redbait

redbait (third-person singular simple present redbaits, present participle redbaiting, simple past and past participle redbaited)

redbaits (present singular third-person)
redbaiting (participle present)
redbaited (participle past)
redbaited (past)
red-bait (alternative)

While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption.

2007 September 9, David Corn, “Collision Course”, in New York Times:

(US, transitive) To attack by denouncing as a Communist.


underhood

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

The idea that an automaker would maintain its own performance-tuning subsidiary is now accepted as a marketing necessity, a declaration of intent to stand tall among the names known for underhood firepower.

2007 September 30, Rob Sass, “M: How BMW Spells Performance in Just One Letter”, in New York Times:


REMIC

w:Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit

(US, finance) Acronym of Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit.


shield law

(US, law) legislation designed to provide a news reporter with the right to refuse to testify as to information and/or sources of information obtained during the news gathering and dissemination process.


upsend

en-verb

upsend (third-person singular simple present upsends, present participle upsending, simple past and past participle upsent)

upsends (present singular third-person)
upsending (participle present)
upsent (participle past)
upsent (past)

From Middle English upsenden, equivalent to up- + send. Cognate with Scots upsend (“to ascend”), Dutch opzenden (“to redirect, forward”), Low German upsenden (“to send up, deliver (mail)”), Swedish uppsända (“to offer up”).

cog

But when the sun of the fifth day had risen, The Keepers of the Faith, upon a pyre Built near the council-house, with solemn rites Burnt the White Dog, upsending with the smoke The message of their loyalty and thanks.

1919, Harry Lyman Koopman, Hesperia: an American national poem:

(intransitive, US, Scotland) To ascend; climb up.


crackerbox

From cracker + box, suggesting a square package of biscuits.

It’s the same with the Subaru Impreza WRX. With apologies to its zealous owners — their vision was apparently too clouded by speed to notice — the original WRX was one of the homeliest cars around, a budget crackerbox in a high-performance Halloween costume.

2007 October 21, Lawrence Ulrich, “Attractive, Yes, if Not for Its Looks”, in New York Times:

(US, Canada, sometimes derogatory) An uncomfortably small and boxy house or car.


supersenior

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

postsecondary education
postsecondary school

(education, US, Philippines) A university student who is in their fifth year of postsecondary education without having graduated.


superprimary

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

There is much debate and speculation about how the southern superprimary will actually work. Some observers argue that one unintended consequence of the regional primary will be to make it more difficult for long-shot candidacies...

1988, Herbert B. Asher, Presidential elections and American politics:

The remainder could have a superprimary after the first 25 states vote.

2007 November 4, “Voting? Forget the Who. It’s the How.”, in New York Times:

(informal, US) A primary election for president that takes place on the same day across a wide geographic area covering many voters.


MOUT

Military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) present many unique and challenging conditions for the warfighter.

2011, Borko Furht, Handbook of Augmented Reality, page 681:

(US, military) Acronym of military operations in urban terrain.


muckamuck

en-noun

muckamuck (countable and uncountable, plural muckamucks)

muckamucks (plural)
muck-a-muck (alternative)
muckety muck (alternative)
muckety-muck (alternative)
muckey-muck (alternative)
mucky-muck (alternative)
mucky muck (alternative)

Borrowed from Chinook Jargon muckamuck (“food”). In the sense "person of authority", it is short for "high muckamuck", from Chinook Jargon hayo muckamuck (“plenty to eat, plenty of food; to eat”). See muckety muck. The ultimate source of the word is unclear; it is possible it was invented in Chinook Jargon rather than taken into the jargon from another language.

cog

I think it was the Fourth of July when they took the chair from under my ass again. Not a word of warning. One of the big muck-a-mucks from the other side of the water had decided to make economies; […]

1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Grove Press, published 1961, page 191:

Allen had the wit—God, I love that man when he's at his best—to invite all the new Kennedy muckamucks to an evening with a number of us at the Alibi Club.

1991, Norman Mailer, Harlot's Ghost, Random House, →ISBN, page 915:

(countable, colloquial, sometimes derogatory, originally US) A person in a position of power or authority, or of high status.

She apparently has her own way in everything now, the old chief being quite satisfied to get his rations of muckamuck and tobacco without troubling himself as to how it is provided.

1884, Newton H. Chittenden, Official report of the exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands, page 69:

But old Halascum once, under the mellowing influence of having sold some furs, and seeing the great quantities of muckamuck, or goodly things to eat, which his prize had furnished, was led to tell the mystery […]

1906, The Coast, volumes 11-12, page 160:

(uncountable, US, dialectal, possibly dated) Food.


Weatherman

From the line you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Coordinate term: Weatherwoman

On the Clinton conference call this morning, Howard Wolfson—under rather aggressive questioning from Mother Jones' David Corn—said he didn't know how Hillary felt about her husbands pardons of two former Weathermen. But he drew a distinction by pointing out that no Weathermen ever held fundraisers for Hillary Clinton.

2008 April 18, Matthew Yglesias, “Knowing Which Way The Wind Blows”, in The Atlantic:

(US, historical) A member of the Weather Underground.


red diaper baby

en-noun

red diaper baby (plural red diaper babies)

red diaper babies (plural)
red-diaper baby (alternative)

(chiefly US, derogatory) A child of parents who belonged to a communist party (usually the United States Communist Party) or supported communist ideas and goals.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:red diaper baby.

(chiefly US, derogatory) An individual born to and raised by a parent or parents who espoused any left-wing or radical political views.


Weatherwoman

Coordinate term: Weatherman

(US, historical) A female member of the Weather Underground.


lower 48

Every month, the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Centre conducts a telephone poll of at least 500 households selected to be broadly representative of the Lower 48 states.

2022 April 27, John Kemp, “Column: Global consumers balk at surging prices for durable goods”, in Mark Potter, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-16, Commodities:

District of Columbia
District of Columbia

(US, geography) The contiguous continental states area of the United States, comprising 48 states in number, and the District of Columbia, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.


continental US

continental United States
continental United States

(US, geography) continental United States


contiguous United States

United States of America
United States of America

(US, geography) The contiguous continental states area of the United States of America, comprising 48 states in number, and the District of Columbia, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

United States excluding Alaska, Hawaii and other overseas territories

美国本土 (Měiguó běntǔ, literally “mainland United States”)


contiguous 48

(US, geography) the contiguous continental states area of the United States of America, comprising 48 states in number, and the District of Columbia, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.


special master

Daniel: You can't look at medical files, they're confidential.
Kate: That's why I need a special master.
Daniel: A special what?
Kate: A knowledgeable and impartial third party to review the files to report on what Corvis was gonna tell the US attorney without revealing any personal information. That's why I convinced the US attorney to appoint you.

2012 August 20, Lovesick (Perception), season 1, episode 6, spoken by Daniel Pierce and Kate Moretti (Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook):

Judge Cannon said the special master’s role would be “to review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”

2022 September 6, Charlie Savage, “Special Masters and the Trump Records Investigation, Explained”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(UK, US, law) An authority appointed by a judge to make sure that judicial orders are actually followed.


Bed-Stuy

(US, informal) Bedford–Stuyvesant, a neighborhood in central Brooklyn, New York, United States.


CWT

Central War Time
Central War Time#English

(US, historical) Initialism of Central War Time.


disunionism

(US, historical) The political position that the Union (the federal government of the United States) should be dissolved.


zero option

(US, politics, historical) A 1980s plan whereby all Soviet and American nuclear weapons would be mutually withdrawn from Europe.


nonintercourse

The Nonintercourse Act

This view is derived from the former non-intercourse law only.

you must submit to an embargo on your wit and a non-intercourse act between you and the faculty of writing.

The use of non-intercourse agreements as revolutionary weapons against Great Britain.

1888, A. Johnston, Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 759/1:

(chiefly US historical) The lack of intercourse; the suspension of relations or communication (especially between countries).


busher

He was talking about me all the time that day in Boston, standing with the bat boy, making cracks. That's all right but when he called me a busher in front of the whole Yank team and then challenged me, I had to fight.

(US, baseball, slang) A major league baseball player who has recently come from a small league.


DTH

(television, Canada, US) Initialism of direct-to-home.


peanut butter and jelly

peanut butter and jelly (countable and uncountable, plural peanut butter and jellies)

peanut butter and jellies (plural)
PB&J (alternative)
PBJ (alternative)

(uncountable, US) Peanut butter and jelly (or jam) that is spread on bread to make a sandwich.

Alternative form: peanut-butter-and-jelly

On your average march you'll find you get through a good two peanut butter and jellies before you even get to where you're supposed to demonstrate

1971, Michael Weller, Five Plays, published 1997, Moonchildren, page 19:

Sometimes they drift in from the Yukon and other far places, come in and sit down at the kitchen table, want a glass of milk and a peanut-butter-and-jelly, […] .

1979, Donald Barthelme, "Aria", originally published in The New Yorker, republished in Sixty Stories (1981)

And by the end of the Apollo moon-landing program, NASA was allowing common grocery items like bread slices, canned meats, and peanut butter and jellies on lunar missions.

1994, Tom Clancy, Armored Cav, page 167:

I've got a peanut butter and jelly for your son.

1996, Sherman Alexie, “Indian Killer”, in Peter Donahue, John Trombold, editors, Reading Seattle: The City in Prose, published 2014, page 209:

Her mother stuffed a peanut butter and jelly into a bag and turned to look at Emily.

2002, W. Z. Nelson, Hurricane Summer, page 72:

They sat across from each other on the blanket eating peanut butter and jellies and drinking pop.

(countable, US) A sandwich consisting of bread spread with layers of peanut butter and jelly.


taxi dancer

taxi dancers (plural)
taxi-dancer (alternative)

Refers to the fact that a taxi dancer is paid per dance, and thus proportionately to the time spent with a client, similarly to a taxi driver.

They apparently remain taxi-dancers for only about a year or two[.]

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 88:

Historically taxi-dancers were considered immoral women by the reformers of the nineteen-teens and twenties both because they participated with strangers in an activity generally reserved for established couples and because some engaged in various forms of prostitution.

1990, Clinton Sanders, Marginal Conventions: Popular Culture, Mass Media, and Social Deviance, page 45:

Like waitresses, taxi dancers, women who danced with male customers for a small fee, created a cooperative atmosphere with each other both in the closed dance halls in which they worked and outside of the workplace.

1991, Joanne J. Meyerowitz, Women Adrift: Independent Wage Earners in Chicago, 1880-1930, page 107:

At times, taxi dancers were observed arriving at the club in the front seat of the cab, which suggested a relationship with the hack man.

2007, Graham Russell Hodges, Taxi!: A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver, page 40:

(US) A woman who works as a professional dance partner in a dancehall that charges customers a price per dance.


wit's end

(chiefly US) Alternative form of wits' end


Baby Bell

(US, telecommunications, informal) Any of the Regional Bell Operating Companies resulting from the division of AT&T Corporation into a number of smaller companies in the 1980s as part of an antitrust agreement.


daurade

Borrowed from French daurade, itself borrowed, through the intermediate of an Italian text, from Spanish dorada, partially from Latin aurāta, and influenced by the verb dorar (“gild, give a golden color”). Doublet of dorado.

The chef, Csar Ramirez, and his partners, Kiwon Standen and Didier Palange, all Bouley alumni, have an eclectic menu, with dishes like slow-roasted rabbit and sweetbread salad, oxtail consommé, ginger-steamed daurade, slow-cooked Cornish hen and Japanese rice risotto with shrimp; 142 West 10th Street, (212) 255-2330 .

2007 December 12, Florence Fabricant, “Off the Menu”, in New York Times:


playlot

(US) A plot of ground allocated for children's recreation; a playground.


newsbox

newsboxes (plural)
news box (alternative)

(US, Canada) A vending machine selling newspapers.


councilmember

(US) A councilman or councilwoman; member of a council.


hell week

hell weeks (plural)
Hell Week (alternative)

She was among a number of cadets taken to the infirmary with heat sickness on the first day of the rigorous drills called hell week.

1995 September 10, “Citadel's First Female Cadet Tells of the Stress of Her Court Fight”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-06-14:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) The week during which new members are required to undergo undignified rites of initiation or gruelling discipline in order to be accepted into a fraternity, sorority, secret society, military group, etc.

As a college freshman, this was vividly impressed on me during my first exposure to hell week. Hell week is the term many students use in reference to what professors and other college officials call final exam week.

1991, James K. Semones, Effective Study Skills: A Step-by-step System for Achieving Student Success, page xvii:

I finished my exam and handed it to the grad assistant at the front row. […] I had finished Hell Week! Winter break has officially begun.

(chiefly US) In a college or university, the week leading up to final examinations.


refujew

[…] Basque children, White Russians or refujews, but a whole empire in agony, a mastodon at bay, is beyond the limit of our imaginations.

1938, Anne Jackson Fremantle, Loyal enemy:

'Fancy him having a refujew in his gang,' Gladstone said.


toolbag

Leighton Greene, Star Spanked
“Sorry for being such a total toolbag,” Tristan whispered when I gave the empty bottle back to him.

You are owed an explanation and an apology. […] I'm sure you're an awesome, lovely girl, and he was a total toolbag who was lucky to be with you.

2014, Lisa Winning, Carrie Henderson McDermott, He Texted: The Ultimate Guide to Decoding Guys, page 222:

(Canada, US, slang, derogatory) A tool or jerk; an obnoxious person.


buttonbush

The buttonbush shrub, which has little white flowers, feeds 18 species of butterflies and moths; and blueberry bushes, which support 288 species of moths and butterflies, thrive in big pots on a terrace.

2008 March 6, Anne Raver, “To Feed the Birds, First Feed the Bugs”, in New York Times:

Common buttonbush
common buttonbush#English

Any of the genus Cephalanthus of flowering plants in the madder family.

(US) Common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)


dollarwise

Coordinate term: percentagewise

Dollarwise it was the biggest change in years, but percentagewise it was not a record-breaking change.

There are far larger budget fights looming, dollarwise.

2008 March 27, “New Day, Line by Budget Line”, in New York Times:

Dollarwise, I probably lost out by at least 100 percent, but it spawned a career.

2008, Robert Schleicher, The Lionel Legend: An American Icon, page 18:

(US) In terms of dollars (as opposed to percentage, or to another currency); moneywise; monetarily; financially.


semigeneric

New York Chablis, Napa Valley Burgundy, and California Champagne are semigeneric wines.

(US, of wine) Made in the United States but using a protected designation, so that the region of manufacture must be included in the name.


nonitemizer

(US, finance) One who does not make itemized deductions on a tax return.


itemizer

(US, finance) One who makes itemized deductions on a tax return.


voluntell

en-verb

voluntell (third-person singular simple present voluntells, present participle voluntelling, simple past and past participle voluntold)

voluntells (present singular third-person)
voluntelling (participle present)
voluntold (participle past)
voluntold (past)

I just found out that I was "voluntold" [Marine-speak for a combination of volunteered and told—F[rank] S[chaeffer]] to stay back for a working party.

2003 April 24, [anonymous United States Marine Corps corporal], “Combat Iraq”, in Frank Schaeffer, editor, Voices from the Front: Letters Home from America’s Military Family, New York, N.Y.: Carroll & Graf Publishers, published 2005, →ISBN, pages 132–133:

All had been directed by their command to participate in the study (in Marine jargon, they were "voluntold" to participate).

2007, W. Lewis Johnson, “Serious Use of a Serious Game for Language Learning”, in Rosemary Luckin, Kenneth R. Koedinger, Jim Greer, editors, Artificial Intelligence in Education: Building Technology Rich Learning Contexts that Work, Amsterdam: IOS Press, →ISBN, page 71:

“I see I’ve been voluntold to be a team leader,” said Rudi Samson, a project manager. “What do I need to do as team leader?”

2007, Jeff Pallister, “Work through Teams”, in Chain Reaction: A Business Novel: The Executive’s Action Plan for Turning Creativity and Teamwork into Sustainable Profits, Calgary, Alta.: Pallister Resource Management, →ISBN, part II (Transformation), page 69:

Hanging out with a gunnery sergeant, especially Gunny Yates, was dangerous for a sergeant. The threat of being volunteered (voluntold) for working parties always loomed.

2009 March, Clint Van Winkle, chapter 11, in Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 141:

Studies I completely made up show that 84 percent of voluntold incidents originate with your parents or your spouse. You're enjoying a perfectly normal day when your mom will say, "Hey, I volunteered you to teach the next door neighbors' grandparents from China how to drive."

2010, Jonathan Acuff, “Missional Postmodern Relevance”, in Stuff Christians Like, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, page 180:

Another caution: while it may be up to you to volunteer for tasks, it often isn't up to you if a higher-up "voluntells" you for a task by assigning it, but making it look like it is optional for you to accept it.

2021, Gorick Ng, “Be Proactive”, in The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Review Press, →ISBN:

No matter how much you work to make people feel seen, use personal invitations, and politely voluntell people to participate, there will still be times when you just don't get a response to something you organize for the community.

2021, David Spinks, “Activating Community Engagement”, in The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 158:

"Yeah, not happening, old man. I'm not volunteering for this. Make Montey do it! At least he can tolerate her!" Donney smiles viciously at me. "Then consider this me voluntelling you to do it. Besides, Montey is needed in making a new garden so we can at least have food for when winter hits."

2021, Tally Vivarais, chapter 12, in The Silver Men, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 64:

(transitive, originally US military slang, informal, often humorous) To tell or force (someone) to volunteer to do something.

התנודב

to tell or force (someone) to volunteer to do something


set a spell

set a spell (third-person singular simple present sets a spell, present participle setting a spell, simple past and past participle set a spell)

sets a spell (present singular third-person)
setting a spell (participle present)
set a spell (participle past)
set a spell (past)

[S]he declined his invitation to "Come up and see the old woman and set a spell."

1876, Louisa May Alcott, “The Romance of a Summer Day”, in Silver Pitchers: and Independence:

"You might as well set down," remarked Miss Hitty, with a new gentleness of manner. "I'm going to set a spell."

1906, Myrtle Reed, chapter 2, in A Spinner in the Sun:

Hank's Hardware is one of those quintessentially American places. . . . Hank's is a place where people can set a spell, but it is also a business, competing in the ever-tightening hardware marketplace.

2000 January 30, Steve Strunsky, “New Jersey and Co.: Inside 'Big Box' Project, Threats to 'Little Boxes'”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-06-25:

In this country community, we enjoy our neighbors as we never could before. There is time to set a spell and talk about the weather, family and days gone by.

2005 November 24, Jean Parks, “Opinion: Retirement fulfills”, in USA Today, retrieved 2011-06-25:

(US, idiomatic, countrified dialect) To sit down for a period of time, especially in the company of other people and in order to relax or to engage in casual conversation.


weaksauce

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From weak (adjective) + sauce (noun), referring to a sauce that lacks flavour. By surface analysis, weak + -sauce (suffix used to add emphasis to adjectives).

surf

Some California students provided us with a taste of slang words that are now catching on, although, thanks to MTV, you have already heard some of them. […] Good events or things are "dope." Bad events are "weak sauce." "Right on" is "that's sweet." "That's awesome" is "that's the bomb."

[1993 February 12, Jeff Schnaufer, “New Trends Imitate ’70’s Style”, in Andrew McRoberts, editor, The Crusader, volume 34, number 14, Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3, columns 5–6:

Blazing at a very healthy 30 frames per second with NO clipping, NO slowdown, and NO loss of graphic quality, this one made Eggo run to the nearest restroom after his ‘weak sauce’ stomach gave out.

1998 June, “Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. [review]”, in Jay Puryear, editor, GameFan: The Last True Enthusiast Magazine, volume 6, number 6, Santa Monica, Calif.: Metropolis Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44:

Getting your butt thrashed by those curvaceous powdery paths? Or are ya getting tired of that weaksauce boarder of yours? Here are some codes that should do the trick: […]

1999 March, “Hocus Pocus [X Games Pro Boarder PS: Thrashing Ollie B, All Circuits, and Mondo!]”, in Eric Mylonas, editor, GameFan: The Last True Enthusiast Magazine, volume 7, number 3, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Calif.: Shinno Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 92, column 3:

[T]he news bunny ran up to him, saying, "Officer, did you have trouble catching up with Batman? Was it an exciting chase?" The surfer cop struck a semi-heroic pose for the camera and said, "Weak sauce." Then he quickly walked Batman to the black-and-white, where he was put into the backseat.

2006, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station […], New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 237:

She gave Julius a punch to his arm and headed back toward the fair, leaving Julius and me in yet another showdown, super-stick versus weaksauce-sword.

2007, Matthew Reis, chapter 28, in Kid with a Rocket Launcher: The Bluffside Summer Solstice County Fair […], [Morrisville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 201:

The quality, I'm sad to say, is sometimes weak-sauce.

2008, Dave Kellett, “Monetizing Your Webcomic”, in Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, How to Make Webcomics, Berkeley, Calif.: Image Comics, →ISBN, page 124, column 2:

'I'm not scared, I'm just not stupid.' Can't we just, like, dye our hair purple or—' […] Even to Julia it sounds weaksauce. 'That's not scary,' Becca says. 'I want something scary.'

2014, Tana French, The Secret Place, Dublin: Hachette Books Ireland, →ISBN, page 149:

The judge [Amit Mehta] told the ex-Trump aide's lawyer, Stanley Woodward, that their argument was hard to support absent direct evidence that Mr [Peter] Navarro was actually told not to comply with the subpoena. "I still don't know what the president said—I don't have any words from the former president," said the judge, who added that testimony from Mr Navarro about how Mr [Donald] Trump once expressed regret for not letting him testify was "pretty weak sauce".

2023 August 29, Andrew Feinberg, “Former Trump adviser scolded by judge for ‘weak sauce’ excuse for refusing to testify to Jan 6 committee”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC; reproduced on Yahoo! News, 29 August 2023, archived from the original on 2024-05-15:

(originally and chiefly US, informal) Lacking in interest or substance; boring, disappointing, lacklustre.


yokelet

(US, archaic) A small farm, requiring only one yoke of oxen to till it.


yoncopin

yoncopins (plural)
yancopin (alternative)
yankapin (alternative)

[…] she was as the wild yoncopin to the calla lily. Marjie knew how to dress. To-day, shaded by the buggy-top, in her dainty light blue lawn, with the soft pink of her cheeks and her clear white brow and throat, she was a most delicious thing […]

1910, Margaret Hill McCarter, The Price of the Prairie:

Nelumbo lutea
Nelumbo lutea#Translingual

(US, Mississippi, dialect) Nelumbo lutea, the American lotus, the water chinkapin.


LVT

veterinary technician
veterinary technician#English

(US, Canada) Initialism of licensed veterinary technician.


comfort station

en-noun

comfort station (plural comfort stations)

From the Kierkegaard Room he lopingly careened through a red-carpeted hallway that had previously vouchsafed him a comfort station but this morning seemed all business, no M or W in sight, just salons and boutiques and the Ingmar Bergman Cinema.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:


gro

en-adj

gro (comparative more gro, superlative most gro)

more gro (comparative)
most gro (superlative)

Shortening of gross (adjective), perhaps via grody.

Wash your hair! It's totally gro.

(US, slang) Disgusting, unpleasant; gross.


gospel bird

Fried chicken was often served on Sunday, the day of attending church.


break it down

en-verb

break it down (third-person singular simple present breaks it down, present participle breaking it down, simple past broke it down, past participle broken it down)

breaks it down (present singular third-person)
breaking it down (participle present)
broke it down (past)
broken it down (participle past)

[…] Renee Victor breaking it down on the dance floor beneath a hanging decoration that looked like a bunch of enormous joints.

2006, “The Hollywood reporter, Volume 395”, in Hollywood Reporter Inc., page 16:

Actually, the stain wasn't even very noticeable while we were breaking it down on the dance floor.

2010, Christine Mills, Mahler Mills Christy Mahler Mills, No Regrets, iUniverse, p. 119

(US, slang) To dance, especially in a hip hop style.


git along

Pronunciation spelling of get along (“move along”).

Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies,
It's your misfortune, and none of my own.
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies,
For you know Wyoming will be your new home.

1910, John Avery Lomax, Cowboy songs, and other frontier ballads, page 87:

(US, cowboy slang, often said to cattle) Move; keep going.


welfare queen

1970s, popularized during Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, but not used by Reagan himself.

Miss Taylor, who is 40 years old, has been called Illinois’ “welfare queen” for allegedly defrauding Illinois and other states out of welfare payments while using a number of aliases.

1976 February 29, “‘Welfare Queen’ Loses Her Cadillac Limousine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Martin isn't a typecast welfare queen sucking the nation dry, as Thomas seemed to suggest, but a single woman like his own mother, who worked low-paying jobs without benefits to support her family and turned to relatives for help.

1994, Lisa Jones, Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair, Anchor Books, published 1995, →ISBN:

Welfare queens can't hold a candle to corporate kings in raiding the public purse.

1994, Marian Wright Edelman, Measure of Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Beacon Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 113:

[…] You need to go on back to the ghetto and make a bunch of ghetto babies and live off of welfare. I heard that you and your mama were welfare queens.”

2008, Earl Sewell, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Kimani TRU, published 2008, →ISBN, page 125:

(US, derogatory) A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need.

Ronald Reagan 1976 presidential campaign


MGySgt

Master Gunnery Sergeant
w:Master Gunnery Sergeant

(US, military) Abbreviation of Master Gunnery Sergeant.


BBA

balanced budget amendment
balanced budget amendment#English

(US, politics, finance, law) Initialism of balanced budget amendment.


SecDef

Secretary of Defense
w:Secretary of Defense

(US, government, military) Abbreviation of Secretary of Defense, civilian head of the US Department of Defense.


read off

read off (third-person singular simple present reads off, present participle reading off, simple past and past participle read off)

reads off (present singular third-person)
reading off (participle present)
read off (participle past)
read off (past)

He also knows that he has a tendency towards being overweight and watches his diet carefully, and he can tell you everything there is to know about every man in his platoon. Yet, more than once, I've read him off for being partial to a couple of obvious earbangers, and the simplest problem can make him indecisive.

(transitive, US, military, slang) To scold or reprimand.


simple majority

en-noun

simple majority (plural simple majorities)

Oregon and Colorado were chosen by anti-gay groups to build momentum for a nationwide attack, beceause thhe two states have lenient election laws that allow for state constitutions to be amended by a simple majority of voters

1991 December 15, Dawn Schmitz, “Putting Gay Rights To A Popular Vote”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 22, page 1:

(Canada, US) Synonym of majority: (of a motion) more votes in favor of a proposition than against it.


heat index

heat index (plural heat indexes or heat indices)

heat indexes (plural)
heat indices (plural)

(US, meteorology) A figure used by American meteorologists to describe the apparent heat felt by a person as the result of a combination of temperature and humidity.

temperatura de xafogor

figure used to describe the apparent heat felt by a person


TPS

TPS (countable and uncountable, plural TPS's or TPSes)

While some are spreading fears that these protections will inspire more migrants to come to the country, the weight of the evidence shows otherwise: Prior TPS designations have not led to increased unauthorized migration. In fact, our research shows that TPS actually decreases the pressures driving such migration.

2023 October 5, Ben Helms, David Leblang and Tom Jawetz, “Opinion: A smart and humane answer on immigration”, in CNN:

temporary protected status
temporary protected status#English

(US, law) Initialism of temporary protected status.


SHRA

(US, meteorology) Abbreviation of rain showers.


Unknowns

(US) Those US military personnel who have died in service, usually in war, without proper burial.


wipe up

en-verb

wipe up (third-person singular simple present wipes up, present participle wiping up, simple past and past participle wiped up)

wipes up (present singular third-person)
wiping up (participle present)
wiped up (participle past)
wiped up (past)

We're going to wipe up your team just like we wiped up the Canaries.

(US, transitive, slang, figurative) To defeat (an opponent) thoroughly; trounce.


whitewing

From white + wing. The street sweepers were so called because of the white uniforms they used to wear.


limousine liberal

en-noun

limousine liberal (plural limousine liberals)

First appeared c. 1969. Coined by Mario Procaccino in reference to New York mayor John Lindsay.

As soon as the word comes out of your mouth […] your own servant is going to size you up as one of those limousine liberals, or whatever epithet they use, who are busy pouring white soul all over the black movement, and would you do as much for the white lower class, for the domestics of the East Side, for example, fat chance, sahib.

1970 June 8, Tom Wolfe, “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's”, in New York Magazine:

(US, derogatory) A wealthy person, liberal in politics but insulated from any adverse consequences of the policies they support.


dickass

What kind of a dickass line is this: "Jeez, I, like, slopped coffee over my blouse"?

1995, Craig Brown, The Private Eye: Craig Brown Parodies:

(Canada, US, vulgar) A contemptible person.


land poor

en-adj

land poor (comparative more land poor, superlative most land poor)

more land poor (comparative)
most land poor (superlative)
land-poor (alternative)

"I was offered a thousand acres, the other day, at twenty-five cents an acre," remarked the doctor. "The owner is so land-poor that he can't pay the taxes."

1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter XV, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

[A]ll the rest of the surrounding land was owned by a Frenchman. . . . He was a land-miser. With no business capacity, old and opinionated, he was land poor, and it was an open question which would arrive first, his death or bankruptcy.

1913, Jack London, chapter 18, in The Valley of the Moon:

Altho' most of the planters were "land poor" and burdened by the heavy taxes of "Reconstruction," and altho' many Negroes, having abandoned hope of "forty acres and a mule" from the Federal Government, were now ready to buy ten acres and an ox, the sale of land to Negroes was generally reprobated.

1924, Ambrose Elliott Gonzales, "The Quest of the Land" in The Captain: Stories of the Black Border (1972 reprint edition by Ayer Publishing), p. 111

Most ranchers are land poor—lots of land, but not much money.

2011, Irene Brand, chapter 9, in Song of her Heart, →ISBN:

(US, idiomatic) In a condition of poverty as a result of inability to meet tax payments or other financial requirements for one's land holdings.


Marley

Marlee (alternative)
Marleigh (alternative)
Marly (alternative)

From several different places in England, from Old English mære (“boundary”) or myrig (“pleasant”) or mearþ (“marten”) + lēah (“woodland clearing”). In the first case, equivalent to mere (“boundary”) + -ley (“lea”).

(chiefly US) A female given name transferred from the surname.


32nd note

(music, US) a note with 1/32 the length of a whole note


quick bread

en-noun

quick bread (countable and uncountable, plural quick breads)

quick breads (plural)
quickbread (alternative)

(US) A type of bread which is leavened with agents other than yeast (such as baking soda plus an acid) and thus rises more quickly.


Columbian

Columbian (countable and uncountable, plural Columbians)

(uncountable, US printing, dated) A size of type between English and great primer, standardized as 16-point.


titman

Compound of tit (“chickadee, one of various small animals”) + man (“human male”).


toad-strangler

"I mean, hit's a toad-strangler of a rain," he proffered. "I mean!" she agreed. "Reckon your daddy'll keer, me a-follerin' this-a-way?" "Reckon he mought."

1940, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, When the whippoorwill:

It's not what I'd call a sprinkle, and it's not a chip washer or a gully washer — it's a real regular toad-strangler, and I've seen 'em like this in Arkansas when it turns all the roads into black gumbo.

1943, James Hilton, The story of Dr. Wassell:

It rained in memory of Noah, a toad-strangler that threatened to wash them all into a gully that foamed and churned with red water

1998, Sheldon Russell, The Savage Trail:

(US, dialectal) A very heavy downpour of rain.


minitruck

Recent attempts to market practical part-time pickups in the United States — the Subaru Baja, for instance — and earlier minitruck efforts like the Rabbit-based Volkswagen Pickup and the Omni-based Dodge Rampage never fired buyers’ imagination.

2008 June 29, Paul Duchene, “Part-Time Pickups Back From the Outback”, in New York Times:

(US) A compact pickup truck designed for light duty.


treadwear

(US, automotive) A numerical measure of how long the tread of a tire can be expected to last.


OPV

optionally piloted vehicle
optionally piloted vehicle#English

(military, aviation, US) Initialism of optionally piloted vehicle.


optionally piloted vehicle

en-noun

optionally piloted vehicle (plural optionally piloted vehicles)

(US, military, aviation) An aircraft that may be manned or unmanned, able to function in either mode without modification.


PJs

We lived in the PJs, that's what we called the projects. It was integrated. The people next door were white, and there weren't that many blacks […]

1996, Murray Dubin, South Philadelphia: Mummers, Memories, and the Melrose Diner, page 64:

He had to win over the children in the PJs. Come rain or shine, he continued to walk his parish.

2008, Eric Gutierrez, Disciples of the Street: The Promise of a Hip Hop Church, page 62:

(US, slang) Short for projects (“urban housing developments for people with low incomes”).


small blue

(US) A very small butterfly, Philotiella speciosa, of the lycaenid subfamily Polyommatinae, the blues


slumpy

en-adj

slumpy (comparative slumpier, superlative slumpiest)

slumpier (comparative)
slumpiest (superlative)

So away goes lunch, and off goes you and the 'Sir,' a trampousin' and trapsein' over the wet grass agin […] and then back by another path that's slumpier than t'other, and twice as long […]

1843, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Attaché Or Sam Slick in England, Paris: Baudry's European Library, page 219:

[…] a large extent of rushy ground, either dry or hard, or slumpy and wet, […]

1853, George Johnston, The Botany of the Eastern Borders, I., page 250:

[…] making a rock his easy-chair, and a pair of hunting-boots his slippers; letting his dressing-gown be a woollen shirt or an india-rubber overcoat; finding his dainty, creamy-leaved books in white birch trees, or yeasty, frothy, river-rapids, and for delicate annotations making big tracts through the slumpy alluvion of the forest[…]

1869, G. M. Hoppin, “The Adirondac Lakes”, in The Broadway, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 263:

The softening of the great body of snow renders the roads slumpy and full of "Thank-ye-ma'ams," so that sleighing is not altogether a blissful experience just now.

1877, John Russell Bartlett, anonymous quotee, Providence Journal, letter from Maine, date unknown, quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, page 611:

(UK, US, dialect) Easily broken through; boggy; marshy.


aluminumize

en-verb

aluminumize (third-person singular simple present aluminumizes, present participle aluminumizing, simple past and past participle aluminumized)

aluminumizes (present singular third-person)
aluminumizing (participle present)
aluminumized (participle past)
aluminumized (past)

A decade later, the skiwear company Bogner was dressing James Bond for the slopes, but reality soon trumped make-believe with the nylon-coated aluminumized spacesuit worn by John Glenn and the other Mercury astronauts.

2009 March 8, Robert E. Bryan, “Nylon Run”, in New York Times:


grayhead

grayheads (plural)
greyhead (alternative)

What is most troublesome to me is that our residents — no matter how much we grayheads or graybeards model the approach to history-taking from parents — learn that the checklist on the computer screen is the thing to look at, and not the living person describing their child and her problems.

2009 March 11, “Doctor-Patient-Computer Relationships”, in New York Times:

(Canada, US) A person with gray hair; an elderly person.


ton of refrigeration

en-noun

ton of refrigeration (plural tons of refrigeration)

(US) cooling capacity of an air conditioner or refrigerator equal to 12,000 British thermal units (Btu) per hour 200 Btu per minute; it denotes the amount of heat required to melt one ton of ice in 24 hours.


MCC

Metropolitan Correctional Center
w:Metropolitan Correctional Center

(US) Initialism of Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Monitored Command Code
Monitored Command Code


oose

A favorite substitute for soap was the root of the "oose," or yucca, sometimes called "soap root." This root looked about like a sugarbeet. Cut up and left in water it soon made a fluffy suds. Colored clothes came out fresh and bright because the cleanser did not harm the dyes. White clothes however were turned slightly yellow by it and therefore were not generally washed with oose. I remember how soft, fluffy, and sweet-smelling my hair always felt after a shampoo with oose suds. For mopping the wooden floors the oose root served not only as soap but as scrubbing brush as well. And how white and beautiful those floors would look.

1860, Mary Ann Hafen, Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860: With Some Account of Frontier Life in Utah and Nevada, Denver, Colo.: Privately printed for her [the author's] descendants, published 1938, →OCLC, page 41:

She climbed the Red Hill one cold day and dug oose root with which to bring a new luster to her long black hair.

1941, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC:

When I was older I went out on the hillsides and dug the roots of oose, or Amole as the Mexicans call it, which were excellent to use in place of soap.

2009, Barbara Marriott, quoting Nancy Cedenia Bagley Willis (interviewed by Roberta Flake Clayton), “Life on the Frontier”, in In Our Own Words: The Lives of Arizona Pioneer Women, Tucson, Ariz.: Fireship Press, →ISBN, page 248:


slickens

(US, dialect) The pulverised matter from a quartz mill.

(US, dialect, mining) The lighter soil of hydraulic mines.


schlockbuster

If the stalker thriller “Obsessed,” which opens on Friday, tops the box office, Clinton R. Culpepper will cement his reputation as Hollywood’s king of the schlockbuster.

2009 April 22, Michael Cieply, “He’s Behind the Guffaws and the Gore”, in New York Times:

(US, slang) A schlocky blockbuster; a film that is tasteless and inferior but still very successful.


folkstyle

But there are differences in the scoring and technique between the folkstyle wrestling in college, and the freestyle at the Olympics and the world championships.

2009 May 3, The Associated Press, “A U.S. College Wrestler Sees a World of Possibility”, in New York Times:

(US, sports) Being a style of amateur wrestling practised at collegiate and university level in the United States; the ultimate goal is to pin the opponent to the mat, and the legs can be used in offense and defense.


hamfatter

US, a. 1880. Possibly from a minstrel show song called The Ham-Fat Man (1863).

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


hainted

en-adj

hainted (comparative more hainted, superlative most hainted)

more hainted (comparative)
most hainted (superlative)

(US, dialect) Alternative form of haunted


CDP

en:Constitutional Democratic Party (disambiguation)

census-designated place
census-designated place#English

(US) Initialism of census-designated place.


astorperious

astorperious (comparative more astorperious, superlative most astorperious)

more astorperious (comparative)
most astorperious (superlative)
asterperious (alternative)

Too blamed astorperious. I just don't pay you no mind. Lay de skin on me!

1942, Zora Neale Hurston, A story in Harlem slang:

(US, slang, dated, rare, African-American Vernacular) stuck up; haughty


Amtrak

Coined circa 1971; blend of American + track.

Trains are fuller under Amtrak, but it is thought to be largely because there are fewer trains.

1969, School Mathematics Study Group, Studies in mathematics, volumes 19-20, page 8:

Its pitifully small appropriation of $40 million already gone, Amtrak has asked Congress for another $170 million to keep the trains running through mid-1973.

1971, “Give the trains a chance”, in Life, page 42:

The Amtrak brand revitalization approach represents one of the most ambitious, comprehensive, and systematic experiential marketing approaches I have ever seen.

1999, Bernd Schmitt, Experiential marketing, page 39:

(US, rail transport) A US passenger railway (incorporated as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation).


Acela

A shortening of Acela Express, from a marketing coinage based on acceleration and excellence.

(US, rail transport) The service mark of Amtrak's high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor of the United States.

First, the party’s non-Trumpist faction — embodied by senators like Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, various purple- and blue-state governors and most of the remaining Acela corridor conservatives, from lawyers and judges to lobbyists and staffers — […].

2021 January 12, Ross Douthat, “How the Republican Party Could Break”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, by extension) The Northeastern United States, generally north and east of Washington, D.C..


suppawn

Probably from Massachusett/Narragansett saupan (“softened by water”) (whence also "samp").

uder

First of all came the Van Brummels, who inhabit the pleasant borders of the Bronx: these were short fat men, wearing exceeding large trunk-breeches, and were renowned for feats of the trencher; they were the first inventors of suppawn, or mush and milk.

1809, Knickerbocker's History of New York, Washington Irving, Book VI, Chapter V:

1829 July—October, The Westminster Review, Volume XI,
In the shape of porridge the corn is called suppawn: Mr. Cobbett informs us, with the amusing particularity of a happy egotist, of the manner in which he feeds his family upon suppawn, and other substantial meats ; […] .

Corn was roasted or boiled on the ear ; soaked or boiled in lye and hulls removed, the whole kernels were served; it was eaten with milk as hominy, samp, or suppawn. Ground into meal, it appeared in a variety of forms, as porridge, hasty pudding, pone, and later as Indian pudding, which was cooked with molasses and was a favorite dish.

1948, Ernest Ludlow Bogart, Peacham: The Story of a Vermont Hill Town, pages 68–69:

(US) A porridge made from cornmeal; hasty pudding; mush.


smouch

(US) Alternative form of smooch (“kiss”)


smouch

en-verb

smouch (third-person singular simple present smouches, present participle smouching, simple past and past participle smouched)

smouches (present singular third-person)
smouching (participle present)
smouched (participle past)
smouched (past)

For what kissing and bussing, what Smouching and slabbering one of another, what filthie groping and uncleane handling is not practiced in those dancings

1583, Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses:


anticolored

(dated, US) having black skin

(South Africa, Namibia) of the coloured race group; having a mixed-race heritage


run with

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

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

The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

For about three years, I ran with several different gangs.

2011, Carl L. Adams, Wanted: Lost Souls, page 59:

Some of these wannabe hooligans ran with the Celtic Soccer Crew for a number of years without ever being arrested or suffering as much as a broken nail.

(US, informal, idiomatic) To be a member of (a gang, hooligan firm, etc.); to associate with a, typically disreputable, individual or group.


ringolevio

relievio (alternative)
ringalevio (alternative)
ring-a-levio (alternative)

There was stickball, there was handball, and there was ringolevio. Carney had loved the game. It was like tag, but bigger and more monstrous. One team hunted and the other was pursued. “Jail” was a front stoop, or the trunk of a car owned by somebody who wouldn’t beat you for touching their ride. To capture an opponent, you had to hold on for the time it took to scream Ringolevio, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three.

2023, Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto, Fleet, page 56:

(US, playground games) A children's game, a variation of tag, where each side has a designated "jail" to hold captured players from the other team.


field house

field houses (plural)
fieldhouse (alternative)

From Middle English *feldhous, from Old English feldhūs (“a tent”), equivalent to field + house. Modern sense is from 1895, originally, a side building by an outdoor sports field, later used for large buildings for indoor sports.

There were herds of leather sofas and enough computers to ensure that no prospective matriculant or visiting parent could enter a room and not see at least one available keyboard, not even in the dining hall or field house.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(Canada, US) A large building for indoor sports, particularly at colleges.

(Canada, US) A building for equipment storage and changing rooms (locker rooms) by an outdoor sports field.


snap it up

snap it up (third-person singular simple present snaps it up, present participle snapping it up, simple past and past participle snapped it up)

snaps it up (present singular third-person)
snapping it up (participle present)
snapped it up (participle past)
snapped it up (past)

"Come now, let's snap it up! Faster! Faster! Think fast! Let's go!"

1928 February 12, Quin R. Ryan, “Inside the Loud Speaker”, in Chicago Daily Tribune, page K10:

President hopes to Push Wealth Taxes Through in a Month.

1935 June 30, "Congress Told to Snap It Up" [headline], Milwaukee Journal, p. 8 (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011)

A man behind the counter looks up and yells at me. "Snap it up, Danny. We got a flock of orders waiting."

1952, Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, published 2007, →ISBN, page 107:

The guests have been smiling for two and half hours and are so bored they're discussing their dental appointments. . . and everyone is anxiously facing the kitchen. . . . I summon my best friend, Mayva, who says, "You'd better snap it up."

1975 September 2, Erma Bombeck, “Only a hostess knows true loneliness”, in Miami News, retrieved 2011-08-29, page 1B:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, dated) To hurry, to proceed quickly.


rimple

rimple (third-person singular simple present rimples, present participle rimpling, simple past and past participle rimpled)

rimples (present singular third-person)
rimpling (participle present)
rimpled (participle past)
rimpled (past)

From Middle English rimpel, rympyl, from Old English *hrimpele, hrympelle (“wrinkle, rimple”), from Proto-Germanic *hrumpiljǭ, related to Old English ġehrimpan (“to wrinkle, rimple”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimpaną (“to bend, curve, make waves, wrinkle”).

der

The evening was fine, and the air so still, that it scarcely waved the light leaves of the trees around, or rimpled the broad expanse of the waters below.

1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest, Penguin, published 1999, page 261:

He smiled vaguely upon his hostess, and she smiled back at him, her face rimpling into a thousand furrows […]


double whole note

en-noun

double whole note (plural double whole notes)

(US, music) A note with twice the value of a whole note; a breve.

倍全音符

music: a note with twice the value of a whole note


antitruster

For the first time, the antitrusters will lay out some "safe harbors," defining mergers that will virtually never be questioned. That will be an important weapon for managements that must fight legal challenges from customers[…]

(US) A government agent who investigates monopolies.


unstageable

en-adj

unstageable (comparative more unstageable, superlative most unstageable)

more unstageable (comparative)
most unstageable (superlative)

(US, medicine) Of a wound or ulcer, covered with slough or eschar, so that it cannot be assigned to any of the stages described in the National Pressure Ulcer Staging System.


restrategize

en-verb

restrategize (third-person singular simple present restrategizes, present participle restrategizing, simple past and past participle restrategized)

restrategizes (present singular third-person)
restrategizing (participle present)
restrategized (participle past)
restrategized (past)
restrategise (alternative)

Developers of 55-and-over housing are also restrategizing.

2009 July 26, Elsa Brenner, “Developers in the Age of Caution”, in New York Times:

(intransitive, chiefly US) To form a new strategy.


FMC

Federal Medical Centers
w:Federal Medical Centers

(US) Initialism of Federal Medical Centers.


squeak out

squeak out (third-person singular simple present squeaks out, present participle squeaking out, simple past and past participle squeaked out)

squeaks out (present singular third-person)
squeaking out (participle present)
squeaked out (participle past)
squeaked out (past)

The AMA Pro Flat Track racing action was fast and furious at the Illinois State Fairgrounds this weekend as the top ten riders finished within one second of each other, with flat track ‘Mile Specialist’ Willie McCoy squeaking out his first career Grand National victory after over 20 years of competing.

2011 September 6, Bryan Harley, “Springfield Mile II Flat Track Results 2011”, in Motorcycle USA:

(US, informal, transitive) To achieve something by a small margin.


ethnoburb

From ethno- + burb, coined in 1997 by Dr. Wei Li.

Immigrant elders leave a familiar home, some without electricity or running water, for a multigenerational home in communities like Fremont that demographers call ethnoburbs.

2009 August 31, Patricia Leigh Brown, “Invisible Immigrants, Old and Left With ‘Nobody to Talk To’”, in New York Times:

(US) A suburban residential and business area with a notable cluster of a particular ethnic minority population.


deather

(US, derogatory) One who favours the rationing of healthcare in the United States (from the perspective of those who believed that US president Barack Obama's healthcare legislation would include rationing).

(US, derogatory) One who believes that US president Barack Obama's healthcare legislation includes death panels.

(US, derogatory) One who subscribes to a conspiracy theory suggesting that Osama bin Laden was not killed.


snuggle bunny

snuggle bunnies (plural)
snuggle-bunny (alternative)

"So you're wanting to find a little 'intense physical affection'?"
"Oh, my! That's a bit crude, isn't it?"
"Well, then may I suggest my favorite euphemism: 'snugglebunnies'."

1985 January 12, Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County, January 12, 1985 (retrieved 22 Jan. 2019)

Howie is a 3-month-old brown rabbit that is available for adoption at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, 2536 Bountin Dr. Howie is housebroken, affectionate, calm and makes a great snuggle bunny.

2000 Aug. 2, "Snuggle Bunny," Southeast Missourian, p. 8B (retrieved 12 Sep. 2011)

“He ain't throwing us over for some little snuggle-bunny with pimples on her tits.”

2003, Stephen King, Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower IV, →ISBN, page 181:

“With Matthew going to be six in January and Leah three in June, I think it will feel good to have a snuggle bunny around again.”

2006, Ida Nelle Daily Hollaway, Lydia's Life, →ISBN, page 273:

“How is my little Murry Wurry snuggle bunny, by the way?” . . .
“[T]he last time I spoke with him, he was missing you.”
“Aaawww, I miss him too,” Stupenagel cooed. “He's going to be one worn-out lover boy after I get home.”

2009, Robert K. Tanenbaum, Capture, →ISBN, page 172:

(US, idiomatic) A romantic partner, child, pet, stuffed animal, etc. which is an object of affection and which provides comfort through physical contact.


plush toy

(US, Canada, Australia) A soft toy with a soft, plush covering.


seacoal

sea coal (alternative)
sea-coal (alternative)

(historical, technical, chiefly US) coal to be used at sea: a certain class of mineral coal, especially suitable for the steam engines of ships at sea and locomotives.

Such coal used in foundry practice, intermixed with foundry sand or applied in a layer on its face, to modify the behavior of the molten metal.


nut out

nut out (third-person singular simple present nuts out, present participle nutting out, simple past and past participle nutted out)

nuts out (present singular third-person)
nutting out (participle present)
nutted out (participle past)
nutted out (past)

From nut (“(slang) crazy person”) + out.

There was also the Black political pimp syndrome where a few middle-class and bourgeois negroes got big off the people’s struggles, and then nutted out completely, joining forces with our enemies, as agents, messengers, sophisticated stool pigeons, professional confusers.

1981, Amiri Baraka, “Black America and the Afro-American Nation: The Urban Voice”, in Michael C. Jaye, Ann Chalmers Watts, editors, Literature & the American Urban Experience: Essays on the City and Literature, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 156:

The day we found out George Jackson was murdered he nutted out. I was there, at Shirley Sutherland′s house in Beverly Hills, the afternoon we heard George Jackson was murdered, and he nutted out at this meeting, right there.

1994, Eric Cummins, “The Force of Imprisoned Words”, in The Rise and Fall of California’s Radical Prison Movement, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 254:

I tried not to think about clients who were in prison without appellate hopes or anything else left but years of time in front of them to nut out. I do what I can with each case but sometimes there is nothing that can be done.

2005, Michael Connelly, chapter 9, in The Lincoln Lawyer, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 88:

(intransitive, US, informal) To become crazy, especially with rage.


pat down

pat down (third-person singular simple present pats down, present participle patting down, simple past and past participle patted down)

pats down (present singular third-person)
patting down (participle present)
patted down (participle past)
patted down (past)

(US, informal, transitive) To frisk; to check someone's body for concealed items, especially weapons.


insurance goal

Ricky Shakes scored Guyana's first goal in the 10th minute and Leon Cort provided the insurance goal in the 81st minute.

2012, Aldwyn McGill, Jamaica Football: Reggae Boyz History, page 40:

(US, sports) A goal scored by a team that is already leading by one goal.


tore up

en-adj

tore up (comparative more tore up, superlative most tore up)

more tore up (comparative)
most tore up (superlative)

She went into rehab tore up but cleaned up quite nicely before her departure.

I got three pounds of ice, a gallon of Jack, a half-gallon of Reyka, two gallons of Jäger and a rainbow of mixers. Tonight we're gettin' tore up from the floor up.


ass juice

en-noun

ass juice (usually uncountable, plural ass juices)

The floor beneath them had a puddle of cock-snot and ass juice, slick as vanilla pudding. The two rookies groaned like jilted whores. Tim was still working the cop's dick like a woodpecker on steroids. Suit was a natural sucking machine.

2010, Michael Gleich, Sarge and the Sailor Boy:

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) Semen, saliva or other fluid lubricant present in the rectum.


London broil

London broil (usually uncountable, plural London broils)

(US) A dish of marinated beef (originally flank steak), broiled or grilled, and cut into thin strips.


butt juice

butt juice (countable and uncountable, plural butt juices)

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) Semen, saliva or other fluid lubricant present inside the rectum.


puss-puss

puss-pusses (plural)
puss puss (alternative)

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

Those skinheads lacked the intestinal fortitude to ward off the attack of their simplistic intelligence. They are the weakest bunch of puss pusses that I have ever seen. They sent my carrier countless complaints but I STILL STANDING HUH. What a bunch of pussies. I've got more respect for Ian Taylor Christopher than I do for these weak bitches. Sure we had some words but at least he stood up. These punks just ran and told the teacher. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTCH!

1995 March 18, cw...@delphi.com, “WE WON! Alt.skinheads destroyed.........”, in alt.skinheads (Usenet), retrieved 2022-07-26:

> Of course not.What a puss-puss.
:) I am a puss-puss often. It keeps me sober and alive to be flexible. My telling you anything about god as i understand god, is a useless endeavor. You have to find god on your own, through your own actions; don't you know that?

1998 September 7, daniel, “The Steps are about God”, in alt.recovery.na (Usenet), retrieved 2022-07-26:

The puss-pusses are watching, but they're just waiting for us to get tired and leave so they can crawl back in here and lick their wounds. As much fun as they are *pretending* to have at the other ass-wipe safe NG's, you can bet anything that they wish they had *their* NG back... and that they weren't SPNANKED out of this one. The sweetest victory is that the truth, not lies, did the SPNANK!

2000 September 3, Justin Credile!, “CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE??”, in alt.fan.madonna (Usenet), retrieved 2022-07-26:

Bristol, TN? Well, HEEE-fuckin-HAWW Gomer!! GAWW-LEEE WILLIKERS!
The Rocking Horse? Is that the motion you and your toothless, hillbilly butt buddies get going when they're ass fucking you out in the woods?
I already told you where to meet me tomorrow night, puss-puss! The time and place You understand me, puss-puss? I certainly hope so. Maybe I can find somebody to give you a little bit of that "rocking horse" action, puss-puss. You'd like that wouldn't you, puss-puss?
BE THERE!!
heh, heh, heh

2006 June 23, ThreeBallLouie, “Liberals Are The Ones Who Got Ass-Whipped In School”, in alt.politics (Usenet), retrieved 2022-07-26:

(derogatory, vulgar, colloquial, chiefly Canada, US) A coward.


take one's tongue out of someone's ass

en-verb

take<,,took,taken> one's tongue out of someone's ass

take one's tongue out of someone's ass (third-person singular simple present takes one's tongue out of someone's ass, present participle taking one's tongue out of someone's ass, simple past took one's tongue out of someone's ass, past participle taken one's tongue out of someone's ass)

takes one's tongue out of someone's ass (present singular third-person)
took one's tongue out of someone's ass (past)
taken one's tongue out of someone's ass (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take one's tongue out of someone's ass.wav

An extension of the idiom lick someone's ass.

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) To stop flattering someone (especially a superior) in an obsequious manner and supporting their every opinion.


rumseller

(US, dated) Someone who sells rum and other intoxicating liquors, especially at retail.


dialyzable

en-adj

dialyzable (comparative more dialyzable, superlative most dialyzable)

more dialyzable (comparative)
most dialyzable (superlative)
dialysable (alternative)

It is heat-stable, water soluble, dialyzable, and resistant to low temperatures.

1957, Ellicott McConnell, The Production by Bacillus Thuringiensis Berliner of a Heat-stable Substance Toxic for Insects, page 42:

(US, Canada) (of a substance) Able to be removed by dialysis.


poop out

en-verb

poop out (third-person singular simple present poops out, present participle pooping out, simple past and past participle pooped out)

poops out (present singular third-person)
pooping out (participle present)
pooped out (participle past)
pooped out (past)

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

Do you poop out at parties?

1952 May 5, “Vitameatavegamin”, in I Love Lucy, spoken by Lucy Ricardo:

(intransitive, slang, Canada, US) To quit due to tiredness.

Climbing that hill really pooped me out.

(transitive, slang, Canada, US) To make very tired; to exhaust.

He pooped out a long, large turd.

When trout take cased caddis larvae, they ingest them pebbles or plant stems and all.[…]They take the caddis happily, digest the nutritious parts, poop out the rest with no problems.

2004, Dave Hughes, Handbook of Hatches, Stackpole Books, page 100:

(transitive, slang, childish, Canada, US) To defecate.


drouthy

en-adj

drouthy (comparative drouthier or more drouthy, superlative drouthiest or most drouthy)

drouthier (comparative)
more drouthy (comparative)
drouthiest (superlative)
most drouthy (superlative)

1951 June, Herman L. Wascher, R. S. Smith, R. T. Odell, Soil Report 74: Iroquois County Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, page 13,
The drouthy sandy soils are not well adapted to the grain crops that grow throughout the summer but may be used for wheat or rye, the deep-rooting legumes, or timber.

1993, Thomas Foti, The River's Gifts and Curses, Jeannie Whayne, Willard B. Gatewood, The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox, page 45,
That clay will not allow rainwater to penetrate far and will not give up much water to plants, so the site is a drouthy one for plants.

1962 [1948], Paul R. Beath (editor), Louise Pound (editor of 1962 edition), Febold Feboldson: Tall Tales from the Great Plains, page 58,
Febold was always a good-natured cuss, but he really got peeved one year when the weather got hotter and drier and drouthier every day.

1886 was the drouthiest year in over a generation, and the wells had dried up, and the black land on Tobe Pickett's farm had cracks in it wide enough to swallow a jackrabbit.

2007, Francis E. Abernethy, “Legends of the Trail”, in Kenneth L. Untiedt, editor, Folklore in Motion: Texas Travel Lore, page 61:

At parting, they bestowed a cup on him of a miraculous make, for it was ever full of wine, let the drinker be ever so drouthy.

1835, Egerton Brydges, editor, Notes on Comus: The Poetical Works of John Milton, volume 5, page 252:

A drouthier pair of mortals could not have been found anywhere, and, at the first draught, each emptied his cup to the bottom!

1866, Mayne Reid, The Scalp Hunters: Or, Adventures Among the Trappers, page 187:

"[…]Help yoursel' to some wine, Mr. Birkenshaw, for it's drouthy work talking."

1899, John Buchan, A Lost Lady of Old Years, published 2013, unnumbered page:


eat shit

en-verb

eat shit (third-person singular simple present eats shit, present participle eating shit, simple past ate shit, past participle eaten shit)

eats shit (present singular third-person)
eating shit (participle present)
ate shit (past)
eaten shit (participle past)

Calque of Spanish comer mierda (“to waste time”) in the context of Cuban Spanish

cal

(US, slang, vulgar, Florida) To do nothing of importance; to idle.


hackee

The Hackee is one of the liveliest and briskest of quadrupeds, and by reason of its quick and rapid movements, has not inaptly been compared to the wren.

1865, John George Wood, The illustrated natural history: Volume 1, page 600:

The hackee, which is pedimanous, tried to climb the bole.

1894, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas: Volume 21, Part 1:

(US, dialect) The chickaree or red squirrel.


trunkline

(US, transport) Any road under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Transportation.


cougaring

(Canada, US, slang) The seeking of casual, often sexual, companionship of younger males by an older woman.


Smurf turf

Rhyming name: The Smurfs are blue cartoon characters.

(US, sports, slang) The distinctive blue ground of the Bronco Stadium, Idaho, United States.


chalk out

en-verb

chalk out (third-person singular simple present chalks out, present participle chalking out, simple past and past participle chalked out)

chalks out (present singular third-person)
chalking out (participle present)
chalked out (participle past)
chalked out (past)

A 25-1 shot won race 3, but the rest of the early pick 5 chalked out after that.

(US, intransitive, horse racing) In a multi-race wager, to lose to the favorite in all of the remaining races.

(US, transitive, slang) To kill (someone).


check off

check off (third-person singular simple present checks off, present participle checking off, simple past and past participle checked off)

checks off (present singular third-person)
checking off (participle present)
checked off (participle past)
checked off (past)

Check off the items on the list that interest you.

Check off the items that you've checked (inspected).

Check off the correct answer to each question.

I completed the task, please check me off the list.

(US, Philippines, often used without "off") To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example, completed or verified as correct or satisfactory); to tick off (UK), tick (UK), cross off, strike off.


AfPak

(US) Afghanistan and Pakistan considered as a single entity


dugway

(US) A way or road dug through a hill, or sunk below the surface of the land.


test pattern

(US, television) A test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast.


prismatic colors

(physics, optics, Canada, US) Colors visible when white light is split in a prism.


dry lake

A former lake, especially a lake that has dried and habitually remains dry, (US) opposed to playas.


stadium mustard

The condiment was originally only available at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.


banana peel

(Canada, US, Philippines) The several outermost layers of a banana, especially once removed from the rest of the banana, which may be slippery if stepped on.

Furthermore, he is completely surrounded by banana peels. Canada's economy is slowing down, though less so far than extreme pessimists feared. Newly released figures show that our merchandise trade surplus in 1989 fell by more than half to its lowest level in 10 years. And, ever since it peaked on Jan. 12, the dollars yo-yo motion has juddered erratically, signalling confusion to the money markets of the world where the mismanagement of a national economy is judged with a harsh and unforgiving coldness. The freshest banana peel under Mr. Wilson's foot is the report that inflation in January jumped from December's 5.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent -- right on the heels of Thursday's rise of more then half a percentage point in the Bank of Canada rate.

We had the first black president, trying to bring home a victory on healthcare. I didn’t want to be a banana peel for him.

2012, Van Jones, “Prologue: There and Back Again”, in Rebuild the Dream, Nation Books, →ISBN:

(Canada, US) A cause of difficulty, or potential embarrassment.


soddie

The soddie could be a freestanding structure made of slabs of sod cut by a plow, or it could be a dugout partially bored into the side of a hill or into the ground.

1988, Glenda Riley, The Female Frontier, page 87:

I learned how to make a soddie into a home.

1995, Julie Garwood, Prince Charming, page 247:

“Living in a soddy!” exclaimed Marie. “I didn't know there was anyone alive today who lived in a soddy. In our part of Nebraska, soddies went out of existence around the beginning of the 1900s.”
“Oh, we had soddies for a long time after that,” said Robert. “This area was too poor to afford lumber for housing. Quite a few of us lived in soddies when we were kids.”

2004, Marie Kramer, Grandchildren of the Pioneers, page 56:

It is better now that we do not live in the soddie, but to Mor it does not seem better.

2010, Brenda K. Marshall, Dakota, Or What's a Heaven For, unnumbered page:

(US, Canada, informal) A house constructed from blocks of sod, once common in the prairies of the United States and Canada.


fetus fetishist

en-noun

fetus fetishist (plural fetus fetishists)

"Defeat the fetus fetishists" and "I am more important than a fetus" were among the placards carried by nearly 100 women […]

1972 October 3, Laurie Johnston, “Respect Life Week Stresses the Unborn”, in The New York Times:

As Campbell announced he supported life, Morgentaler cut him off and shouted, "I'm a pro-choicer and a pro-lifer. You are not a pro-lifer; you are a fetus fetishist."

1988 February 10, “TV Opponents Take Gloves Off Following Debate on Abortions”, in Toronto Star:

(Canada, US, politics, derogatory, dysphemistic) One who supports fetal rights; an antiabortionist.


tool around

en-verb

tool around (third-person singular simple present tools around, present participle tooling around, simple past and past participle tooled around)

tools around (present singular third-person)
tooling around (participle present)
tooled around (participle past)
tooled around (past)

Near-synonym: cruise

It's like when you were in high school, hanging out with your friends and tooling around in your parents' jalopy.

2001 April 26, “Pay-to-play space mission”, in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, US, retrieved 2012-07-06:

Many drivers tool around town or take long drives with cell phone in hand, one eye on the road but their mind clearly someplace else.

2005 July 14, “Editorial: Talking heads”, in Toledo Blade, US, retrieved 2012-07-06:

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is known for selling the jet her predecessor as Alaska governor used to tool around the state. She now has one of her own.

2008 September 5, “Palin can't say no to jet this time”, in azcentral.com, US, retrieved 2012-07-06:

en:drive or jaunt about in a leisurely way

(transitive and intransitive, Canada, US) To drive or jaunt about, going from place to place without any specific direction or goal.


butt out

butt out (third-person singular simple present butts out, present participle butting out, simple past and past participle butted out)

butts out (present singular third-person)
butting out (participle present)
butted out (participle past)
butted out (past)

The government should butt out of people's private lives.

(intransitive, Canada, US, slang, derogatory) To stop interfering; mind one's own business.


boil up

boil up (third-person singular simple present boils up, present participle boiling up, simple past and past participle boiled up)

boils up (present singular third-person)
boiling up (participle present)
boiled up (participle past)
boiled up (past)

(transitive, dated, US, slang) To boil clothes to clean or sanitize them.


doucheness

(Canada, US, derogatory, slang) stupidity; jackassery


flag stop

All trains stop at all stations, with the exception of a few "local" stations near Mombasa and an odd flag stop or two usually missed by the mails.

1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

(rail transport, US) A train station at which trains stop only on request.


drop a brick

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

drops a brick (present singular third-person)
dropping a brick (participle present)
dropped a brick (participle past)
dropped a brick (past)

drop a bombshell
drop a bombshell#English

(US, idiomatic) Alternative form of drop a bombshell


reedgrass

en-noun

reedgrass (countable and uncountable, plural reedgrasses)

reedgrasses (plural)
reed grass (alternative)

(US) Any of the grasses in the genus Calamagrostis.


OVP

(US, Philippines, politics) Initialism of Office of the Vice President.


Gotcha Day

(US) A day celebrated by the family of an adopted child or pet to recognize the day they received the child or pet.


baseplate

en-verb

baseplate (third-person singular simple present baseplates, present participle baseplating, simple past and past participle baseplated)

baseplates (present singular third-person)
baseplating (participle present)
baseplated (participle past)
baseplated (past)

(transitive, US, logistics) To provide (the vehicles within a fleet) with license plates registered as a batch in a particular state.


routing number

This new check may appear to be the account of John Doe, although the actual account and routing number are for Jane Smith's checking account at the Acme Bank. Fraudsters then use these checks to purchase items and get cash back.

2009, Martin T. Biegelman, Identity Theft Handbook: Detection, Prevention, and Security, page 202:

But the odd thing is the routing numbers. In the case of the two near matching account numbers, the routing numbers are different. Possible? Maybe. But it's also possible for me to win the lottery twice in the same week […]

2012, James Harrison, Quest for Power, page 158:

(US) A number used by a banking institution to designate a certain geographic area in order to sort inquiries and transactions and direct them to the correct district. It is usually shown at the bottom left of a check.


Trick Night

(US, around New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island) A particular night, commonly the night of the 30th to the 31st of October, during which young people play pranks and do mischief in their neighborhoods.

around New York City; Connecticut; Rhode Island; around New York City; Connecticut; Rhode Island


Mischief Night

(UK, Canada, US) A particular night during which young people play pranks and do mischief in their neighborhoods.

(dated, originally) The night before May Day.

(UK) Mostly practiced in the North West of England, Mischief night (“missie night” in Liverpool ) is the 30th of October (the night before Halloween).

Trick Night

around New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island

Cabbage Night

upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont

especially in upstate New York, Vermont, and Bergen County, NJ

Devil's Night

Chicago, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, coastal New England

(US, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and especially New Jersey) The night of the 30th to the 31st of October (the night before Halloween).

Maryland; Delaware; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut; Maryland; Delaware; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut


monkey-house

monkey-houses (plural)
monkey house (alternative)


high fructose corn syrup

en-noun

high fructose corn syrup (usually uncountable, plural high fructose corn syrups)

high fructose corn syrups (plural)
HFCS (alternative)
high-fructose corn syrup (alternative)

In 1982, high fructose corn syrup production amounted to 8.4 billion pounds with a value well in excess of one billion dollars.

Let's take a look at the sweetener used in most soft drinks, high fructose corn syrup.

Sucrose is just as bad as high fructose corn syrup," maintains Dr. Ludwig, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard

Not because high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is any worse for you than sugar, but because it is, like many of the other unfamiliar ingredients in packaged

enzymatic processing
enzymatic processing

(chiefly US) A type of corn syrup that has undergone an enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose in order to produce a desired sweetness.

jarabe / almíbar / sirope / arrope de maíz / maicero de alta / alto en fructosa


pimp out

en-verb

pimp out (third-person singular simple present pimps out, present participle pimping out, simple past and past participle pimped out)

pimps out (present singular third-person)
pimping out (participle present)
pimped out (participle past)
pimped out (past)

You can't pimp out a ho on no earth level.

2000, Ice-T, quoted in Josh Kun, “Quickfix: Pimps in Space”, CMJ New Music Monthly, ISSN 1074-6978, Number 84 (August 2000), page 12

2005, Spin Magazine
Spouting some of the most hilarious "urban" dialogue Quentin Tarantino ever wrote, Spivey (Gary Oldman) throws raging parties and pimps out feisty ho Alabama

2005 Jocelyn M. Pollock, Prisons: today and tomorrow
To be turned out, prostituted, pimped out, or turned into an inmate whore.

The young prostitute he pimped out.

2010, John De Vito, Frank Tropea, Epic television miniseries: a critical history, page 108

My mom pimped me out, for my fundraising skills, to the United Way for a fundraiser.

Scott likes pimping out his girlfriend to his friends.

I hate men that live off the earnings of the prostitutes that they pimp out.

(slang, US, transitive) To prostitute, take advantage of, exploit, use, to hire out or provide to others like a whore.

2006, Games Access Unwired
There's also a special meter that lies underneath the health bar which increases as the fight ensues, and fills more rapidly if your fighter is pimped out with the latest kicks, bling and hairdos.

2008, David Meerman Scott
Need to Know to Get Started Pimp Out Your Blog Building an Audience for Your New Blog Tag, and Your Buyer Is It Blogging Outside of North America What Are You

(slang, US, transitive) To make showy improvements to; to adorn or beautify.


velvetbreast

Mergus merganser
Mergus merganser#Translingual

(US, dated) The goosander (Mergus merganser).


chrome dome

chrome domes (plural)
chrome-dome (alternative)
chromedome (alternative)

Airman Wheeler, a rebellious sort who did not like his job anyway, disregarded the orders of his superior, Lieut. William Shortt, to get his hair "clipped close from ear to crown, with only a fringe on top of the head"—a haircut variously known as a white sidewall, an Apache, a chrome-dome.

1957 August 5, Carolina A. Miranda, “Armed Forces: Scalped”, in Time:

(US, military) A haircut in which the hair is clipped extremely close to the scalp.


monkeys might fly out of my butt

En-au-monkeys might fly out of my butt.ogg

Popularized by the 1992 film Wayne's World. Likely a variation on pigs might fly.

‘I am sure he'll pay you back tomorrow.’ ‘Yeah right, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.’

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) A response to a suggested situation that one thinks has no chance of ever occurring.


buttbuddy

buttbuddies (plural)
butt buddy (alternative)

Bill and Matthew have been buttbuddies for years now.

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) A man's male sex partner.


deep freeze

deep freezes (plural)
deep-freeze (alternative)
deepfreeze (alternative)

From deep + freeze. Second sense appears c. 1851 in the publication Prairie Farmer.

(Canada, US) A time period of very cold weather, in which the temperatures are below freezing.


desk pilot

Ever since Sgt. Armstrong got too fat to pass his PT tests, he got promoted to desk pilot.

(US, military) A serviceman relegated to menial deskwork, often due to poor physical and mental abilities.


corn roast

(US) An outdoor celebration in which corn is cooked on open fires.


corn whiskey

en-noun

corn whiskey (countable and uncountable, plural corn whiskeys)

(US) A whiskey distilled from a mash made up of not less than 80% corn (maize).


elocute

en-verb

elocute (third-person singular simple present elocutes, present participle elocuting, simple past and past participle elocuted)

elocutes (present singular third-person)
elocuting (participle present)
elocuted (participle past)
elocuted (past)

The girl, now 13, wore a green dress. She was somber as [Rudy Lozano] required Beith to elocute – state the charges against him and account for his role in the crime.

2002 July 2, Steve Walsh, “‘Because I’m Guilty’: Maximum sentence is 15 years in prison and fine”, in The Post-Tribune, Gary, Indiana, page A1:

“If the defendant gets up and elocutes today that he’s sorry – the facts show that he is not sorry, that he doesn’t believe he committed any crimes,” York County Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan told the court.

2013 March 21, Seth Koenig, “Mark Strong gets 20 days in Kennebunk Zumba prostitution case, sent directly to jail”, in Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Maine:

Does anybody really think that Newt Gingrich[…] let alone people such as Dennis Hastert, who later elocuted in court to abusing young boys sexually,[…] does anybody think that these people really went all Aunt Pittypat with shock at Bill and Monica having a little after-hours fun?

2018 January/February, Telly Davidson, “Monica’s Lingering Legacy”, in The American Conservative, volume 17, number 1, page 12:

Yes, Manafort pled guilty to essentially these charges in federal court. He elocuted to them and he also admitted that he was guilty of the counts that hung where the jury didn’t reach a verdict.

2019 March 13, The Beat with Ari Melber, spoken by Daniel Alonso, via MSNBC:


middling plantation

en-noun

middling plantation (plural middling plantations)

"A planter or large plantation held fifty or more slaves while a middling plantation or slaveholder owned twenty to forty-nine slaves. Thus, a small plantation was one on which there were nineteen or fewer slaves." (Wilma P. Dunaway, Slavery in the American Mountain South: "Introduction" 9, 2003)

(US, historical) A medium-size plantation with about 20-49 slaves. Contrasted with small plantation or smallholding (19 or less slaves) and large plantation (50+ slaves).


postemancipation

…coal companies conspired with the prisons, court systems, and governments in each of those states to implement one of the more egregious forms of racial exploitation imposed on postemancipation blacks.

2001, John C. Inscoe, “Introduction”, in Appalachians and Race, page 9:

(US) After the Emancipation Proclamation.


callithump

You probably don't know what callithump is, but you will find out if you undertake to hoe sod-ground potatoes in July. It has something to do with brazen trumpets and violence. I became acquainted with callithump when I straightened out the asparagus-bed.

1919, Albert Bigelow Paine, Dwellers in Arcady: The Story of an Abandoned Farm:

(US, colloquial, dated) A somewhat riotous parade, accompanied with the blowing of tin horns and other discordant noises.

(US, colloquial, dated) A burlesque serenade; a charivari.


spiketail

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(US, dialect) A pintail duck (Anas spp.).


yanno

Have you, yanno, told her yet?

2022, Ivy Noelle Weir, Anne of West Philly: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Anne of Green Gables, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 217:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

Pronunciation spelling of you know, representing US English.


frickle

Frickles (fried pickles) are inspired and served with a blue cheese dipping sauce (see page 20).

2013, Lisa Faulkner, The Way I Cook..., page 41:

Raise your hand if you love fried pickies (both my hands are raised). There is no stopping my love for pickle-anything, but frickles take it to a whole new level.

2020, Rachel Mansfield, Just the Good Stuff, page 116:

Using the deep-fryer's wire basket, a slotted spoon, or a spider, remove the frickles to paper towels to absorb extra oil or drain on a wire rack.

2013, Josh Lebowitz, Eva Pesantez, Sean Evans, Brother Jimmy's BBQ:


goneness

goneness (countable and uncountable, plural gonenesses)

(US, informal) A state of exhaustion or faintness, especially from hunger.


CBRN

weapons of mass destruction
weapon of mass destruction

(military, US, emergency medicine) Initialism of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, used to remember the four types of weapons of mass destruction.


kosher salt

kosher salt (usually uncountable, plural kosher salts)

From its use in drawing blood out of meat as part of the process of rendering meat kosher.

(US) A variety of edible salt with a large grain size and usually no additives.


frogskin

frogskin (countable and uncountable, plural frogskins)

You can buy the individual parts for a few frogskins, or the whole setup for fifty.

Give a few frogskins to charity.

(US, slang) A greenback, a United States dollar.


sewing circle

If Tallulah wasn't a member of the Sewing Circle it was one of the few lesbian adventures she missed. The Sewing Circle was made up of Hollywood women who were either bisexual, committed to lesbianism, or just visiting. They met at one another's houses for lunch, conversation and possibilities. The Sewing Circle sometimes met at the house of Dolores Del Rio, then married to Cedric Gibbons, the MGM art director.

2001 January 7, David Freeman, “Closet Hollywood”, in New York Times:

(historical, US) A discreet code for lesbian or bisexual actresses during Hollywood's golden age.


fatbutt

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) An overweight person.


Quaker gun

Quaker guns (plural)
quaker gun (alternative)

An allusion to the pacifism associated with practitioners of the Quaker religion.

"At all events, your honour, I will carry the quaker in," said Joyce, tossing the stuffed figure on a shoulder. "He do to man the quaker gun at least, and may be of use in frightening some one of the other side."

1843, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 21, in Wyandotte:

The Quaker gun found there was consigned to the flames to-day, and in its stead heavy artillery, of the genuine sort, commands all the surrounding country.

1861 October 4, “The Great Rebellion”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-10-30:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, military, weaponry) A nonfunctional imitation of a gun or of a piece of artillery, typically made of wood and usually intended to deceive enemy forces into overestimating one's available firepower.


sandhiller

(US, dated, informal, Georgia, Carolina) A poor white person; white trash


septage

(Canada, US) The partially treated waste stored in a septic tank.


chirk

en-adj

chirk (comparative chirker or more chirk, superlative chirkest or most chirk)

chirker (comparative)
more chirk (comparative)
chirkest (superlative)
most chirk (superlative)

From Middle English chirken, cherken, charken, from Old English ċearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakċną (“to make a sound, crack”). Doublet of chark. Related also to crake, crack.

inh

(colloquial, US, chiefly New England) lively; cheerful; in good spirits


MCAT

“Please, save me from the boredom of this practice test. I might actually die if I have to do another one. Can you imagine? Death by MCAT as you strive to become a doctor.”

2020, Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent Kingdom, Viking (2021), page 216:

Medical College Admission Test
w:Medical College Admission Test

(Canada, US, countable) Acronym of Medical College Admission Test.


Bumfuck

bumfuck (alternative)
Bumfuck, Egypt (alternative)
Bumfuck, Minnesota (alternative)

(vulgar, US) An imaginary place in the middle of nowhere.


EAB

emergency air breather
emergency air breather#English

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of emergency air breather.


-furter

From the final element of frankfurter. Compare -burger.

krautfurter

chickenfurter

turkeyfurter

shrimpfurter

(chiefly US) German-style food, especially wursts or sausages.


butt chin

butt chins (plural)
butt-chin (alternative)

Still looking lost and confused, Clive scratched his butt-chin, looked me in the eye with both pupils constricted, and full of uncertainty, he stammered as he fired yet another question.

Katie immediately noticed a deep cleft in his chin. “Butt chin” was what the kids at school called it.

Alex barked a laugh, surprising both of them. "Butt chin? What does that mean?"
"It's got a crack in it, like a butt. Daddy had the butt chin, too."

Aria sneaked a peek at Sean. Her eyes kept gravitating toward the little cleft in his chin. Ali used to call them "butt chins," but it was actually pretty cute.

His most distinctive feature was his cleft chin. Some people jokingly referred to it as a “butt chin.” Sheppard's dimpled chin wasn't at all unsightly.

2007, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Sullivan's Evidence, page 334:

He had a cleft chin, or as Matt whispered to me, a butt chin.

2006, Carol Weston, Melanie in Manhattan, page 261:

He bent down slowly and got so close to my face, I could see the lines in his glossy, unchapped lips and the stubbled hairs in the crack of his butt-chin.
page 123
And I told him everything; his perfect teeth glistened, a dimple flattered his flawless butt-chin.

2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End page 107

"I guess he does have a butt chin."

2004, Hailey Abbot, Summer Boys, page 79:

He had a chin on him, a butt-chin, with a dimple in it.


snipebill

(US, dialect) A bolt by which the body of a cart is fastened to the axle.


namaycush

Borrowed from Cree ᓇᒣᑯᐢ (namekos, “lake trout”), from Proto-Algonquian *name·kwa (“lake trout”).

der

Salvelinus namaycush
Salvelinus namaycush#Translingual

(Canada, US) The togue: a large North American lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, usually spotted with red.


chunker

Onomatopoeic, or from chunk (“throw”), with -er.

(US military, slang) An M79 grenade launcher.


podunk

en-adj

podunk (comparative more podunk, superlative most podunk)

more podunk (comparative)
most podunk (superlative)

From Podunk, a mythical small town of no importance, from Eastern Algonquian.

"'A Super Bowl win can legitimize us as a town. We're not some small podunk town anymore,'" said Spencer Venable of Indianapolis.

2007 February 5, “"We're not some podunk town anymore”, in USA Today:

Yes the beautiful time every year when this little podunk town [of Pendleton, Oregon] swells to four or five times her size with Round-Up feverish Cowboy types who chew, spit and chase four-legged critters around a screaming arena….check that….That’s normal…

2010, “Round-Up Time: Pendleton Town Celebrates 100th!”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2011-10-10:

You might live in a podunk town if...your Wal-Mart has a hitching post.

2010 May 21, “You might live in a podunk town if...”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):


straight-joint

(architecture, US, of flooring or planking) Put together without the tongue and groove, the pieces being laid edge to edge.


asskisser

(US, vulgar, derogatory) Someone who kisses ass; a sycophantic individual.


baggagemaster

(US, historical) A person in charge of the baggage at a railway station.


backhouse

backhouses (plural)
back-house (alternative)
back house (alternative)

→ French: bécosse

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

BACK'HOUSE... a necessary.

1847, Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language:

[…] the chlorides Mother was always throwing into the little outdoor backhouse […]

1939, Christopher Morley, chapter II, in Kitty Foyle, page 23:

(US, Canada, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.


battle buddy

I didn't know why, but I cut through and took a shorter route and I happened to bump into my battle buddy (SSG). As I piece everything together, I remembered my battle buddy telling me that I was scaring him, because I had “that look”

2011, Yolanda Jones, Scarred, But Not Broken: My Personal Experience as a Single Mom, page 75

You don't do anything without your battle buddy. If your battle buddy does something stupid, you pay for it.

2011, Robert Brock, Turkey Mountain Boys: My Brother's Keeper, page 73

To teach you this lesson, your Drill Sergeants will assign you a battle buddy.

2011, Michael Craig Volkin, The ultimate basic training guidebook: tips, tricks, and tactics, age 41

In fact, the system works so well that the Army has expanded the battle buddy system to units other than basic training

2011, Rod Powers, Basic Training for Dummies, page 172

(US, military) Another servicemember assigned to mutually help another under the battle buddy system, and by extension any comrade.


kirmess

kirmesses (plural)
kermesse (alternative)
kermis (alternative)

From German Kirmes and Dutch kermis, both originally “church mass”, referring to a festival on the anniversary of the consecration of a church. See respective entries for more.

(US) An indoor entertainment and fair combined.


frostfish

en-noun

frostfish (plural frostfishes or frostfish)

From frost + fish. In the case of the tomcod, so called because it is abundant on the New England coast in autumn at about when frost comes.


high scaler

(US, historical) Any of the dam construction workers who abseiled the canyon walls to prepare the surface for the concrete pour.


hunkerism

(US, politics) Excessive conservatism; hostility to progress.