A highly speculative stock selling for less than one dollar or pound per share and quoted in cents or pence.


face card

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

(US, card games) A playing card with a face, properly a jack, queen, or king but (inexact, sometimes proscribed) sometimes also an ace or joker.


camporee

(US) A gathering of Scouts in which accommodation is in tents


belling

From Middle English bellynge, equivalent to bell + -ing.

(US, Indiana, Western Pennsylvania) A shivaree.


tea pad

Took my public-school training in three jails and a plenty of pool-rooms, went to college in a gang of tea-pads, earned my Ph.D. in more creep joints and speakeasies and dancehalls than the law allows.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 3:

(US, slang, obsolete) A hash-bar; a place to buy or smoke marijuana.


creep joint

(US, slang) A brothel or other disreputable or low-class place, especially where patrons are robbed.

(US, slang) A gambling game which moves to a different location every night.


motherferyer

And it was in Pontiac that I dug that Jim Crow man in person, a motherferyer that would cut your throat for looking.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 4:


canhouse

The Roamer Inn was like a model of all the canhouses I ever saw around Chicago, the granddaddy of them all.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 22:


pot plant

pot plants (plural)
pot-plant (alternative)
potplant (alternative)


heeb

heebs (plural)
hebe (alternative)
Hebe (alternative)
Heeb (alternative)

Most of the famous and up-and-coming performers of the day […] were heebs, and the boys had the feeling that we should all stick together and not knock the big names of "our" race.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 49:

(slang, US, outdated, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Jew.


hamfat

(US, slang, offensive, obsolete) A black person.

Around the poolroom I defended the guys I felt were my real brothers, the colored musicians who made music that sent me, not a lot of beat-up old hamfats who sang and played a commercial excuse for the real thing.

(US, black slang, obsolete) Something average; a mediocre thing or person, especially a jazz musician.

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham or hamfatter.


sailmaker

From Middle English *sayl-makere, equivalent to sail + maker. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sailmoaker, West Frisian seilmakker, Dutch zeilmaker, German Low German Seilmaker, German Segelmacher, Danish sejlmager, Swedish segelmakare.

(US, naval) An officer in the United States navy who takes charge of the sails.


samp

en-noun

samp (countable and uncountable, plural samps)

From Massachusett nasamp, nasaump (“softened with water”); compare suppawn.

1675, The Captivity of Mary Rowlandson, included in The Portable North American Indian Reader, New York: Penguin Books, 1977, page 341,
I asked him to give me a little of his Broth, or Water they [Horses feet] were boiling in; he took a dish, and gave me one spoonful of Samp, and bid me take as much of the Broth as I would.

The meal, coarse or fine, is then used for samps, mushes, or batters, and cakes, thick or thin, and of many varieties and degrees of wholesomeness.

1882, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 50, page 549:

'You kids have everything but you don't appreciate it. Mom must cook you beans and samps. Do you hear? Just beans and samps. That's all. Beans and samps.'

1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, page 18:

We remained in class until 12.45, and then had a lunch of samp, sour milk and beans, seldom meat.

1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 44:

Abigail taught her the use of the samp mortar. Samp was corn broken into coarse grains and boiled as porridge.

2004, Louise Cabral, A Pageant of Shadows, page 327:

In the area of cuisine, the Xhosa have contributed many corn recipes, most famously samp and beans (umngqusho).

2005, Fran Osseo-Asare, Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa, page 74:

(chiefly US) An article of food consisting of coarse ground maize, or a porridge made from it.


superfund

en-verb

superfund (third-person singular simple present superfunds, present participle superfunding, simple past and past participle superfunded)

superfunds (present singular third-person)
superfunding (participle present)
superfunded (participle past)
superfunded (past)

You also have the option to "superfund" a 529 account by giving a five-year annual gift all at once. The benefit of superfunding the account is that with a higher starting balance, the account will accrue higher earnings. Individuals can donate up to $75,000 (couples can donate $150,000) at one time.

2020, Sabrina Manville, Nick Ducoff, Better Off After College:

(US, transitive) To fund (a college payment plan) with a large payment, more than the usual annual payment.

Defendants also had "ample opportunity to propose incorporation" of a provision in the decree prohibiting or limiting the FPA from superfunding the area outside the Box.

2006, Environment Reporter: Cases, page 1662:

(US, transitive) To fund (environmental cleanup) by means of a Superfund.


yardbird

yardbirds (plural)
yard bird (alternative)

From yard + bird. Attested since 1956 in the sense of ‘convict,’ derived from the idea of prison yards. During World War II, it meant ‘basic trainee’ among the armed forces.

EtymOnLine

Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “yardbird”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

The working convict is a rare exception, sometimes envied because his time is occupied, sometimes derided for his deviance from the yardbird norm.

1985, John P. Conrad, “Charting a Course for Imprisonment Policy,”, in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, volume 478, page 126:

(chiefly US, slang) A person who is imprisoned.

As the Marines expanded to war strength, Lou Diamond was the ideal liaison between crusty old-timers and impressionable recruits. He taught quick action by threats of yardbird detail.

(chiefly US, slang) A soldier who is required to perform menial work on the grounds of a military base.


CTVHCS

(US) Initialism of Central Texas Veterans Health Care System.


grand theft auto

From grand theft (“aggravated theft”) + auto (“automobile”), apparently at first in law-enforcement lists.

(US) The criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle.

盜竊汽車 /盗窃汽车

criminal act of stealing a motor vehicle


YF

Combination of prefix F and prefix modifier Y

(US, military, aviation) prototype fighter (prefix)


EF

(Canada, US, meteorology) Followed by a number from 0 to 5: initialism of Enhanced Fujita, a rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale used to indicate the intensity of a tornado. It has superseded the Fujita scale.


PF

en-noun

PF (countable and uncountable, plural PFs)

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of patrol fighter.


drop the gloves

en-verb

drop the gloves (third-person singular simple present drops the gloves, present participle dropping the gloves, simple past and past participle dropped the gloves)

drops the gloves (present singular third-person)
dropping the gloves (participle present)
dropped the gloves (participle past)
dropped the gloves (past)

From the practice of ice hockey players of removing their heavy gloves before striking blows in fistfights.

Nobody used to care when players such as John Ferguson, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard dropped the gloves, because they could play the game, too.

2007 March 27, Mike Brophy, “Getting rid of the goons”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, retrieved 2008-10-14:

(Canada and US, ice hockey, idiomatic) To fight.

But Bradley, who dropped the gloves on Gore in a combative debate Wednesday night and called the vice president chronically dishonest, ignored Sullivan's advice.

2000 January 30, Thomas DeFrank et al., “George W. & Al Bank on Bubba”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2008-10-14:

(Canada and US, idiomatic, by extension) To remove a prior impediment to action; to prepare for or engage in a dispute.


attorney-in-fact

From attorney (“any personal representative”) and fact (“act, deed”). Both words now rarely have those senses (outside of fixed expressions like this).

(US, law) An agent of the person giving him/her the power of attorney (for a specific purpose or for general purposes) to act on his or her behalf. The attorney-in-fact’s power and responsibilities depend on the specific powers granted in the power of attorney document.


cable car

cable cars (plural)
cablecar (alternative)
cable-car (alternative)

(US, Philippines) A streetcar moved by gripping to rotating loop of cable running along the track.


crackhead

crackheads (plural)
crack head (alternative)

From crack + -head. First sense appears c. 1978. Second sense appears c. 1977 in Best Canadian Stories.

You know who strangled the old man? You know who did it? A fuckin' stupid crackhead! He is pointing at himself and in tears. It's Ava's landlord who is dead.

1977, Oberon Press (publisher), Best Canadian Stories, page 75:

(US, slang, derogatory) Someone whose thinking makes no sense; a fool or an idiot; broadly, any contemptible person.


expressman

Many times each day the bell in the kitchen went ting-a-ling-a-ling and Little Elephant rushed to the door to see who was there. Sometimes it was the expressman who drove up in a truck and dumped a big box or two.

1938, Heluiz Chandler Washburne, Little Elephant's Christmas:

(dated or historical, US) A courier, especially by train or stagecoach


yit

(US, Ireland, colloquial) Alternative form of yet.


TIN

(US, Philippines, finance) Initialism of taxpayer identification number.


dime store

In the dime stores and bus stations / People talk of situations / Read books, repeat quotations / Draw conclusions on the wall

1965, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”, in Bringing It All Back Home:


dollar store

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

(US and Canada) A retail store selling inexpensive items, especially one in which all items have a price of one dollar.


slank

Compare dialectal slonk (“depression, hollow, slough”), slunk (“slough, hollow; mud”).

[…] The board of health had prohibited the sale of ice cut from the "slank," because water in the "slank" was said to be polluted. The ice dealers, however, contend that the city of Patterson has no right to pollute the river and thus hurt their business, […] stopping the sale of "slank" ice, […]

Van Zaun says that the fishing stopped 15 or 16 years before he testified - that would be about 1890. Mr. Shriner, one of the city's witnesses, says that he caught fish in one of the slanks in 1883 or 1885.

Passaic, N. J. - The storm will cause great delay in filling in the slank. The dirt which the workmen have been throwing in was washed away into the river.

1913, Municipal Journal, volume 35, page 506

(US and UK, dialectal) A depression, a low place in the ground, especially one at the side of a river, lake, or cove which is filled with water during freshet(s).


vacation day

(US) A day when one is permitted to not attend work in order to go on a vacation or attend to other matters.


punies

"Be-dabs, if the whole gin-works hain't got the punies. Even the mare tuck a spell today. She wouldn't eat corn nor shuck."

1980, James Still, The run for the Elbertas, page 35:

Other days, when I tried to get up despite feeling weak, she would inform me that I had a case of "the punies" and ought to stay in the tank.

2003, Mark O'Brien with Gillian Kendall, How I became a human being: a disabled man's quest for independence, page 152:

“I brung my boy. He's got the punies and I want the doc to take a look at him.”

2008, Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place, page 222:

(US, dialect, Appalachia) Sickness, weakness.


split-squad

(US) Describing a situation in which a team is split into two to play two games simultaneously


split-squad

(US) A team that has been split for this reason


tax lot

In some countries such as the USA, cost basis must be considered on a tax lot-by-tax lot basis.

2003, Stephen Satchell with Alan Scowcroft, Advances in Portfolio Construction and Implementation, page 128:

(accounting, taxation, US) A grouping of security holdings in an account used for enabling the calculation and treatment of the securities for tax compliance and reporting.

(accounting, real estate, US) An parcel of real property on which property taxes are levied.


ratfink

ratfink (third-person singular simple present ratfinks, present participle ratfinking, simple past and past participle ratfinked)

ratfinks (present singular third-person)
ratfinking (participle present)
ratfinked (participle past)
ratfinked (past)
rat fink (alternative)
rat-fink (alternative)

It led to some rather incredible and colourful claims in the submission by the union that the employers had ratfinked on previous agreements.

1980 November 21, Anthony George Malcolm, “Agricultural Workers Amendment Bill: Report of Labour and Education Committee”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Second Session, Thirty-ninth Parliament: House of Representatives, volume 435, Wellington, N.Z.: P. D. Hasselberg, government printer, published 1981, →OCLC, page 5237:

The dumb bastard says he never rat-finks on a woman. They're too precious, he tells me. And he should know. He has had many of them.

1992, Sean Flannery, Moving Targets, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN:

There's a breed of people in every office who breed problems around them—ratfinking about your long lunch breaks, revealing confidential salary information, blaming everyone for every error.

1999, Karen Salmansohn, The 30-day Plan to Whip Your Career into Submission: Transform Yourself from Job Slave into the Master of Your Destiny in just One Month, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN:

On Feb. 11, McLeod officials marched into the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to relate this story, just as Netscape rat-finked on Microsoft to the Department of Justice. FCC officials demanded that Qwest tell them what the heck was going on.

2000 May 1, David [Stephenson] Rohde, “Qwest's Behind-the-scenes Merger Maneuver”, in John Dix, editor, Network World, volume 17, number 18, Southborough, Mass.: Network World, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40:

Take a three-inch notepad (similar to a Post-It note), and print a large, brightly colored letter on it. […] "T" stands for "Tattle Tale." Punishment for rat-finking on the other child.

2010, Jill Milligan, Michael Milligan, “Creative Moms: Putting the 'D-I-S' in 'D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E'”, in Mom Rules: Notes on Motherhood, the World's Best Job, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN, page 59:

I shoved Sahlil off of me. He fell backward on my bed. "What? Who the hell rat finked on me?"

2016, Mo (Monique) Daviau, Every Anxious Wave, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 88:


tall drink of water

en-noun

tall drink of water (plural tall drinks of water)

tall drinks of water (plural)
long drink of water (alternative)
tall glass of water (alternative)

A variant of the earlier long drink of water.

“I say, old man,” called the tall drink of water, as he loped up the steps, […]

1922 July 8, Gerald Mygatt, “The Young Man with No Brains”, in Collier’s, page 26:

Red: That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass.

1994 (quote set in 1947), The Shawshank Redemption

long drink of water
long drink of water#English

(US, slang) Alternative form of long drink of water (“a tall person”).


flummadiddle

flummadiddle (usually uncountable, plural flummadiddles)

flummadiddles (plural)
flumadiddle (alternative)
flumdiddle (alternative)
flummerdiddle (alternative)
flummydiddle (alternative)
fumadiddle (alternative)

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

* Unknown; apparently from, or related to flummery. Compare -a-, diddle.

(US) A baked main course pudding consisting of stale bread, pork fat, molasses, and spices including cinnamon and allspice. It was a part of early American cuisine, especially in New England.


road agent

road agents (plural)
road-agent (alternative)

The highway robber—road-agent, he is quaintly called—is still busy in these parts.

1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 1, in The Silverado Squatters:

(chiefly US, archaic) A criminal who accosts travelers and robs them.


nature preserve

nature preserve (plural nature preserves)

(US) An area of land managed to conserve wildlife or plant habitat or other natural features.


BMOC

big man on campus
big man on campus#English

(US university and university slang) Initialism of big man on campus.


Certificate of Need

Certificate of Need (plural Certificates of Need)

(law, US) A legal document issued by a federal or state regulatory agency with authority over an area which affirms that a proposed acquisition, expansion, or creation of a facility falling under that authority is required to fulfill the needs of a community.


amateur hour

/ˈæmətɚ ˈaʊɚ/

Major Bowes Amateur Hour
The Original Amateur Hour

, the host of Major Bowes Amateur Hour which was broadcast on the radio in the US from 1934 to 1945]]
Probably from the names of series of US radio and television programs such as Major Bowes Amateur Hour (broadcast on the radio 1934–1945) and The Original Amateur Hour (on the radio 1948–1952, and on television 1948–1970).

"Momma was very talented. She liked to act in plays … She used to sing, do a lot of singing in French, you know. … They used to have amateur hours in those days. You didn't have that many places to go." She performed for the amateur hours at church fairs and at St. James High School.

2002, Nicole Denée Fontenot, Alicia Fontenot Vidrine, quoting Doris Poirrier, “Pastries, Pies, and Desserts”, in Cooking with Cajun Women: Recipes and Remembrances from South Louisiana Kitchens, New York, N.Y.: Hippocrene Books, →ISBN, page 239:

[T]alent shows such as Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour, which was patterned on the 1930s Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey[’s] Talent Scouts,^([sic]) went on the air. In fact, that goes back to the days of vaudeville and beyond. The talent contests and amateur hours that go back centuries are in fact very much like America’s Got Talent.

2017, Ivan Cury, “Reality Programming”, in Directing and Producing for Television: A Format Approach, 5th edition, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 275:

(chiefly US) An event, particularly on radio or television, showcasing the talents of amateur performers.

Two years into its first term the [Jimmy] Carter Administration developed a foreign policy that seems in perfect continuity with its six predecessors. […] Little change has taken place during what has been called "the amateur hour" except for a slight quickening of the Cold War pulse.

1980, Alan Wolfe, “Reflection on Trilaterialism and the Carter Administration: Changed World Realities vs. Vested Interests”, in Holly Sklar, editor, Trilateralim: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management, Boston, Mass.: South End Press, →ISBN, page 533:

The First World War may have brought, as Dos Passos maintained, an end to "the bully amateur's world," but amateur hour was already closing down as American soldiers struggled up San Juan Hill. Three books written between 1897 and 1899 are flashes that streaked the sky at the moment "the boy culture" of volunteers was displaced (and absorbed) by the "dirtywork" of regulars committed to the culture of management.

1993, Martha Banta, “Soldiers of Fortune”, in Taylored Lives: Narrative Productions in the Age of Taylor, Veblen, and Ford, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 59:

"It's the kind of foul-up that suggests that his [Rudy Giuliani's] campaign team isn't functioning as well as it should," the G.O.P. source said. "Presidential campaigns are not the time for amateur hour."

2007 June 21, David Von Drehle, “Will Rudy’s Get-tough image backfire?”, in Time, archived from the original on 2014-07-09:

Next week, at some place in Indianapolis where time has been instructed to stand still, Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], will convene what is being called, without irony, a "retreat." Assembled will be about 50 college presidents, pledged, it seems, to make sure that college athletics continue to remain firmly in the past, in the antiquated amateur hours.

2011 August 3, Frank Deford, “NCAA: Still stalled by ‘amateur hour’ thinking”, in Morning Edition, NPR, archived from the original on 2017-03-15:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A situation or activity in which the participants show a lack of skill, sound judgment, or professionalism.


coon's age

coon's age (usually uncountable, plural coon's ages)

An Americanism recorded in 1843 and probably related to the old English expression in a crow's age meaning the same. Coon is a colloquialism for the North American raccoon.

Jarn hasn't seen Schnie in a coon's age.

We've been waiting a coon's age for our damn food.

(idiomatic, US, colloquial) A very long time.


resident alien

(US, law) A person born outside the United States who has legally established temporary or permanent residence in the United States, but has not become a United States citizen.


allocution

allocution (countable and uncountable, plural allocutions)

The term "allocution" refers to the personal right of a defendant to make a statement on his own behalf in an attempt to affect sentencing. . . . The word "allocution" is also frequently used . . . to describe the statement made by a defendant during a guilty plea proceeding.

1997, Caren Myers, “Encouraging Allocution at Capital Sentencing: A Proposal for Use Immunity”, in Columbia Law Review, vol. 97, no. 3, p. 788 n6:

(chiefly US, law) The question put to a convicted defendant by a judge after the rendering of the verdict in a trial, in which the defendant is asked whether he or she wishes to make a statement to the court before sentencing; the statement made by a defendant in response to such a question; the legal right of a defendant to make such a statement.

As of July, 1985, 19 states permitted victim allocution at the sentencing phase of criminal trials.

1989, Karen L. Kennard, “The Victim's Veto: A Way to Increase Victim Impact on Criminal Case Dispositions”, in California Law Review, vol. 77, no. 2, p. 427 n49:

(chiefly US, law) The legal right of a victim, in some jurisdictions, to make a statement to a court prior to sentencing of a defendant convicted of a crime causing injury to that victim; the actual statement made to a court by a victim.


field hand

My mother was hired out to a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from old master's, and, being a field hand, she seldom had leisure, by day, for the performance of the journey.

1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 3, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:

A good weekly wage for a field hand on a banana plantation is $3.

1938 August 8, “Excitement in Jamaica”, in Time:

(chiefly US) An outdoor worker on a farm, plantation, or ranch.


killing floor

(US) that part of a slaughterhouse where the animals are killed and initial processing is carried out.


washed out

en-adj

washed out (comparative more washed out, superlative most washed out)

more washed out (comparative)
most washed out (superlative)

a washed out horse

(US, horse racing) Synonym of washy (“tending to sweat profusely”)


wire fraud

en-noun

wire fraud (countable and uncountable, plural wire frauds)

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

The mail fraud statute and its counterpart, the wire fraud statute, historically have been powerful instruments for prosecutors.

1991, D. M. Maus, “License Procurement and the Federal Mail Fraud Statute”, in The University of Chicago Law Review, volume 58, number 3, page 1126:

(US, criminal law) A felony of a particular class subject to a separate and additional federal penalty for any crime of fraud involving the use of technological communications methods such as wire, radio, or television.


mail fraud

mail fraud (countable and uncountable, plural mail frauds)

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

(US, criminal law) A class of felonies, providing for a separate and additional federal penalty for any criminal offense whose perpetration involved the use of the postal system of the United States of America.


comparable worth

Comparable worth aims to upgrade the wage scales for jobs that employ large numbers of women.

1987, Linda M. Blum, “Possibilities and Limits of the Comparable Worth Movement,”, in Gender and Society, volume 1, number 4, page 382:

(chiefly US) The principle that there should be no difference in remuneration between jobs held mostly by women and jobs held mostly by men, when the women's work is comparable in skill, effort, working conditions, and responsibility to the men's work.


wifebeater

wifebeater (countable and uncountable, plural wifebeaters)

wifebeaters (plural)
wife beater (alternative)
wife-beater (alternative)

From wife + beater. The sleeveless shirt acquired the nickname by association with men who commit domestic violence. The lager, being relatively strong, was thought to lead to drunken disputes.

[A]s I walked down the bustling street toward campus with my friends, he came out of nowhere and gave me a pick-up line only a wifebeater guy could muster.

1998 November 23, Melissa Sperl, “Are 'wifebeater' shirts more than a fashion statement?”, in The Penn, volume 84, number 34, page 7:

So, at the first sign of any sunny weather, overweight males all over the country are drawn to their "wifebeaters" like footy fans to the digibox, with every lager-drinking dad labouring under the illusion that he looks like that gardener from Desperate Housewives in his black vest.

2008 August 28, Simon Mills, “Vested interest”, in The Guardian:

Just then, a tall, lanky white man wearing a sleeveless tee or "wifebeater" as it is often referred to walked around the corner.

(US, colloquial) A type of sleeveless shirt, often but not exclusively worn as an undershirt.


delegee

....his obligation to exercise due diligence by delegating that duty to another, whatever may be the established reputation of the delegee for competence.

1967, Henry N Longley, Common carriage of cargo:

"His philosophy," said General William Wannamaker, "was to delegate wherever he could, and then put the screws to the delegees.

1988, William Lawren, The general and the bomb:

...any comparable effort by Congress to retain summary authority over the delegees of its authority is similarly infirm.

1996, Alan B Morrison, Fundamentals of American law:


recognized component

recognized component (plural recognized components)

By themselves, recognized components are not to be field-installed. They are intended for use in end-use products or systems that would ultimately be tested and listed […]

2004, Ray C. Mullin, Electrical Wiring Residential: Based on the 2005 National Electric Code, →ISBN, page 19:

(US, insurance, business) An item to be used as a subcomponent and tested for safety by Underwriters Laboratories ("UL"); the item will have a special trademark of UL.


kidnaping

(US, proscribed) Alternative spelling of kidnapping


OB-GYN

OB-GYN (countable and uncountable, plural OB-GYNs)

OB-GYNs (plural)
ob-gyn (alternative)
obgyn (alternative)
ob/gyn (alternative)
ObGyn (alternative)
Ob-Gyn (alternative)
Ob/Gyn (alternative)
OBGYN (alternative)
OB/GYN (alternative)
OB-Gyne (alternative)

(countable, initialism, acronym) (prefixed with the) A clinic or doctor's office with these specialties.


in the clear

Offshore sports betting . . .is judged illegal in the U.S. under laws originally drawn up in the '60s; sites offering casino-style virtual gaming claimed they were in the clear.

2006 July 23, “Risky Business”, in Time:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) Not guilty or not suspected of wrongdoing.


Roth IRA

After William V. Roth Jr., who pushed for legislation that would allow for such IRAs; and IRA, initialism of individual retirement account.

(US, finance) A particular kind of IRA (individual retirement account), used for its tax-related benefits.


red rocket

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

For his showstopper he’d grab hold of your bumper and start humping it like a Labrador no longer able to contain his red rocket.

2009, Christopher John Campion, Escape from Bellevue, page 36:

(US, slang) The erect penis of a dog, wolf, etc.


fiador

(Canada, US) In some styles of horse halter and bridle, an optional part similar to a throatlatch.


hex sign

Compound of hex + sign, coined in English.

This association will partially pay for the repainting of hex signs in the tourist areas.

1984, Thomas Edmund Graves, The Pennsylvania German Hex Sign: A Study in Folk Process, page 256:

1984 Futharc A Handbook of Rune Magic, Edred Thorsson, Samuel Weiser Inc, 0-87728-548-9, page 107.
Common in Dutch hex signs and a powerful framework for talismans and visual magic.

Note the hex signs on the barn, an old Pennsylvania Dutch custom used to ward off the evil spirits.

2006, Patricia Wanger Smith, “Southeastern Berks County”, in Postcard History Series, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN:

The original hex signs were created by the Pennsylvania Dutch, a cultural group composed of several different groups of people.

2008, Ivan E. Hoyt, Hex Signs: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft, Stackpole Books, →ISBN:

(US, chiefly Pennsylvania) A geometric design usually consisting of a star or flower placed in a circular field, used by the Fancy Dutch on buildings such as barns, often said to be intended as a ward against evil in former times.


NAO

National Applications Office
w:National Applications Office

(US, historical) Initialism of National Applications Office: a former agent of the United States Department of Homeland Security.


gun down

en-verb

gun down (third-person singular simple present guns down, present participle gunning down, simple past and past participle gunned down)

guns down (present singular third-person)
gunning down (participle present)
gunned down (participle past)
gunned down (past)

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

In the cell diagonally across from mine, a prisoner regularly “gunned down” the nurse on her morning rounds. He deliberately masturbated so that she'd see him through the cell door window as he ejaculated.

(transitive, US, prison slang, of a male prisoner) To masturbate while making sustained eye contact with someone — typically a female prison officer — as a form of intimidation.


maritime archeology

maritime archaeology
maritime archaeology#English

(US) Alternative spelling of maritime archaeology


shoofly

shooflies (plural)
shoefly (alternative)

(US, railways) A device for throwing the track temporarily to one side for carrying out repairs, etc.


butt-slapping

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

(Canada, US, slang) Slapping the buttocks (an action associated with jest or as in a locker room).


metric mile

From metric + mile. From being a distance measured in S.I. units (metric), in round numbers, that is similar in distance to that of an international mile.

(US) In high school track, 4 laps of the standard 400 meter track, 1600 meters.


prowl car

I said: ‘Let the prowl car pass up the hill. They'll think we moved over when we heard the siren.’

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 106:


dime novel

(US, dated) A cheap pulp novel produced in 19th-century America.


wrong-way concurrency

en-noun

wrong-way concurrency (plural wrong-way concurrencies)

(US) A road concurrency in which at least two numbered highway routes are signed in opposite, conflicting directions on the same stretch of physical roadway.


skedaddle

en-verb

skedaddle (third-person singular simple present skedaddles, present participle skedaddling, simple past and past participle skedaddled)

skedaddles (present singular third-person)
skedaddling (participle present)
skedaddled (participle past)
skedaddled (past)

First use appears c. 1861, in the New York Tribune. The word appeared and gained prominence in Civil War military contexts around 1861, and rapidly passing into more general use. Possibly an alteration of British dialect scaddle (“to run off in a fright”), from the adjective scaddle (“wild, timid, skittish”), from Middle English scathel, skadylle (“harmful, fierce, wild”), perhaps of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse *sköþull; or from Old English *scaþol, *sceaþol (see scathel); akin to Old Norse skaði (“harm”). Possibly related to the Ancient Greek σκέδασις (skédasis, “scattering”), σκεδασμός (skedasmós, “dispersion”). Possibly related to scud or scat. It is possibly a corruption of "Let's get outa" here.

cog

"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-a-'nough men have thought they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time come they skedaddled."

1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter II, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 29:

Looked up at your office and all of it empty and I nearly cried. Cigar guy, out viewing his big time display window comes across the street. Wants to know if he can help. Told him to mind his own business. You know what he said, sister if you got any connection with that guy, they caught up with him, so you better beat it. I said sic him Goliath. Did that guy skidaddle.

1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 204:

Then filled with inspiration he drove in his Buick, the busted muffler blasting in the country lanes and the great long car skedaddling dangerously on the curves. Lucky for the woodchucks they were already hibernating.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 122:

In the early 1960s, there were plenty of people still alive who had looted Europe in the Second World War, parked proceeds in Switzerland, and skedaddled to Argentina.

2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 2, in Moneyland, →ISBN, page 41:

(informal, intransitive, US) To move or run away quickly.


scrubwoman

Coordinate term: scrubman

(US) A woman employed to do general housework, such as cleaning a house or office.


road game

Road travel is usually necessary to reach the venue.

(US, sports) An athletic contest played in the opposing team's geographic area.


check mark

check marks (plural)
checkmark (alternative)

Put a check mark in the box corresponding to the correct answer.

(Canada, US, Philippines) A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness or acknowledgement.


cañada

From Spanish cañada, from Latin canna (“cane”) + -ada (“-ed”).

In the cañada we stopped to water our horses, and there heard that the enemy were advancing along it at a rapid pace, evidently hoping to cut off our supposed retreat towards the Cuchilla.

(US, dialect) Synonym of ravine: a gully, a narrow (often small) canyon.


tank wagon

(US) A vehicle designed to transport liquids or gases in bulk; a tanker


IWW

(US, labor union) Industrial Workers of the World


red-headed Eskimo

en-noun

red-headed Eskimo (plural red-headed Eskimos)

So called because there are few or no red-headed Eskimos.

(US, rare, colloquial) A legislative proposal that benefits only a small or non-existent group.


ground mobile force

ground mobile force (plural ground mobile forces)

(US, military) A communications unit and their equipment; most often in reference to satellite communications.


training wheel

From training (“relating to the moving of a firearm laterally so that it points in a different direction; relating to imparting and acquiring skills”) + wheel.

compound

(chiefly Canada, US and in the plural, cycling) One of a pair of small wheels, each attached to one side of a bicycle's rear wheel to provide support for new riders.

輔助輪 /辅助轮

one of a pair of small wheels, each attached to one side of a bicycle’s rear wheel to provide support for new riders — see also stabilizer


(US) A lightweight assault rifle, originating from the Vietnam War period.

the primary competitor for the M-16, originating from the Communist Bloc

FN-FAL

the primary competitor for the M-16 in NATO


pignut

(US) Any of various types of hickory or their fruits; a hognut.


snit fit

snit fits (plural)
snit-fit (alternative)

She didn't like his clothes or grammar and pitched a snit fit.

(informal, US) A tantrum; an excessive display of anger or disapproval.


SSBN

(US, military, nautical) Sub-surface ballistic nuclear: a nuclear-powered submarine carrying and launching ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons.


SSGN

(US, military, nautical) Subsurface guided nuclear: a nuclear-powered submarine carrying and launching guided missiles


SSG

SSGs (plural)
S/Sgt. (alternative)
S/Sgt (alternative)
S/SGT (alternative)
S/SGT. (alternative)
SSgt (alternative)
SSgt. (alternative)
SSGT (alternative)
SSGT. (alternative)
s/sgt (alternative)
s/sgt. (alternative)
ssgt (alternative)
ssgt. (alternative)

(US military, Navy) Initialism of subsurface guided: a diesel-powered submarine carrying guided missiles.

subsurface guided

(US military, Army) Abbreviation of staff sergeant.


SSK

hunter-killer submarine
hunter-killer submarine

(US, Navy) Initialism of Sub Surface Killer. - diesel powered ASW submarine (hunter-killer submarine)


quarrelous

en-adj

quarrelous (comparative more quarrelous, superlative most quarrelous)

more quarrelous (comparative)
most quarrelous (superlative)
quarrellous (alternative)

Is it not better for a man to suspend his owne perswasion, than to meddle with these sedicious and quarellous [translating quereleuses] divisions?


sipe

From Old English sipian, related to seep.
* around 888 AD, K Aelfred, translation of Boethius, Chapter 33, para.5 ,
: "Seo eore hit helt & be sumum dæle swil, & for am sype heo bi eleht."

(US) Slit in a tire to drain away surface water and improve traction.


sipe

en-verb

sipe (third-person singular simple present sipes, present participle siping, simple past and past participle siped)

sipes (present singular third-person)
siping (participle present)
siped (participle past)
siped (past)


be like

be like (third-person singular simple present is like, present participle being like, simple past was like, past participle been like)

is like (present singular third-person)
being like (participle present)
was like (past)
been like (participle past)

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

If he’s like “I don’t want to”, then be like “Pretty please! – It means a lot to me”.

This weekend he called me up and he’s all “Where were you today?” and I’m like “I’m at my Grandmother’s house” […]

1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Dionne (Stacey Dash):

A lotta times I grabbed bags of frozen chicken nuggets to take home. “You know what they say,” Ricky would be like. “Dude’s gotta have nugs.”

2012, Mike Lacher, On the Bro’d: A Parody of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, page 71:

(informal, idiomatic, chiefly US, MLE and Internet slang) To say.


frat house

frat houses (plural)
frathouse (alternative)

She wrote some awfully slushy letters to Phil Bowen, and he read them aloud at the frat house one night.

1922, Willa Cather, chapter 9, in One of Ours:

(US) A building in which the members of a fraternity reside or meet, especially one located on or near the campus of a college or university.


Greek house

From the Greek letters used in the names of fraternities and sororities.

About 50 students live in the average Greek house.

1997 October 30, Brad Wolverton, “Picking a Frat: Alpha to Omega”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 2013-07-17:

(chiefly US) A building in which the members of a fraternity or sorority reside or meet, especially one located on or near the campus of a college or university.


HI-MEMS

(US, military) Initialism of hybrid insect micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS): A DARPA project to control insect locomotion by placing a mechanical system inside an insect.


hemolysis

en-noun

hemolysis (countable and uncountable, plural hemolyses)

hemolyses (plural)
haemolysis (alternative)
hæmolysis (alternative)

From hemo- + -lysis, from Ancient Greek αἷμα (haîma, “blood”) + λύσις (lúsis, “loosening”).

(medicine) The destruction of red blood cells, and subsequent release of hemoglobin, at the normal end of the cell's life.


skunky

en-adj

skunky (comparative skunkier, superlative skunkiest)

skunkier (comparative)
skunkiest (superlative)

Don't know when to expect reimbursements from Chloe. After all this time I consider her behavior skunky.

1944, Patricia Highsmith, Her Diaries and Notebooks, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2021, April 4

(Canada, US, colloquial) Mean, contemptible.


MIS

w:Military Intelligence Service (United States)

(US, military) Initialism of Military Intelligence Service (United States).


mook

From the 1930s, origin unknown. Suggestions include a variant of British slang moke (“donkey”); a variant of US slang mooch (“a sponger, beggar, idler”); Irish muc (“pig”); Dutch mok, German Mocke, Mucke (both dialectal for “sow” and hence “slovenly or bothersome woman/person”); a corruption of Italian mammalucco (“fool”, literally “mamluk”).

der

(slang, US, chiefly Northern US) A disagreeable or incompetent person.


pierhead line

(US) A line in a navigable waterway established by the Army Corps of Engineers, beyond which a pier cannot project.


bulkhead line

(US) A line in a navigable waterway established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, beyond which solid fill is not permitted.


kick up

en-verb

kick up (third-person singular simple present kicks up, present participle kicking up, simple past and past participle kicked up)

kicks up (present singular third-person)
kicking up (participle present)
kicked up (participle past)
kicked up (past)

Coordinate term: jack up

The rent has been kicked up again.

When Brazil triumphed over Italy in the final, it kicked up the price of Brazilian bonds.

1998, Paul Stiles, Riding the bull: my year in the madness at Merrill Lynch, page 200:

Instead, when speaking the truth, rather than getting kicked out of town or worse, getting strung up with a rope in the South, here in Boston and the North, generally they got back at troublemakers by taking your token job, kicking up the rent, and for serious punishment, they'd agree with you and the ideas you were mouthing then as quickly as possible help you get back to the South so they could see how long you'd last.

2010, Gary Lee Falls, Eras Way Answers, page 124:

(informal, figuratively, by extension, transitive, US) To raise, to increase (a price).

Coordinate term: act up

The car is kicking up.

My ADHD is kicking up again.

2006, Thomas E. Brown, Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults, page 153:

(informal, intransitive, US) To function improperly; to show signs of disorder; (of an illness) to flare up.


white zone

(US, California) An area of a street where the curb has been painted white, indicating that the spot is only to be used for the immediate loading or unloading of passengers, baggage or freight, or for short-term parking, and (in some places, such as airports) that a vehicle is not to be left unattended.


lollygagger

lollygaggers (plural)
lallygagger (alternative)

/ˈlɒlɪˌɡaɡə/

/ˈlɑlɪˌɡæɡɚ/

(archaic, US) A young man who pets or makes out in public.


sheep-dip

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

sheep-dips (present singular third-person)
sheep-dipping (participle present)
sheep-dipped (participle past)
sheep-dipped (past)

(US, espionage, transitive) To formally, and usually temporarily, transfer military equipment or personnel to nonmilitary ownership for the purpose of its employment in covert action which involves less of a risk of triggering an armed conflict.


commoditize

commoditize (third-person singular simple present commoditizes, present participle commoditizing, simple past and past participle commoditized)

commoditizes (present singular third-person)
commoditizing (participle present)
commoditized (participle past)
commoditized (past)
commoditise (alternative)

IBM's goal was to commoditize the add-in market, which is a complement of the PC market, and they did this quite successfully.[…] Microsoft's goal was to commoditize the PC market. Very soon, the PC itself was basically a commodity, with ever decreasing prices, consistently increasing power, and fierce margins that make it extremely hard to make a profit.

2004, Joel Spolsky, “Strategy Letter V: The Economics of Open Source”, in Joel on Software […] , Apress, →ISBN, page 284:

(US, business, transitive, proscribed) To transform into a commodity, particularly of an existing product.


urban reserve

(US, Canada) A division of property owned by a First Nations community within an urban area.


Speedo

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

From the name of the swimsuit company, Speedo, which first designed and manufactured swimwear in Australia that was briefer and sleeker than most other swimwear then available.

I could tell that she was a serious swimmer, because every time I saw her at the pool she was wearing a Speedo of one design or another.

She's wearing Mom's teeny-weenie black Speedo bikini, the one Mom wears to show how fit and trim she is.

2011, Gary Ghislain, How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend, page 44:

These muscle-bound hard bodies are wearing Speedo Lycra bikinis which stick to a man's body like a woman's wet T-shirt.

1999, Cheryl Rilly, Great Moments In Sex, page 227:

There were dozens of girls in there - girls on the deck in bathing suits, most of them Speedos because they were racing.

2014, Norah McClintock, #3 Dead And Gone, page 12:

Ryan and I remain unmoved, standing at the edge of the water as five Speedo-clad lifeguards rush up to us.

2016, John Early, Tales of a Modern Nomad: Monks Mushrooms and Other Misadventures, page 59:

(US) A tight-fitting swimsuit, especially commonly worn by competitive swimmers and divers. Usually implies a brief or bikini style swimsuit.

She called down from upstairs, "He'll be out in a minute: he's just putting his Speedo on."

(US) (by restriction) A male swimsuit, very tight fitting and small, brief-style, and not a thong-type.


canyoneering

(US) Canyoning, a hybrid outdoor sport involving the traversal of river canyons.


business end

There is even an example of convergent evolution at a molecular level in two enzymes, one from soil bacteria and the other from man, which have exactly the same patterns of amino acids at the "business ends."

1973, Lyall Watson, “The Physics of Life: Life Fields/Brain Waves/Resonance/Biophysics”, in Supernature, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, →ISBN, part 1 (Cosmos), page 102:

On this day, with expectation rising and the unmistakable feeling around this sweeping Samara Stadium that the World Cup is really reaching the business end, England delivered.

2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “FIFA World Cup – Quarter-final: Sweden 0 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2023-12-18:

(by extension) The part of an activity, period of time, etc., which is most important and produces the significant result.


schlimazel

schlimazels (plural)
schlemazel (alternative)
schlemozzle (alternative)
schlimazl (alternative)
shlimazel (alternative)
shlimazl (alternative)
shlemozzle (alternative)

/ʃləˈmɑːzəl/

Yiddish שלימזל (shlimazl), from Middle High German slim (“crooked”) and Hebrew מזל (mazzāl, “luck”)

I must have pressed two buttons at once, he decided; jammed the works and got this schlimazl’s eye view of reality.

1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 46:

Hertz is an early contender for Wall Street’s schlimazel of the decade, the big unlucky lemon that just can’t seem to get anything right.

2024 May 16, “Who Wants 30,000 Used Teslas?”, in Intelligencer, retrieved 2024-05-16:

(colloquial, chiefly US) A chronically unlucky person.


dominie

Alteration of domine, with spelling changed to reflect pronunciation. Doublet of dom, dominus, and don.

(US) A pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church.


IJN

Imperial Japanese Navy
w:Imperial Japanese Navy

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of Imperial Japanese Navy, the navy of Imperial Japan, predecessor of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, usually in reference to WWII.


IJN

Coordinate term: JS

(US, military, nautical) Imperial Japanese Navy ship, informal ship prefix used for a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, usually in reference to WWII.


trailhand

trailhands (plural)
trail hand (alternative)

I've gone horseback riding many times since I was a little girl, and my 9-year-old daughter Emily considered herself an old trailhand.

2003 July 6, Sara Campbell, “When a horseback ride turns into horror on the hoof”, in The Dallas Morning News:

(US) A cowboy or skilled horseman who routinely rides through the rural countryside.

(US) In the Old West, a mounted worker employed on a cattle drive.


stage mom

(Canada, US) A woman who aggressively manages her children's acting or performing career, often in what is considered a detrimental and overbearing manner.


masta

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(US, historical, colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of master, representing African-American Vernacular English.


AH

(US, military, aviation) prefix for attack helicopter, helicopter gunship designations


hillbilly heroin

From its initial popularity in rural regions in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in West Virginia, and the state leads the country in fatal drug overdoses. OxyContin—nicknamed “hillbilly heroin”—is king.

[2012 August 23, Conor Friedersdorf, quoting Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco, “What OxyContin Addicts in West Virginia Tell Us About the War on Drugs”, in The Atlantic:

In a year of big stories, the opioid crisis has become one of the biggest, though it’s been a problem since the early 2000s. Around then, people in Kentucky, West Virginia, and southeast Ohio started referring to Percocet, OxyContin, and Vicodin as “hillbilly heroin.”

[2017 September 6, Brian Alexander, “When a Company Is Making Money From the Opioid Crisis”, in The Atlantic:

(US slang, derogatory) Oxycodone, Percocet, or similar opioid/opiate drugs, when used as recreational drugs.


saltie

Ah, but when will the first oceangoing boat arrive [in Duluth, Minnesota]? . . . In 2015, the first saltie to arrive was the Malta-flagged Kom, which arrived April 13 with a Bulgarian crew to load durum wheat headed for Italy.

“The season's first ships”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Midwest Weekends, 2015 April 16, archived from the original on 2015-04-29

(Canada, US, nautical) An ocean-going ship that enters the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway.


linehaul

en-noun

linehaul (countable and uncountable, plural linehauls)

linehauls (plural)
line haul (alternative)
line-haul (alternative)

(US) The movement of freight by any means of transport by land, air or water between distant cities, or of passengers or cargo between terminals.

(US) A designated truck route between distant cities.


airdock

(US) A very large hangar for the storage of airships.


bug boy

From the "bug" (asterisk) used to denote their weight allowance.


Heinz 57

Heinz 57 (countable and uncountable, plural Heinz 57s)

term-label

(US, humorous, informal, also attributive)

Alice Rawsthorn
Heinz
The New York Times
The New York Times Company

From the “57 Varieties” slogan introduced by the H. J. Heinz Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in 1896 to advertise the fact that it produced numerous food products. Heinz is derived from the surname of the American entrepreneur Henry John Heinz (1844–1919) who founded the company (borrowed from German Heinz), while 57 was apparently an arbitrary number chosen by Heinz because 5 was his lucky number and 7 his wife’s lucky number; at the time, the company was already selling more than 60 products.

There just wasn’t any place on the farm for four more Heinz 57 dogs running around. It made Sammi sad, but she had her hands full with her rabbits.

1989, Richard Rhodes, “Planting”, in Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 282:

Walking into the SPCA [Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] grounds, I was greeted with a cacophony of barking, from high-pitched yelps to low woofs. There were all varieties, mostly Heinz 57s, from big shaggy collies to little sausages in all shapes and colours.

2003, Michael Zrymiak, “Our Guard Dogs”, in And No Mosquitoes, [S.l.]: Michael Zrymiak, →ISBN, page 15:

"We have five dogs," I hear her say, "All Heinz 57s, rescued."

2011, Sharda Dean, “The Tamotsu”, in Even Birds are Chained to the Sky and Other Tales: The Fine Line Short Story Collection, Edinburgh: The Fine Line Editorial Consultancy, →ISBN, page 265:

Perhaps not too surprising was the fact that there are estimated to be 7 million dogs currently kept as pets in the UK, all descending from over 400 different breeds, the majority being half breeds and Heinz 57s.

2011 October 17, Eric Newton, “Northampton to Lincoln—Day 6”, in Lands End to John O’Groats with a Bus Pass and a Dog, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, part 2 (England—from Lands End), page 116:

While humans have been busy creating dogs they desired for a particular purpose over the millennia, nature has continued to do what it does best—designing animals that are simply well-suited to the world around them. We call them mutts, mongrels, and Heinz 57s. But they are, in fact, the world dog.

2018, Kim Brophey, “Genetics”, in Meet Your Dog: The Game-changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior (The Official Dog L.E.G.S. [Learning Environment Genetics Self] Guide), San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, pages 232–233:

(countable) A thing comprising parts from many different sources; a complete mix; a hodgepodge, a mishmash.

An animal (chiefly a dog) of mixed breed or uncertain origin; a mongrel, a mutt.

If I had an ethnic base to identify from, if I was even Irish American, that would have been something formed, if I was a working-class woman, that would have been something formed. But to be a Heinz 57 American, a white, class-confused American, land of the Kleenex type American, is so formless in and of itself. It only takes shape in relation to other people.

1993, Ruth Frankenberg, quoting Cathy Thomas, “Questions of Culture and Belonging”, in White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 196:

My father was first-generation American. My mother is a bit more on the Heinz 57 side. She's got a strong Germanic background, a little bit of British, and my maternal grandmother is French-Canadian.

1995, Erika Bourguignon, quoting A (a graduate student in music), “Identity and the Constant Self”, in L. Bryce Boyer, Ruth M. Boyer, Howard F. Stein, editors, The Psychoanalytic Study of Society: Essays in Honor of George A. De Vos, volume 19, Hillsdale, N.J.: The Analytic Press, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 183:

(sometimes derogatory) A person of mixed ethnic or racial ancestry.

The next thing to ascertain is how much of the motorcycle you want is there and what condition it is in. Harley-Davidsons have a high degree of parts interchangeability. […] Is the stock 1939 Harley-Davidson you are looking at 100% 1939 or is it 50% 1939 and 50% Heinz-57, or does it only have a motor with 1939 crankcases sitting in a 1972 chassis?

1994, Bruce Palmer, “Where to Begin”, in How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson (Motorbook International Authentic Restoration Guides), Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks International, →ISBN, page 13, column 2:

Then, too, designers and developers who've taken the time to learn the Heinz 57 varieties of proprietary scripting and authoring might see little reason to learn anything new—or might be too busy learning JSP, ASP, or .NET to even think about changing their fundamental front-end techniques.

2003 May, Jeffery Zeldman, “The Trouble with Standards”, in Designing with Web Standards, Berkeley, Calif.: New Riders Publishing, →ISBN, page 78:

Another teacher at Ysleta Middle School referred to the materials used to teach the seventh-grade curriculum as "Heinz 57" because it was drawn from multiple sources: / Since we don't use textbooks, we had to find everything from the manual, the workbook, teacher's manual. […] So the 7th grade math one [curriculum], is like Heinz 57, it's from everywhere and anywhere.

2006, Richard S[tanley] Kitchen, “Challenging Mathematical Content and High-level Instruction”, in Richard S. Kitchen, Julie DePree, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, Jonathan Brinkerhoff, Mathematics Education at Highly Effective Schools that Serve the Poor: Strategies for Change, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, →ISBN, page 84:

(uncountable, poker) A variety of draw poker in which the five and seven playing cards are wild cards.


longe line

longe lines (plural)
lunge line (alternative)

(US) A rope-like piece of equipment, usually 20 meters or longer in length, attached to the bridle, longeing cavesson, or halter of a horse to provide control while longeing.


twelve-ounce curls

From the size of common beer containers (bottles and cans) in the United States: twelve ounces + curls, a weightlifting exercise.

He sat on the couch all weekend eating chips and doing twelve-ounce curls.


hadda

If I hadda known, I wouldn't've gone.

(Canada, US, nonstandard) had (used in conditional statements; compare had've)


sis boom bah

(US, cheerleading) An exclamation of encouragement.


pignoli

From Italian pinoli (“pine nuts”) (by confusion with pignoli (“fussy people”)?).


them thar

(US, dialectal, Appalachia) Them there, meaning those.


beauty parlor

beauty parlors (plural)
beauty parlour (alternative)

(US, Philippines) A salon where hairdressers, beauticians, and cosmeticians work.


ice cream truck

en-noun

ice cream truck (plural ice cream trucks)

ice cream trucks (plural)
ice-cream truck (alternative)
icecream truck (alternative)

(US) A vehicle from which ice cream is sold at the roadside, mostly to children.


weak sister

"Your course of action this past year has bordered on criminal negligence," he barks to the man whose job he means to take. "You're a weak sister, Mr. President."

1964, "Political Thriller" (film review of Seven Days in May), Time, Feb. 21

(chiefly US, idiomatic, derogatory) A person who is cowardly or indecisive.

San Antonio has always been viewed as the weak sister of the big regional centers of Houston and Dallas.

1991 May 20, Larry Reibstein, “A Mexican Miracle?”, in Newsweek:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A person or thing which is the least robust or least dependable member of a group.


blue-light special

blue-light special (plural blue-light specials)

From use in Kmart, where a flashing blue light was turned on to indicate a short-term discount.


Girl Scouts

(US) A worldwide youth organisation for girls. Known as Girl Guides in Commonwealth Countries.


redbone

Redbones are commonly supposed to represent a fusion of the Indian, Negro, and white races […]

1936, LA bulletin: Agricultural Experiment Station of the Louisiana State University & A. & M. College, numbers 268-293, page 13:

The store attracted countless colorful characters, including Native Americans, wild-cowboy Texans, Chinese laborers, and “redbones,” the offspring of African Americans and Native Americans.

2009, Janet Allured, Judith F. Gentry, Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times, page 122:

I can joke about being a redbone, and I am that. But most folks don't make no distinction between a redbone and a colored man, unless it's to their benefit.

2012, Gerald Duff, Dirty Rice: A Season in the Evangeline League, page 238:

(US, Louisiana) An African American with light skin with red undertones.


kiss-ass

(Canada, US, slang) An obsequious person who tries to win the favor of someone, usually their superior.


kiss ass

en-verb

kiss ass (third-person singular simple present kisses ass, present participle kissing ass, simple past and past participle kissed ass)

kisses ass (present singular third-person)
kissing ass (participle present)
kissed ass (participle past)
kissed ass (past)
kiss arse (alternative)
kiss someone's ass (alternative)
kiss someone's arse (alternative)

(US, idiomatic, sometimes vulgar, colloquial) to flatter or perform favors excessively, especially to receive preferential treatment from a boss or other superior; to behave obsequiously.


get a rise out of

get<,,got,got􂀿UK􂁀:gotten􂀿US􂁀> a rise out of

get a rise out of (third-person singular simple present gets a rise out of, present participle getting a rise out of, simple past got a rise out of, past participle (UK) got a rise out of or (US) gotten a rise out of)

gets a rise out of (present singular third-person)
getting a rise out of (participle present)
got a rise out of (past)
got a rise out of (UK participle past)
gotten a rise out of (US participle past)
get a rise (alternative)
get a rise from (alternative)

He's just doing it to get a rise out of you. Just ignore him.

1985, John Hughes, directed by John Hughes, The Breakfast Club, spoken by Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald):

Ahmadinejad is no simpleton. . . . His Holocaust denial is a flagrant ploy—the easiest way to get a rise out of the Jewish community.

2007 September 26, Joe Klein, “Inflating a Little Man”, in Time:

(chiefly US, transitive, idiomatic) To obtain a reaction from (someone), especially one of annoyance.


bohunk

Probably Bohemian + Hungarian. Compare hunk, hunky, honky.

I know you're surprised that I live in a Czech neighborhood. But my father-in-law, a smart old Jew, bought investment property in this nice safe Bohunk district.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 287:

(Canada, US, ethnic slur) An immigrant from Central Europe, Eastern Europe, or the Balkans, especially one who is regarded as vain, aggressively masculine, and socially unsophisticated.

(Canada, US, derogatory) A brawny or coarse person.


romanette

From Roman (numeral) + -ette (“a diminutive”).

affix

The court held that romanette (ii) of the statute in issue did not limit eligibility for legal relief.

[…] (romanette (ii) in the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation waiver-of-liability provision included in footnote 1) […]

1993, Dan K. Webb et al., Corporate Internal Investigations, →ISBN, page 3.14:

This can best be visualized with reference to FIGS. 5, illustrating both ends of the preferred embodiment perforation roll 12 side by side, numbered with romanette numerals i-xii corresponding to the hour positions on a clock face.

1999, Greg M. Kauppila, Andrew P. Tijan, Rotary valve assembly and method, US Patent 6539829, page 11:

2000 January, Joseph Kimble, “A Modest Wish List for Legal Writing”, originally in TRIAL, reprinted in Michigan Bar Journal, Volume 79, Number 11 (November 2000), pages 1574–1577,
In numbering, avoid roman numerals and romanettes (like iii). They are too much like a foreign language.

You'll need to use this technique almost every time you see parenthesized romanettes (i, ii, iii) or letters (a, b, c) in the middle of a contractual or legislative paragraph.

2001, Bryan A. Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English, →ISBN, page 101:

2008, United States Supreme Court oral argument, United States v. Hayes, Case no. 07-608https://web.archive.org/web/20081203011317/http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/07-608.pdf, page 9,
MS. SAHARSKY: . . . not looking at this Romanette (i) and (ii), but just looking at that sentence.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Romanette?
MS. SAHARSKY: Oh, little Roman numeral.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: I've never heard that before. That's -- Romanette.

(colloquial, law, typography, US) A Roman numeral in lower case, such as “ii”, as frequently introduces list items; or, a list item introduced by such.


hell-bent

en-adj

hell-bent (comparative more hell-bent, superlative most hell-bent)

more hell-bent (comparative)
most hell-bent (superlative)
hellbent (alternative)
hel-bent (alternative)
hel bent (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-hell-bent.wav

From hell (“in a manner that uses all of the strength, speed, or effort that a person can summon”) + bent (“determined, insistent”), that is, in the sense “determined like hell”.

compound

He was hell-bent on coming first, no matter what.

If somebody had asked me why I was so hell-bent on grabbing a piece of Penny Hardwick's chest, I wouldn't have known what to say. And if somebody were to ask Penny why she was so hell-bent on stopping me, I'll bet she'd be stumped for an answer too.

1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 16:

The PP has seized on the possibility of an amnesty to rally support and to portray the PSOE leader as craven, dependent on Catalan separatists and hellbent on remaining in office.

2023 September 26, Sam Jones, “Spain elections: Feijóo launches doomed bid to lead country”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(originally US, informal) Recklessly determined to do or achieve (something). [with on ‘something’]

готов на всичко

recklessly determined to do or achieve something


hell-bent

more hell-bent (comparative)
most hell-bent (superlative)

(originally US, informal) In a recklessly determined manner; determinedly, wholeheartedly.


vocabulary word

en-noun

vocabulary word (plural vocabulary words)

The teacher then held up a real food item of each vocabulary word and asked the students to repeat each word in Spanish.

2010 June, Stella Erbes et al., "Understanding How Cognitive Psychology Can Inform and Improve Spanish Vocabulary Acquisition in High School Classrooms." Journal of Instructional Psychology v.37 n.2 pp.120–132

In my 1st grade classroom, I use our read-alouds to introduce our weekly vocabulary words. Before reading, I pre-select five to seven words from the text that students really need to fully comprehend the text.

2019 July 10, Brittany Oakley, “Teaching Vocabulary Takes More Than Just Talking About Words During Read-Aloud”, in Education Week:

2020 July 15, "33 Middle School Vocabulary Words Adults Still Get Wrong" Reader's Digest

(education, US) A word which a student is expected to learn; a word included in a test of one's general vocabulary or of subject-specific terminology

They are — here's a new vocabulary word — anadromous, which means that when it's time for them to spawn, they return to the fresh water where they were born.

2013 February 27, Bonny Wolf, “The Shad Are Running”, in National Public Radio:

2016 January 29, Necco Ceresani, "You Are Ready for Continuous Delivery, Take the Leap" XebiaLabs
Most people call this Continuous Integration, but like DevOps, it is just a vocabulary word for working together, and making sure everything works together.giphy (3)

Although I have on occasion picked up a vocabulary word in years of reading Will’s columns (he may be the only person I read who regularly slips in the word “condign,” an adjective with which I was previously unfamiliar), ten-dollar words are not his norm.

2019 July 30, Kyle Smith, “The Impossible Elegance of George Will”, in National Review:

(informal, by extension, US) A newly learned word; a sophisticated or pretentious word


reindeer games

/ˈɹeɪndɪə ˌɡeɪmz/

From the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949) by the American songwriter Johnny Marks (1909–1985): “All of the other reindeer / Used to laugh and call him names. / They never let poor Rudolph / Join in any reindeer games.”

The natives are a primitive but gregarious lot. They invited me to join them in their reindeer games, which I did.

1984, Joseph Dougherty, Digby: A Play, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, published 1986, →OCLC, page 68:

Transfer to Washington. Transfer to Jefferson. No one at Westerburg's going to let you play their reindeer games.

1989, Daniel Waters, Heathers, spoken by Heather Chandler (Kim Walker):

His unhappiness was not due solely to the ravages of adolescence, the eccentricities of his family, exclusion from his peers' reindeer games, or even by living in the embodiment of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. It was all of those things and none of them.

2002, Terry J. Kunkel, “An Older Reflection”, in Is Wanting Enough? […], Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, part I (Lighting the Race Point Luminaria on Cape Cod), page 40:

It's tough being different in a society where conformity is so very important. Not the type of different that caused you to be picked on by the big kids in grade school because you wore glasses or didn't join the reindeer games, but the type of different that caused you to listen up in class and always do your homework.

2003 October 27, Tim Dannelly, “The Top, Home of the Lonely Brave”, in Living the American Dream, [Bloomington, Ind.]: 1stbooks, →ISBN:

When socializing it's important that you never talk business unless they bring it up. If you do, you'll find out quickly that you're no longer invited to any of the really good reindeer games. Rather, be a good listener.

2006, Christopher Duncan, “Managing Your Management”, in Dominic Shakeshaft, editor, The Career Programmer: Guerilla^([sic]) Tactics for an Imperfect World (The Expert’s Voice), 2nd edition, Berkeley, Calif.: Apress, →ISBN, part II (Guerilla Tactics for Front-line Programmers), page 171:

Some fighter pilot traditions have taken on the air of reindeer games—they are nothing more than something one has to be a fighter pilot to understand.

2007, Jonathan C. Dowty, “Fighter Pilot Traditions”, in Christian Fighter Pilot is Not an Oxymoron, [U.S.A.?]: [Jonathan C. Dowty], →ISBN, part 1 (Fighter Pilot Foundations), page 23:

He found all the faddishness of what restaurant or club was in, much less what designer clothes one wore or food one ate, to be depressingly shallow and frantic. In his own private protest, he had long since consciously decided not to play their reindeer games.

2009 April, Robert Asprin, “Prologue”, in Dragons Luck, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN:

In my mind I had won. Lyndon was with me and not with Hope so whether the two of them shut me out of their reindeer games or included me, it didn't matter one iota to me.

2014, Latonya D. Young, “The Promise of Forever”, in Secrets in Love, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu Publishing, →ISBN, page 86:

I know reindeer games, and this chick is playing them.

2015, John Hornor Jacobs, chapter 9, in The Conformity (The Twelve-fingered Boy Trilogy; 3), Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, Lerner Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 55:

(US, informal) Activities which exclude outsiders.

Johnny Marks
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer


babiche

First attested around 1800–10. From Canadian French, from Mi'kmaq ápapíj (“cord, thread”), diminutive of ápapi, from Proto-Algonquian *aʔlapa·py, *aʔlapa·pyi, from *aʔlapy- (“net”) + *-a·py (“string”).

(Canada, US) Thong(s) of rawhide or sinew used as cord, lacing, or webbing, in the manufacture of snowshoes, braided straps and tumplines, fishing and harpoon lines, knit bags, etc.


allocute

en-verb

allocute (third-person singular simple present allocutes, present participle allocuting, simple past and past participle allocuted)

allocutes (present singular third-person)
allocuting (participle present)
allocuted (participle past)
allocuted (past)

Ms. Collotta had to be steadied several times by her lawyers as she allocuted to the facts on the Macromedia deal and admitted to taking part in a larger conspiracy.

2007 May 11, Mark Hamblett, "Attorney Couple Plead Guilty to Insider Trading," New York Law Journal (retrieved from law.com, 10 May 2008)

(chiefly US, law) To make an allocution.


hit the head

hit the head (third-person singular simple present hits the head, present participle hitting the head, simple past and past participle hit the head)

hits the head (present singular third-person)
hitting the head (participle present)
hit the head (participle past)
hit the head (past)

(US, slang) to urinate or defecate; to go to the bathroom


A-list

The noun is derived from A (“rank (normally the highest) on a scale that assigns letters”) + list. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

compound

The film [Pretty Woman] grossed $464 million worldwide, ensconcing her [Julia Roberts] in the Hollywood A-list.

2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – ‘I might actually go to hell for this…’”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review section), London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-10-07:

(originally and chiefly US) An informal list of people (especially in the entertainment industry, or professionally or socially prominent) who are the most admired or desirable, or likely to bring success.

huippujulkkikset

informal list of people who are the most admired or desirable, or likely to bring success


A-list

By the 1980s, there was still huge appeal for what became known as 'shiny-floor' talent shows, especially during weekend primetime. In the US, Star Search ran for 12 years in its original run, from 1983 to 1995, and as searches went, it did genuinely uncover some A-list talent, including Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Alanis Morrisette and LeAnn Rimes.

2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How Talent Shows Became TV’s Most Bizarre Programmes”, in BBC Online, archived from the original on 2023-04-18:

Before his [Rock Hudson's] Aids diagnosis, he had been so many other things: A-list hunk, suave romcom star and all-round Mr America.

2023 October 6, Ryan Gilbey, “The double life of Rock Hudson: ‘Let’s be frank, he was a horndog!’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-01-18:

(originally and chiefly US) Of or relating, or belonging, to an A-list (noun sense 2).

huippu-

of or relating, or belonging, to an A-list


mallspeak

(US) A form of language, practiced by the young, in which generalized modifiers (especially like and the form be like) are interspersed, often seemingly at random.


hatrack

hatracks (plural)
hat-rack (alternative)


valley girl

valley girls (plural)
Valley girl (alternative)
Valley Girl (alternative)
valley-girl (alternative)
Val (alternative)

From Valley, short for San Fernando Valley. Popularized by the Frank/Moon Zappa song Valley Girl (1982).

She's a valley girl / In a clothing store / Okay, fine / Fer sure

1982, Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa (lyrics and music), “Valley Girl”, in Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch:

They were referring, of course, to that vast expanse of tract homes and backyard barbecues that is the San Fernando Valley. The valley, with its valley girls and mini-malls, never shared Los Angeles's cultural cachet.

2002 April 20, Joseph Kahn, “San Fernando Valley Looks To a Life After Los Angeles”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

2010, John C. Wells, accents map
Note the intrusion into British demotic (“me and Cheryl were having”) of the valley-girl quotative be, like.

(US, slang) A girl or young woman from the San Fernando Valley, especially when stereotyped as superficial and material.


undrafted

en-adj

undrafted (comparative more undrafted, superlative most undrafted)

more undrafted (comparative)
most undrafted (superlative)

(US) Not contracted to play for a particular sports team.


BUFF

The B-52 Stratofortress is not called the Buff because it is painted a tan or dun-brown color.

1994, Frederick Forsyth, The Fist of God: [a novel], page 377:

I should note here in polite society it is considered proper to call the B-52 a BUFF for Big Ugly Fat Fella or Fellows

2002, S. Lock, Ribald Tales & Stories from U.T.: Confessions of a Staff Weenie, page 3:

Deployed at no higher than 135 knots, the 44-foot drag chute aids in braking the BUFF.

2004, Nick Veronico, Nicholas A. Veronico, Jim Dunn, 21st Century U.S. Air Power, page 48:

There were also, however disgusting it might seem, "BUFF" drivers coming in from B-52 bombers and C-130 cargo haulers.

2004, Keith R Parris, The Servants of Freedom: The SOF, page 29:

The general invited his old buddy to Barksdale to fly in the B-52 and show him just what the old BUFF could do.

2006, Jim Clonts, When Penguins Flew and Water Burned, page 447:

(slang, US, Air Force) Acronym of big ugly fat fellow (or fucker); US Airforce nickname for the B-52 bomber.


press avail

Shortening of press availability, itself a shortening of "press availability session". First recorded in early 1990s.

"There won't be a press avail," she explained briskly about Clinton's first stop at - where else - the Italian Market. "It'll basically be a photo op."

1992 April 18, Craig R. McCoy, “A Campaign Juggernaut Jaunts Through Phila.”, in Philadelphia Inquirer, page A4:

press availability
press availability#English

(US, politics, journalism) Short for press availability.


press availability

en-noun

press availability (plural press availabilities)

Shortening of "press availability session." Originally synonymous with press conference.

I was told that there was a request for press availabilities.

1974 June 5, Carl B. Leubsdorf, quoting Ronald Reagan, “Reagan Puts Presidential Ambitions 'Between Lines'”, in The Lima News, page B12:

Mrs. Clinton rarely holds press availabilities or takes questions from reporters who cover her campaign.

2007 November 3, Christina Bellantoni, “Hillary criticized for press strategy”, in Washington Times, archived from the original on 2008-02-14:

(US, politics, journalism) An event at which a politician is made available for questioning by the media.


press gaggle

By analogy with a gaggle of goose. First recorded in the briefing sense in the early 2000s.

In 20 years of journalism, I'd never seen a public official do what McGreevey did when asked a question he didn't want to answer at a press gaggle after a public event […]

2004 November 15, Herb Jackson, “Codey can expect a cozy honeymoon”, in The Record, Bergen County, New Jersey:

(US, journalism, politics) An informal off-camera briefing given by a spokesperson or politician.


eastside

eastsides (plural)
east side (alternative)
Eastside (alternative)

The eastside was an area fit for Mule because of his harsh no-nonsense approach to doing business.

2004, Richard Paloma, The Beach Club, page 26:

The no-harvest portion of RMZs of 50 feet (westside) or 30 feet (eastside) would result in full protection (equivalent buffer area indexes of 100 percent) of sediment filtration for fish-bearing streams on the west and eastsides.

2005, Proposed Issuance of Multiple Species Incidental Take Permits Or 4(d) Rules Covering the Washington State Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan:

I guess many of us were burdened by an inferiority complex because we were from the eastside.

2014, Bob Williams, The Eastside of Town:

(US) The east side of a district or city


superconservative

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

(US) An extremely conservative person; a radical rightwinger


archconservative

(US) Extremely politically conservative.


archconservative

(US, politics) A person who is extremely politically conservative; a superconservative; a radical rightwinger

arquiconservador

a person who is extremely politically conservative


live paycheck to paycheck

en-verb

live paycheck to paycheck (third-person singular simple present lives paycheck to paycheck, present participle living paycheck to paycheck, simple past and past participle lived paycheck to paycheck)

lives paycheck to paycheck (present singular third-person)
living paycheck to paycheck (participle present)
lived paycheck to paycheck (participle past)
lived paycheck to paycheck (past)
live paycheque to paycheque (alternative)
live from paycheck to paycheck (alternative)

A reference to a person fully expending the entire earnings of their paycheck and not having anything left prior to receiving their next paycheck.

But what does all this mean for the men and women who live from paycheck to paycheck? Prices have skyrocketed to boost the cost of living for the worker to about double the pre-war level.

1948, George Morris, How to Make Your Vote Count: The Communist Position on the Issues and Candidates in the 1948 Elections, New York, N.Y.: New Century Publishers, →OCLC, page 4:

Hector, who has worked at the Miramar since he arrived from Mexico ten years ago, would like to own his own home someday. "It's my dream," he says. But he can't imagine how he'll ever get there when his family lives paycheck to paycheck and can't put anything away for savings.

1954, Dissent, New York, N.Y.: Dissent Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 2:

Nearly two-thirds of the women who responded to a working woman survey last year cited living from paycheck to paycheck as their most pressing financial concern.

1995, Working Woman, volume 20, New York, N.Y.: MacDonald Communications Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40:

There was a low-income individual in class who never had any savings. He lived paycheck-to-paycheck. [After hearing the story], he said to them, 'You've inspired me. I've always had cable and decided to give it up. For the first time I have money in my savings account.'

2006, Alicia Korten, Karen Dietz, “Who Said Money is Everything? Story is the New Currency in Financial Management”, in Lori L. Silverman, Wake me Up when the Data is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results, San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part 1 (How Organizations are Using Stories in Day-to-day Operations), page 83:

(US, idiomatic) To have the entirety of what one earns consumed by living expenses, thus having nothing left over to save; make just enough (money, etc.) to survive; to scratch by.

žít z ruky do huby

to spend all that one earns without saving anything


Podunk

From an Eastern Algonquian, likely Loup A, word or words. Similar names were applied to various small and generally unknown places. By the late 19th century the word came to mean an obscure small town, a use possibly popularized by Mark Twain (see quotation). Carlton and Reed survey similar place names and note a transformation from Potaecke to Potunke to Podunk. Carlton suggests a derivation from the adjective petukque ("round"). Tooker compares Ojibwe petobeg (“bog”) (as Chippewa) and Abenaki poteba (“to sink in the mire”) and divides the word into pot- ("to sink") and -unk (locative). Algonquian expert Ives Goddard says "We have no idea what the word means. You'll be able to find guesses in the sources if you look around. Don't believe any of it."

They even know it in Podunk, wherever that may be.

1869, Mark Twain, Mr. Beecher and the Clergy:

Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking.

[1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, page 791:

Podunk, like Atlantis, has no locus. Sought often, it is unfound and apparently unfindable.

1933 February 2, F. W. Buxton, Boston Herald:

This isn't some Podunk charge in some Podunk court. Charged with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, Bonds, if convicted, could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

2007 November 15, Scott Miller, “This verdict's already in: Bonds won't hit No. 763”, in CBS Sports:

(US) A mythical small town of no importance. [from 19th c.]


Jim Crow law

From the song Jump Jim Crow (c. 1830) which mockingly portrayed African-Americans. It became a generic term for African-Americans in the early- to mid-19th century.

(US, historical) Any law that racially segregated public facilities and which was enacted in Southern and border states in the United States between 1876 and 1965.


hero sandwich

The New York term hero is first attested in 1937. Unlikely to be related to gyro, since those were not well known in the US at the time.

(US) A large sandwich on a long thick bun.


dogpile

dogpiles (plural)
dog pile (alternative)
dog-pile (alternative)

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

From dog + pile. In reference to piles of people, originally as a noun after earlier pig pile. In reference to dog excrement, a clipping of pile of shit.

The bottom man of a 'dog pile' in a fraternity house scuffle is in a hospital with a neck dislocation.

1948 November 21, Los Angeles Times, Sect. i, p. 20

(US colloquial) A disorderly pile of people formed by jumping upon a victim.

Purdy tucked the pigskin under his elbow and cantered over a dog-pile for a tally.

1921 November 19, The Nebraska State Journal, page 3:

Unscrambling the dogpile of objects can be messy.

1993, Christopher G. Jones, “Object-Oriented Analysis with CASE”, in Computer-aided Software Engineering, →ISBN, page 348:

(figurative, US colloquial) Any similarly disorderly pile of people or things.

Mrs. Brown cleaned her lawn up bright and early each day;
Picked up all the dog piles so her children could play.

1950 March 6, The Tri-City Herald, page 6:

(US colloquial, euphemistic) A pile of dogshit.


dogpile

dogpile (third-person singular simple present dogpiles, present participle dogpiling, simple past and past participle dogpiled)

dogpiles (present singular third-person)
dogpiling (participle present)
dogpiled (participle past)
dogpiled (past)
dog pile (alternative)
dog-pile (alternative)

He can either take a beating from one man or... be dogpiled by a dozen men.

c. 1947, Tamotsu Shibutani, The Derelicts of Company K, page 273:

I fumbled the snap, fell on the ball and about 10 guys dog-piled on top of me.

1989 September 7, The Los Angeles Times, Sect. ix, p. 16

A vampire got her around the neck from behind; then more, dogpiling her.

2003, Nancy Holder, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen, →ISBN, page 657:

That story — about Carlson’s conflicted response to the sight of “a group of Trump guys” dogpiling an “Antifa kid” — appears to involve a crisis of conscience, an unexpected, chastening eruption of empathy.

2023 May 3, A. O. Scott, “Tucker Carlson’s Code of Whiteness”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US colloquial, ambitransitive, often with 'on') To jump into a dogpile.

But this guy was serious, using online payment services and dogpiling her e-mail box within minutes, requesting expedited shipping.

2005, Craig Spector, Underground, →ISBN, page 169:

(figurative, US, colloquial, ambitransitive) To pile on, to overwhelm in other senses.


witch hazel

en-noun

witch hazel (countable and uncountable, plural witch hazels)

witch hazels (plural)
witch-hazel (alternative)
wych-hazel (alternative)
wych-hasel (alternative)
wych hazel (alternative)
witch-hasel (alternative)
wych hasel (alternative)
witch hasel (alternative)
witch-hasell (alternative)
wych-hasell (alternative)
witch-hazell (alternative)
wych-hazell (alternative)

See Middle English wiche, from Old English wiċe (“wych elm or rowan”), perhaps derived from the root of wīcan (“to give way”). Folk etymology refers to use by witches and other sorcerers of folkish magic using the plant in potions; however, compare German Zaubernuss (“witch hazel”, literally “magic nut”).

cog

Hamamelis virginiana
Hamamelis virginiana#Translingual

(countable) Any of several small deciduous trees, of the genus Hamamelis, having yellow flowers

(US) Hamamelis virginiana (eastern North America)


oogle

If you want to be accepted by them, you have to wear all black. My hair wraps, I have one that's a rainbow, so I'm not a hobo. I'm an oogle, because I'm not wearing all black. That's just kid stuff. But the old hoboes are cool.

2009, Cliff (Oats) Williams, One More Train to Ride (page 52)

[…] an older couple with a dog and a coffee cup containing coins that the woman rattled hopefully. "Like this is a scene. Like this is a choice, like it's some party you can drop by and then leave when you get tired of it. But for some stupid reason, oogles like to playact."
"Wait. You're saying this girl liked to pretend she was homeless?"

2014, April Henry, The Body in the Woods (page 134)

And while Eli's vibe is hipsterish and cheerful, his friends are clearly "travelers" — also known as crusties, also known as crust punks, also known as gutter punks, also known as oogles, also known as homeless, transient young people.

2019, Emily Guendelsberger, On the Clock:

(Canada, US, slang, often derogatory) A hobo or transient who is homeless by choice rather than necessity.


zipperhead

1960s–1970s, zipper + head. Used by soldiers during the Korean and Vietnam Wars; multiple hypotheses exist as to the specific origin. One is that if an East Asian person were shot in the middle of the forehead with a machine gun, the head would split as if being unzipped; another, that the appearance of tire tracks on a body having been run over by a military Jeep or that of tank tracks resembled a zipper.

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

(US, military slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of East Asian descent.


knicker

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

(dated, dialect, UK, US) A small ball of clay, baked hard and oiled, used as a marble in games.


gas tank

(US) A fuel tank for gasoline built into equipment, especially vehicles.


tube steak

tube steaks (plural)
tube-steak (alternative)
tubesteak (alternative)
tube-steak (alternative)

A rhyming allusion to cube steak and the item's shape.

She said it's often used in doughnuts and American hot dogs (solving at least a minuscule part of the what's-in-a-tube-steak mystery).

2008 May 14, Lisa Donovan, “Mace has sweet, mild flavor all its own”, in Chicago Sun-Times:

(chiefly Canada, US, idiomatic, humorous) A frankfurter/hot dog.

I want to slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?

1987, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford, directed by Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket, spoken by Joker (Matthew Modine):


Bowery

en-adj

Bowery (comparative more Bowery, superlative most Bowery)

more Bowery (comparative)
most Bowery (superlative)

(US, dated) Characteristic of this street; swaggering; flashy.


Okie

Will Rogers is considered a famous Okie.

One time we broke into an Okie house where everybody was getting ready to go to a funeral.

1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

When, in high school, I was at the depth of my self-loathing-as-sissy, a brilliant young man arrived in Chickasha to become choral director at the high school. My friends and I had never met anyone like him: urbane, brilliant, dedicated to professional standards, a real taskmaster, who seemed to care for us little Okie hicks.

1979 August 11, Laud Humphreys, “Courage, Sisters and Brothers!”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 4, page 5:

(US, informal, sometimes derogatory) A person from Oklahoma.


cup of joe

cups of joe (plural)
cup o' joe (alternative)
cuppa joe (alternative)

Uncertain.
* Possibly a shortening of "cup of jamoke", from java + mocha: this origin was given in a military officer's manual from 1931, around when the term first appeared.
* Alternatively, perhaps a use of joe (“fellow, guy”), signifying that coffee was the drink of the common man.
* Another theory suggests that US soldiers in World War I (1914-1918) referred to a serving of instant coffee made by the G. Washington Coffee Refining Company (founded in 1910) as a "cup of George", and that the common abbreviation of the name "George" ("Geo.") was then read as "Joe".
* Another theory derives the term from Josephus Daniels (1862-1948), the Secretary of the U.S. Navy who abolished the officers' wine mess and thus made coffee the strongest drink available on ships. Snopes considers this unlikely because it says there is no attestation of the phrase "cup of joe" until 1930, 16 years after the 1914 order banning the wine mess. Confusingly, some other sources consider the Daniels derivation unlikely for the opposite reason: they say "cup of joe" predates the order.

Pike Place is Starbucks' attempt to address complaints that its regular cup of joe is bitter, overroasted and "burnt."

2008 April 9, James Poniewozik, “Starbucks' New Brew: A First Taste”, in Time:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A cup of coffee.


coatroom

(US) A room intended for holding guests' coats and other heavy outerwear, as at a theater; a cloakroom.


D-bag

Just get out of my life, you D-bag!

(neologism, slang, Canada, US) An idiot or jerk; a general-purpose moderate insult.


smush

en-verb

smush (third-person singular simple present smushes, present participle smushing, simple past and past participle smushed)

smushes (present singular third-person)
smushing (participle present)
smushed (participle past)
smushed (past)
smoosh (alternative)

Exercising can take your smushing to a whole new level. WORK OUT I am not shitting you: experts say exercise can make sex mind-blowing.

2011, Jenni Farley, The Rules According to JWOWW:

(slang, New York, US) To engage in intimate contact, especially sexual relations.


shootist

Not being a "shootist," I cannot lay the bird before you.

1895, O. Widmann, “An Hour with Baird's and Leconte's Sparrows near St. Louis, Missouri”, in The Auk, volume 12, number 3, page 94:

Such terminations in -ist were very common at one time; my collection includes swimmist, sparrist, ballist, walkist, shootist, saloonist, and several others.

1947, Charles J. Lovell, “The Background of Mark Twain's Vocabulary”, in American Speech, volume 22, number 2, page 94:

(chiefly US, archaic) A person who is an expert user of firearms, especially a sharpshooter or a gunslinger in the Old West.


Davy Crockett hat

en-noun

Davy Crockett hat (plural Davy Crockett hats)

Davy Crockett hats (plural)
Davey Crockett cap (alternative)
Davey Crockett hat (alternative)
Davy Crockett cap (alternative)

Named after American frontiersman Davy Crockett (1786–1836), often depicted wearing such a hat.

named-after

Coordinate term: Polly Crockett hat

Back at the farm, David bundled up in his new outdoor outfit, added a Davy Crockett hat (with tail) and a .410 shotgun, joined his genial grandfather in the fields for a brief try at rabbit hunting.

1959 January 5, “Crowded Holidays”, in Time:

(chiefly US) A hat made of a real or simulated pelt of a raccoon with the tail hanging in back, particularly popular among children in North America during the 1950s and 1960s.


coonskin cap

coonskin caps (plural)
coonskin hat (alternative)
coon-skin cap (alternative)
coon-skin hat (alternative)

Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new frien'
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten.

1965, Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues:

(chiefly US) Headwear made from the pelt of a raccoon with the tail hanging in back, often associated with the iconic imagery of such American frontiersmen as Davy Crockett.


termination dust

The miners hurriedly prepared for winter as the termination dust settled on the slopes above them.

(US) In Alaska, a light, high-altitude snowfall that indicates the end of summer.


clawback

en-noun

clawback (countable and uncountable, plural clawbacks)

Deverbal of claw back. In the financial senses, refers to something being "clawed back", or reclaimed; in the sense of a flatterer, it suggests the idea of a person's back being scratched (see scratch someone's back).

(US law of evidence) A rule that permits a party to take back evidentiary materials that were mistakenly turned over to the other party but to which the other party would not have been entitled.

(US taxation law) Money that a party is entitled to keep under one tax provision but is taken by another tax provision.

The airline got a clawback provision in the event of failure of the engines to meet fuel-consumption targets.

(US, business) Any recovery of a performance-related payment based on discovery that the performance was not genuine.

malus

business: recovery of performance payment


prolog

(chiefly US) Alternative form of prologue


prolog

en-verb

prolog (third-person singular simple present prologs, present participle prologing, simple past and past participle prologed)

prologs (present singular third-person)
prologing (participle present)
prologed (participle past)
prologed (past)


sand crab

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


sea legs

(chiefly US, rare) Synonym of crabsticks