schlubby

en-adj

schlubby (comparative schlubbier or more schlubby, superlative schlubbiest or most schlubby)

schlubbier (comparative)
more schlubby (comparative)
schlubbiest (superlative)
most schlubby (superlative)
shlubby (alternative)
zhlubby (alternative)

From schlub + -y; schlub is derived from Yiddish זשלאָב (zhlob), perhaps from Polish żłób (“manger, trough; furrow, large groove in the soil”).

der

It's a wasted review copy, sending “schlubby” nonfiction to Eliot Fremont-Smith at New York magazine or a book by William Buckley to Rolling Stone […]

1974, Genevieve Stuttaford, “A Short Review of the Magazine Reviewers”, in Publishers Weekly, volume 206, number 19, New York, N.Y.: F[rederick] Leypoldt, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 1:

Except for Barry Diller eating steak and Diane Von Furstenberg picking at his frites, the room at the top is still empty at 9:30 p.m. On the ground floor, the chic and the schlubby are slowly rendering the bar invisible.

1992 June 29 – July 6, Phoebe Eaton, “The Cool World: Table Dancing, Slalom Shots, and Other Strange Rites of the Night”, in Edward Kosner, editor, New York, volume 25, number 26, New York, N.Y.: K=III Magazine Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50:

In fact, the Internet, for political if not commercial causes, turns out to be a way to efficiently reach people whose very engagement (even overengagement) separates them most from ordinary zhlubby citizens.

2003 September 15, Michael Wolff, “Candidate.com”, in New York, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-01-21:

[P]ut on your schlubbiest clothes, dab on some pimple cream, and go to the grocery store. […] Don't start your days in the hole. Besides, you never know when the new Mr. Right will come along. …

2005, Greg Behrendt, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, “The Fifth Commandment: Don’t Wear Your Breakup out into the World”, in It’s Called a Breakup because It’s Broken: The Smart Girl’s Breakup Buddy, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN, part 2 (The Breakover), page 238:

Just thinking about ballet makes most people feel schlubbier and more sluglike when they shuffle out of their bedrooms in the morning or slide under the barstool at night.

2008, Lynn Phillips, “Self-loathing Dabbles in the Arts”, in Self-loathing for Beginners, Santa Monica, Calif.: Santa Monica Press, →ISBN, part IV (The Self-loathing Elite), page 170:

Although [Seth] Rogen had his artistic breakthrough with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” two years ago, he achieved mass appeal this year as a funny, lovable, shlubby every-guy who won the beautiful blonde.

2008 February 10, Lynn Hirschberg, “Breaking through”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2011-05-12:

Apple’s ads promote what you can do with an iPhone or iPod, or show the comedian John Hodgman as a schlubby PC guy being outfoxed by the actor Justin Long as hip Mac guy.

2009 February 4, Brad Stone, “In campaign wars, Apple still has Microsoft’s number”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2019-01-05:

(chiefly US, informal) Clumsy, oafish, or socially awkward; unattractive or unkempt.


granny panties

I didn't even remember that I was wearing my spinster lingerie until the underwire bra and granny panties were off my body and lying at the foot of the bed.

2004, Eric Garcia, Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys:

Much like a bib for children, granny panties are worn as a preventive measure...

2006, Giuliana DePandi, Think Like a Guy:

I held up what had to be the most wholesome pair of granny panties I'd ever seen. They were like great-granny panties. They were even white.

(plural only, US, Canada, slang, derogatory) Women's and girls’ underpants considered of a traditional, old-fashioned, or staid kind (e.g. control briefs or bloomers), as opposed to bikini-cut briefs or thongs.


minicamp

minicamps (plural)
mini-camp (alternative)

Since the Giants' minicamp last spring, Buggs already has begun to expand his training horizons, much to Arnsparger's satisfaction.

1975 July 15, Neil Amdur, “Buggs Off to a Fast Start In Giants' Training Camp”, in New York Times, page 27:

He […] was with the Dolphins for their first minicamp under their new coach, Cam Cameron, last month.

2007 May 2, The Associated Press, “Sports Briefing”, in New York Times:

(US sports) A short training session for members of a professional sports team, held before the main preseason training


universalist

en-adj

universalist (comparative more universalist, superlative most universalist)

more universalist (comparative)
most universalist (superlative)

(religion, US, paganism, Germanic paganism) Following a form of neopaganism, especially Germanic neopaganism, that is supportive of minorities and marginalized groups.


grantmaking

(US) The discretionary awarding of grants (especially by a large foundation or other organization as a form or organized philanthropy).


downzone

en-verb

downzone (third-person singular simple present downzones, present participle downzoning, simple past and past participle downzoned)

downzones (present singular third-person)
downzoning (participle present)
downzoned (participle past)
downzoned (past)
down-zone (alternative)

"In this case, I don't remember Shaw saying, 'I'm downzoning for this or that reason.' He would say, 'I'm changing the zoning because the community wants it changed.'"

1988 May 6, Ben Joravsky, quoting Danny Davis, “Mystery zoning: What's going down in the Ninth Ward”, in Chicago Reader:

(US, politics) To change an area or property to a less restrictive zoning


downzoning

en-noun

downzoning (countable and uncountable, plural downzonings)

(US) A switch to a less restrictive zoning.


grindhouse

grindhouses (plural)
grind house (alternative)
grind-house (alternative)

From grind + house.
* Perhaps from the grinding or cranking motion employed by early projectionists.
* Perhaps from bump and grind (dubious). The term may originally have been used for burlesque houses in the 1940s.

For Mr. Bava[…], the road from the grindhouse to the art house — or at least, the virtual art house of the DVD player — has turned out to be surprisingly, encouragingly short.

2007 April 10, Dave Kehr, “New DVDs”, in New York Times:

(US film) A low-budget film theater that shows primarily exploitation films


bootlick

the involving of certain "bootlicks" into difficulty

1838, Oasis: An Anthology to Divert an Idle Hour:


pressroom

When Robert Shaw--alderman of the Ninth Ward--rises to speak, most of the wise guys in the City Hall pressroom put aside their pencils and just listen.

1988 May 6, Ben Joravsky, “Mystery zoning: What's going down in the Ninth Ward”, in Chicago Reader:

(US, politics) The room in a public building where press conferences are given


outhustle

en-verb

outhustle (third-person singular simple present outhustles, present participle outhustling, simple past and past participle outhustled)

outhustles (present singular third-person)
outhustling (participle present)
outhustled (participle past)
outhustled (past)

The season is over for Manhattan, not because the Jaspers were outplayed or outhustled but, perhaps, because of a single call.

2007 March 4, Bill Finley, “Whistle Signals Early End for Jaspers”, in New York Times:

They lost because they were outhustled and failed to persuade enough Americans to support their vision for the country.

2024 December 29, Laurie Woodward Garcia, “Stop Blaming and Start Building a Better Tomorrow”, in People Power United:

(US) To do a better job of hustling than


hometowned

en-adj

hometowned (comparative more hometowned, superlative most hometowned)

more hometowned (comparative)
most hometowned (superlative)

(law, US) discriminated against by a local judge


stude

The Profs they lead a jolly life, jolly life, / They're free from every care and strife, care and strife. / They make the studes, poor studes fall into line; / I wish the Profs' soft snap were mine.

A stude got a job in a Michigan lumber camp and was told to attach himself to a crosscut saw, the other end of which was in charge of an old lumberman.

1932, The Michigan Technic, volumes 46-47, page 24:

(US, Philippines, slang, dated) A student.


bolter

trap

antonym(s) of “missed landing on an aircraft carrier”

The bolters from the Republican convention say, in their manifesto: "Discontent and distress prevail to an extent never before known in the history of the country."

2007, William Graham Sumner, The Forgotten Man and Other Essays, page 149:

(US, politics) A member of a political party who does not support the party's nominee.


ranchero

en-noun

ranchero (plural rancheros or rancheroes)

/ɹænˈt͡ʃɛəɹoʊ/

/ɹɑːnˈt͡ʃɛəɹoʊ/

(US, or of Mexico) a ranch or rancho worker

(US, or of Mexico) A ranch or rancho owner


railfan

A previewing railfan pointed out a mistake in the animation showing articulation.

1961, Augustus Wolfman, Photo Methods for Industry:

From my own experience, I cannot say how one becomes a railfan […]

A number of US and Canadian book dealers regularly channel British titles to railfan collectors […]

1989, M Thomas Inge, Handbook of American Popular Culture:


triggerman

triggermen (plural)
trigger man (alternative)

Mr. Perry raised doubts about the law that allowed Mr. Foster and the triggerman to be tried together and urged the Legislature to re-examine the issue.

2007 August 31, Ralph Blumenthal, “Governor Commutes Sentence in Texas”, in New York Times:


coteau

coteaus (plural)
coteaux (plural)
côteau (alternative)

(US, Canada) A hilly upland including the divide between two valleys.


ball up

en-verb

ball up (third-person singular simple present balls up, present participle balling up, simple past and past participle balled up)

balls up (present singular third-person)
balling up (participle present)
balled up (participle past)
balled up (past)

(dated, intransitive, transitive, slang, US) To become confused or discombobulated; to confuse (someone).


gino

Ginos are essentially teenagers of Italian background who take on what they think are traits that characterize an Italian...

1993, Purdue Research Foundation, Romance Languages Annual:

Ginos and Ginas typically came from Italian households, wore stylish clothing, and listened to disco-type music.

1994, Marcel Danesi, Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence:

Not all ginos and ginas are the same, just becuz you've come across a couple you hate, doesn't mean you hate them all. ... Where I live it is probably 99% ginos and ginas and I get along with them just fine, in fact, my boyfriend is a gino.

2000, "[+//Tania//-]", "They're not going there just to get high" (discussion on Internet newsgroup alt.rave)

(US, Canada, slang, derogatory) A person of Mediterranean (especially Italian) descent, stereotypically regarded as shallow and materialistic.


groover

/ˈɡɹuːvə(ɹ)/

During an early river trip back in the 1970s, shortly after this system was developed, the toilet seat was accidentally left behind, the rims of the riser left telltale indentations on everyone's bums, and the box got a nickname: the groover. (Some guides also call it the duker or the unit.)

2008 July 7, Kevin Fedarko, “They Call Me Groover Boy”, in Outside:

2011, Charly Heavenrich, Unimagined Gifts, →ISBN, page 18:

On the river, the matter of poop is taken care of by a "groover." Nothing special, the groover is a toilet seat set atop a military-surplus ammunition can with a special liner. So named for the days before rafters discovered they could place a toilet seat atop the ammo can and instead sat on the edges of the box, leaving grooves on their hindquarters—the groover is an effective, and enjoyable, way to crap in the woods.
Some referred to the toilet as the "groover" in honor of the old days when there had been no toilet seat. Instead people would sit directly on the top of the ammo can, leaving telltale grooves in their skin

2015 July 29, Colby Frazier, “River of No Return”, in Salt Lake City Weekly:

(US, slang) A small portable toilet often used on multiday river trips in protected wilderness areas, so named because the original versions were metal boxes whose rims left a groove in the skin of the user.


mechanicals

The mechanicals — mirror cell, focuser, and so on — were much better than what Robert had made himself in the 60s, and the optics were, if not quite up to the best premium custom optics, probably better than Robert could have produced himself.

2005, Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson, Astronomy Hacks: Tips and Tools for Observing the Night Sky, →ISBN, page 203:

You only want to make sure the mechanicals are all sound and you will do this though having a Home Inspection and the realtor can write a clause on the offer - that the Seller pay for the repairs of anything wrong or you can negotiate that on your offer.

2006, John Mahaney, Secure Your Retirement, →ISBN, page 20:

Remodeling basements is all about problem-solving, because no other space has the same constraints on floor space, headroom, access, and mechanicals.

2007, Philip Schmidt, Don't Sweat It, Hire it, →ISBN, page 50:

There was nothing the matter with the mechanicals of Dan's car even now, after a two hundred foot plunge into a canyon.

2014, Roderick Thorp, Rainbow Drive, →ISBN:


wrister

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


turn a trick

turn a trick (third-person singular simple present turns a trick, present participle turning a trick, simple past and past participle turned a trick)

turns a trick (present singular third-person)
turning a trick (participle present)
turned a trick (participle past)
turned a trick (past)

The girls explained to me that they got eighty cents a trick, one payment for each metal check—“turning a trick” was how they described one session with a john.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 23:

City prostitutes say laws governing the sex trade are putting them in danger every time they turn a trick.

2007 March 22, Ajay Bhardwaj, “Laws put us at risk: hookers”, in Edmonton Sun (Canada), retrieved 2009-02-18:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, of a prostitute) To perform a sexual service for a customer.


newbuild

(US, nautical) A newly constructed vessel.


English muffin

(Canada, US, Australia) A flat, round, yeast-leavened form of bread.


magnet school

By age 11, curiosity got the better of me. I joined the neighborhood baseball league, and transferred to Kenwood Academy, a public magnet school.

1994 July 7, William Upski Wimsatt, “Wigger”, in Chicago Reader:

(US) A public school with specialized courses.


ACWV

(US) Initialism of Advisory Committee on Woman Veterans.


Lani

Until then he had not thought of following Lani Aldrich to Honolulu. He had been so sure that she would return to him.

1940, Hearst's International combined with Cosmopolitan, v.109, July-December 1940, page 106:

(chiefly US) A female given name from Hawaiian.


badge bunny

* badge (“an item worn and displayed by police officers”) + bunny.
* Bunny is used in combination to refer to female groupies.

compound

"She could be . . . a cop groupie or a badge bunny, one of those kind of people."

2000, “Third Watch: The Tys That Bind”, in TV.com, retrieved 2009-02-19:

And cops seem to have their share of followers, too. The most common term for these women is "badge bunny."

2006 July 7, Tim Dees, “Coping with that Primal Urge”, in Officer.com, retrieved 2009-02-19:

Crews and Reese (Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi) discover the dead teacher was a woman who exclusively dated cops—a "badge bunny" (9 pm NBC).

2008 November 19, “TV Listings: Wednesday's Highlights”, in Los Angeles Times:

(US, idiomatic) A woman who is romantically attracted to police officers and who seeks out their companionship.


teetotaling

/ˈtiːtəʊtəlɪŋ/

Most were some variation of the girl-whistling, boyish, movie kind, but a few were serious, teetotalling and religious.

1958, Vance Nye Bourjaily, The Violated: A Novel:

Their teetotalling, absolutist frame of mind, along with its associated attitudes, simply closed off the option to drink.

1988, Arnold M. Ludwig, Understanding the Alcoholic's Mind: Refocusing the Past:

Insull was English, from an earnest, teetotalling family of modest means. He had learned shorthand and was advancing nicely in a London firm of auctioneers ...

1976, Sheldon M. Novick, The Electric War: The Fight Over Nuclear Power:

The name of this spacious restaurant and lounge is an ironic reference [to] the teetotaling Andrew J. Volstead, the Minnesota congressman who sponsored the act enforcing Prohibition in 1919.

2007 August 15, The New York Times, “Off the Menu”, in New York Times:


piss and vinegar

"I know what's a matter. Young fella, all full a piss an' vinegar. Wanta be a hell of a guy all the time."

1940, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Viking, page 248:

Everyone wants that: the vigor, fire, piss and vinegar. You really believe that you're taking on the world.

2008 October 2, David Fricke, “Q&A: Metallica's James Hetfield”, in Rolling Stone, retrieved 2009-02-21:

(US, slang, vulgar) Exuberance or enthusiasm, especially to an excessive degree; bravado; youthful energy.


over easy

(US) Of an egg prepared as food, fried on one side until most of the whites have cooked, then lightly fried on the other to finish cooking the whites, leaving the yolk unbroken and slightly soft (runny).


losingest

[Schroeder to Charlie Brown:] Do you realize that we have the losingest team in the history of baseball?

1973 April 4, Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts:

(US, sports) The most losing; who has lost most games, votes, etc.


SSRN

(US, military, nautical, obsolete) Sub Surface Radar Nuclear - a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine


lollypaloozer

"But the girls — wow !" / "Beauties, eh?" / "Lollypaloozers!"

1896, George Ade, Artie: A Story of the Streets and Town, Chicago: H.S. Stone, →OCLC, page 8:

(US, slang) An outstanding example of its kind.


lodge pole

lodge poles (plural)
lodge-pole (alternative)

The structure when completed is in the form of a sharp cone. At the summit is a small opening for window, chimney, &c., out of which the lodge poles project some distance, crossing each other at the point where the four shortest are tied together.

1822, “Skin Lodges of the Konza Indians. From Maj. Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains”, in Port Folio:

(US) A pole used to support the covering of traditional temporary structures in the American West.


hambone

hambones (plural)
ham-bone (alternative)

HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician.

1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:

Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen.

2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star:

(US slang, acting) A ham; an eager or inferior performer


kerflooey

kerflewie (alternative)
kerflewy (alternative)
kaflewy (alternative)

Until our economy went kerflooey, it was a whimsical reverie about the life that you could swap for the one that you were leading.

2009 February 8, David Segal, “What’s Your New Plan B?”, in New York Times:


GRAE

(law, US) Initialism of generally recognized as effective.


GRAS

(US, law) Acronym of generally recognized as safe: a designation by the FDA that a chemical or substance added to food is considered safe by experts.


whistlestop

(US, dated) A minor railway station at which a train stops if specifically requested.


cheesehead

cheeseheads (plural)
cheese-head (alternative)

From cheese + head, in reference to the cheese production of these regions.

(slang, US) A person from the state of Wisconsin.


now hear this

(US Navy) An instruction to cease activity and listen to the announcement that will follow.


postpartisan

en-adj

postpartisan (comparative more postpartisan, superlative most postpartisan)

more postpartisan (comparative)
most postpartisan (superlative)
post-partisan (alternative)

Last year Kennedy and partner Michael J. Berman, both editorial novices, brought their "postpartisan" concept to Hachette Filipacchi[…].

1995 September 18, Michael Handy, “Ich Bin Ein Magazine Editor”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-10-30:

If nurtured and used creatively, they can be the lever by which Obama transforms the landscape of government and creates a broad postpartisan coalition.

2009 February 6, David Brooks, “The Gang System”, in New York Times:

(US politics) Moving past and beyond conventional partisan divides


yardwork

Mr. Romney endured tough questioning from reporters in Des Moines yesterday about revelations last week that a yardwork company he employed was found for a second time to be using illegal immigrants.

2007 December 8, Sarah Wheaton, “Huckabee Immigration Plan Emphasizes Security”, in New York Times:

(Canada, US) Work done in maintaining a lawn, and related landscaping activities


money machine

One minute later, it shows she made the withdrawal at the ANZ money machine for the same amount.

2019, Deena Coster, “Woman left out of pocket for two weeks after ATM failed to deliver”, in Stuff:

automated teller machine
automated teller machine#English

(New Zealand, US) Synonym of automated teller machine


pizza-ghetti

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

(US) A spaghetti dish with the typical toppings and sauce of a pizza.


overtop

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɒp/

Paul put the skull back in its proper place, put back the coffin lid, and kicked dirt and rocks overtop.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 154:


box score

box scores (plural)
boxscore (alternative)

(sports, Canada, US) A score showing the final scores of the teams in a game, as well as certain individual and team achievements.


debtor in possession

en-noun

debtor in possession (plural debtors in possession)

(finance, law, US) A natural person or corporation that has filed a bankruptcy petition, but remains in possession of property upon which a creditor has a lien or similar security interest. Such a business may continue to operate its business under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.


soogan

soogans (plural)
sugan (alternative)
sougan (alternative)

From Scots suggan (“light saddle; bedroll”), from Irish súgán (“rope”), from Proto-Celtic *souggo, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sew- (“to bend, to cut, to drive”), see also Sanskrit सुवति (suvati). Doublet of sugan (“chair”).

der

Rawlins was trying to get his soogan tied on behind the saddle.

1992, Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, →ISBN, page 30:


ass call

(Canada, US, slang) An unintentional telephone call made from a cell phone in a back pant pocket due to body movement or sitting down.


butt call

(slang, Canada, US) An unintentional telephone call made from a cell phone in a back pant pocket due to body movement or sitting down.


cockamamie

en-noun

cockamamie (countable and uncountable, plural cockamamies)

cockamamies (plural)
cockamamy (alternative)
cockamammy (alternative)

Possible corruption of French décalcomanie (“process of transferring designs onto surfaces using decals”); sometimes erroneously claimed to derive from Yiddish.

bor

“If it wuz a nickel,” said one broody voice between the gratings, “I could buy fuh two cends cockamamies an’ pud em on mine hull arm. An’ den fuh t’ree cends I’ll go to duh movies.”
“Yuh c’n buy fuh t’ree cends cockamamies.” Izzy crisply revised the dream.

1934, Henry Roth, Call It Sleep, published 1976, page 367:

As a youngster in The Bronx in the early 1930s, I would occasionally take my windfall of a few pennies to the local candy store and buy a strip of cockamamies, ‘comic-style cartoons in brilliant colors, each about an inch by an inch and a half, transferable to forearm or forehead by wetting’, preferably with saliva to make things agreeably messy.

Lo and behold, in full color there was a photograph of an old glass-paned hanging cupboard with clusters of strawberry, cherry, green grape and apple “cockamamies” pasted in the center of each pane.

2000, Lillian Bressman, Tales of Mama and Other Reminiscences, page 201:

She bought Japanese furniture in 1943 when everyone hated the Japanese. Goldfarb’s furniture store on Pitkin Avenue could hardly give the stuff away. Evelyn had cockamamies—decorative plastic adhesives all over the walls.

2011, Prospero Shimon, Autobiography of a Repaired Physician, unnumbered page:

(US, chiefly dated) A decal, a design that can be transferred to a surface.


give someone the chair

en-verb

give someone the chair (third-person singular simple present gives someone the chair, present participle giving someone the chair, simple past gave someone the chair, past participle given someone the chair)

gives someone the chair (present singular third-person)
giving someone the chair (participle present)
gave someone the chair (past)
given someone the chair (participle past)

Joseph O'Dell, convicted of a brutal rape and murder, was sentenced to death after a Virginia prosecutor told the jury that if they didn't give him the chair, he'd one day get out and be free to kill again.

1997 July 7, Sidney Zion, “High Court Takes Low Road to Justice”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2009-03-03:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) To sentence a person to execution by means of the electric chair.


bug juice

(US) An artificially fruit-flavored beverage, made from a powdered concentrate and water, that is often served at American residential camps; Kool-Aid or a generic equivalent.

(US, slang) Moonshine (an illicitly distilled alcoholic beverage).


buzzworthy

en-adj

buzzworthy (comparative more buzzworthy, superlative most buzzworthy)

more buzzworthy (comparative)
most buzzworthy (superlative)

The most buzzworthy has to be Glasgow's Optimo, an underground Glimmers, for what should be a sell-out at the Toff, while the following night obscure UK disco stalwart Felix Dickinson plays the club.

2009 February 12, “Club land”, in Herald Sun:

(chiefly Canada, US) Worthy of enthusiastic popular attention, or buzz


horning

en-noun

horning (countable and uncountable, plural hornings)

From Middle English hornynge; equivalent to horn + -ing.

(US, historical) A mock serenade with tin horns and other discordant instruments by way of showing public disapproval.


wash room

(US, slang) A bathroom, lavatory, toilet, restroom, or powder room.


recess appointment

recess appointment (plural recess appointments)

(US, law) The appointment by the President of the United States of a person to an office that normally requires approval of the United States Senate, but who is appointed without such approval because the Senate is in recess.


railbird

He earned it one night at Chelsea Billiards in New York, where he knocked off Eddie Hubler, a.k.a. Kid Vicious, winning $4,200 from railbirds who were certain that the fat kid from Jersey had no game.

2007 October 6, Charles Mcgrath, “The Happy Hustler”, in New York Times:

(US, slang) A gambler; originally specifically a horseracing enthusiast


paddleboat

paddleboats (plural)
paddle boat (alternative)
paddle-boat (alternative)

Naval sources report the amazing rescue of two 65-year-old women who were found floating 400 miles off the coast of California — in a tiny paddleboat!

1996 April 2, Lisa Merakis, “Two women found floating in paddleboat — 400 miles from shore!”, in Weekly World News, →ISSN, page 33, [satirical]:

Outdoors, guests can take a paddleboat and pedal their way around shaded waterways filled with swans and Nile perch

2010, Anne Anderson, Insiders' Guide® to the Greater Tampa Bay Area (Insiders' Guide Series), Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 70:

(nautical, US, Canada, Australia) a pedalo


mall rat

mall rats (plural)
mallrat (alternative)

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

(US, slang) A young person who frequently loiters in a shopping mall, especially to socialize with friends.


mall walking

(US) Walking in a mall as a form of exercise.


Jody call

After Jody, a recurring character in some traditional cadence calls.

No matter how tired they became, once someone in the ranks began a Jody call, the whole platoon would pick it up and everyone seemed to march a little taller.

1990, Dwight A. Beck, Army Green: A Way of Life: The Enlisted Years:

(US, military, slang) A cadence or cadence call, a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching.


babycakes

Mrs. King is delighted that there are so many Tracy Austins in professional tennis these days. She refers to them as “babycakes,” and not patronizingly.

1979 July 2, Billie Jean King, quotee, “Reflection on the Seedings Fills Pause at Wimbledon”, in The New York Times:

(US, slang) A term of endearment for a young woman.


senior status

(US, law) In the United States federal court system, a form of semi-retirement in which a judge continues to engage in judicial activities including the disposition of cases on a limited basis.


incent

en-verb

incent (third-person singular simple present incents, present participle incenting, simple past and past participle incented)

incents (present singular third-person)
incenting (participle present)
incented (participle past)
incented (past)

Back-formation of incentive. Clipping of incentivize

We need to incent people to innovate more.

We try to incent people to do it earlier, which levels the load.

2007 February 24, Damon Darlin, “At Intuit, What Comes After Taxes?”, in New York Times:

HUD programs to incent owners to maintain affordable housing units have preserved over 3,500 projects with about 300,000 units.

2009 July 15, Shelley Moore Capito, Legislative Options for Preserving Federally- and State-assisted Affordable Housing and Preventing Displacement of Low-income, Elderly, and Disabled Tenants, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Financial Services. Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, page 4:

incent investors to manage assets with a long-term perspective

2010 June 24, Al Gore, David Blood, “Toward Sustainable Capitalism”, in Wall Street Journal:

(transitive, US) To provide an incentive to (a person or organization).

Anreize schaffen

to provide an incentive to (a person or organization)

We need to incent more innovation.

DUNCAN: The more we can reward excellence, the more we can incent excellence, the more we can get our best teachers to work in those hard to staff schools

2009 January 13, Arne Duncan, “Duncan Lays Out Positions in Confirmation Hearing”, in WBEZ Chicago Public Radio:

(transitive, US) To provide an incentive for (something).


attoliter

(US) (metrology) An SI unit of fluid measure equal to 10⁻¹⁸ liters; alternative spelling of attolitre.


of color

Martin Luther King Jr.
National Women's Conference

Attested since the late 18th century, initially in reference to a category of mixed-race (partially black, partially white) people in the Americas; compare French de couleur (attested since at least 1779 in gens de couleur), Spanish de color. The phrase continued in occasional use throughout the 1800s and 1900s and was used by e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, around which time its modern meaning began to take shape. Use by black activists picked up from the 1970s (e.g. black women who used "women of color" at the National Women's Conference in 1977) onward, reaching wide circulation by the 1990s.

It is to him that we owe the story that Talleyrand outraged the susceptibilities of the Philadelphians by his open admiration for a woman of colour with whom he frequently appeared in public.

1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 54:

But the vengeance I told myself I was getting for Wrex felt like a lie. I could win the game but he wasn't coming back. Being forced to lose my in-game comrade-who I thought of as a virtual person of color and as a brother-in-arms-affected me in a forceful way that I never expected. Mass Effect made me look at myself and think about the way races, classes and individuals bring their histories to bear.

2010 February 18, Evan Narcisse, “Wrex in Effect, or, Deep Space and the Negro/Injun/Krogan Problem”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2013-09-02, Culture:

She's also worked to help librarians forge connections through professional activities. Bell cochaired the first Joint Council of Librarians of Color (JCLC) in 2006, the first-ever shared conference among ALA's five ethnic affiliate associations: BCALA, the American Indian Library Association, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, the Chinese American Librarians Association, and Reforma.

2018 January 12, Greg Landgraf, “Blazing Trails: Pioneering African-American librarians share their stories”, in American Libraries, archived from the original on 2018-01-04:

...historians and Native Americans are also revisiting the legacy of Charles Curtis, whose Kaw Nation ancestry gives him a claim as the first "person of color" to serve as vice president, although the term's current usage emerged decades later.

2020 November 11, Christine Hauser, “Before Kamala Harris, This Vice President Broke a Racial Barrier”, in The Indian Express, archived from the original on 2020-11-10, World:

(chiefly US) Nonwhite; of a race other than white, for example black.


malt whiskey

en-noun

malt whiskey (countable and uncountable, plural malt whiskeys)

(US) Alternative spelling of malt whisky


hog-wallowing

(slang, US, derogatory) Pertaining to people from a poor rural town.


hog island

Late 19th century, akin to hog waller and hog town.

(slang, US, derogatory) Any poor town or out-of-the-way place.


hog town

Late 19th century, akin to hog waller and hog island.


village hall

(US) The building that houses a village's government.

(US, figuratively) A village government.


cornerman

This cornerman is taking time out to provide directions to a driver. Their easily recognizable white hats and regular presence on their corners made these officers readily accessible […]

2011, Daniel F. Walsh, Thomas L. Derby, Russell W. Gates, Syracuse Police, page 113:

(US, historical) A policeman assigned to an intersection to direct the traffic.


NCA

(government, US) Initialism of National Command Authority.


goober

For Ralph, any encouragement is too much. When Lisa gives Ralph a valentine bearing that locomotive pun that so affected The Simpsons’ showrunner, Ralph misinterprets the gesture as a genuine display of romantic interest rather than a gesture of pity from a thoughtful young geek to a friendless goober.

2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): 'I Love Lisa'”, in A.V. Club:

(chiefly US, childish slang, Internet slang) A foolish, simple, or amusingly silly person.


pantless

At the same time Ms. Metselaar-Berthold, East Germany's version of Nan Goldin, captured scenes of disorderly bohemia (where supposedly none existed) in parties of topless women and pantless men.

2009 February 12, Michael Kimmelman, “Art in Two Germanys Often Spoke the Same Tongue”, in New York Times:


wear the pants

en-verb

wear the pants (third-person singular simple present wears the pants, present participle wearing the pants, simple past wore the pants, past participle worn the pants)

wears the pants (present singular third-person)
wearing the pants (participle present)
wore the pants (past)
worn the pants (participle past)

wear the trousers
wear the trousers#English

(US) Alternative form of wear the trousers


beer baron

(US) Somebody who organises the illegal production and sale of beer during a time of Prohibition.


ouchie

ouchies (plural)
outchie (alternative)
owchie (alternative)
owtchie (alternative)

(colloquial, Canada, US, childish) Synonym of owie (“a painful but minor injury”)


kilopound

(US, engineering, architecture) A non-SI unit of force equal to 1000 pounds-force.


onion grass

en-noun

onion grass (usually uncountable, plural onion grasses)

(US) Species of Melica, especially Melica bulbosa.


assload

assloads (plural)
ass-load (alternative)
ass load (alternative)

I done made you a assload of money. You know fuckin' well, nobody else in this city could move as much 'caine as the Diablos.

2006, Leon Higgins, He She Black Widow, →ISBN, page 192:

I'm due an assload of credits and I'll die before I can get 'em! Who do I talk to?

2007, James V McKnight, Jammer, →ISBN, page 78:


banjo eyes

(US, Canada, slang) Wide-open eyes, as from being surprised or startled.


bluestem

bluestem (usually uncountable, plural bluestems)

Then we were going at a lope with the bluestem whipping our legs.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 30:

(US) Any of various grasses having bluish stems, including little bluestem and big bluestem.

honey bluestem) (Schizachyrium scoparium

shore little bluestem

Schizachyrium scoparium subsp. littorale


perp walk

From perp + walk. First use appears c. 1980. See cite below.

... as well-dressed masters of the universe did the ritualized perp walk with their expensive Armani suit jackets draped over their handcuffs.

1980, Paul Fussell, Abroad - British Literary Traveling Between the Wars, page 114:

FBI agents gave former WorldCom executives Scott Sullivan and David Myers the same star treatment, parading the handcuffed quarry in an early-morning perp walk and prompting Sullivan's lawyer to complain about “the unfair taint of the current political climate.”

2002 August 12, Daniel Eisenberg et al., “Jail To The Chiefs?”, in Time:

The copter’s arrival at the Wall Street heliport led to an extraordinary scene: [Luigi] Mangione, surrounded by a swarm of gun-toting NYPD officers, in a slow, lengthy “perp walk” from the helicopter into a black van, with cameras catching every step.

2024 December 19, Eric Levenson, Ray Sanchez, “A whirlwind day for Luigi Mangione ends with new charges, revelations from a notebook and transfer to a federal prison”, in CNN, archived from the original on 2024-12-20:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, law enforcement) The intentional public display before news cameras of a person in police custody, especially someone famous or notorious, for the purpose of satisfying public interest, demonstrating the effectiveness of the authorities, or shaming the person.


MEPS

w:United States Military Entrance Processing Command

(US, military) Initialism of Military Entrance Processing Command.


country store

(US, historical) A general store in a rural setting, often associated with the time of cowboys


moon bounce

moon bounces (plural)
moonbounce (alternative)

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


quilt show

(US) An informal competition for which people make quilts and are judged on their quality.


candy-ass

candy-asses (plural)
candyass (alternative)
candy-arse (alternative)

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

(slang, sometimes vulgar, often humorous, somewhat endearing, US, Canada) A cowardly or timid person; a wimp.


sandworm

(US) A clam worm or ragworm, of species Alitta virens.


(US, taxation) The main form for US individual income tax filing.


(US, taxation) A form reporting one's compensation as an employee during a year at an employer or personal income taxation.


Absolutely bewildered by the concept of taxes, he’d brought his 1099s to the nearest outpost of a national accounting chain to seek help.

2023 October 19, Brendan I. Koerner, “Watch This Guy Work, and You’ll Finally Understand the TikTok Era”, in Wired, →ISSN:

(US, taxation) A form reporting one's nonemployment income from a given source for a year.


FRB

Federal Reserve Bank
w:Federal Reserve Bank

(US, economics, banking) Initialism of Federal Reserve Bank.


maninose

maninoses (plural)
mananosay (alternative)
nanninose (alternative)

From a Native American language of the Carolinas, probably an Algonquian one, thus probably from Carolina Algonquian.

(US, Maryland, Virginia) The soft-shell clam.


small-townish

en-adj

small-townish (comparative more small-townish, superlative most small-townish)

more small-townish (comparative)
most small-townish (superlative)

(US, derogatory) Suited to, or typical of, a small town or its inhabitants (suggesting lack of knowledge of the wider world).


Lafe

(US) A diminutive of the male given name Lafayette.


Fayette

Fayette
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

After Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

(US) A male given name transferred from the surname or place name.


low-slope roof

(technical, construction, US) According to ASTM standard E 1918-97, a roof whose uppermost part is installed at a slope of 2/12 or 1:6 (9.5 degrees) or less.


study hall

en-noun

study hall (countable and uncountable, plural study halls)

He finished drafting his essay in study hall.

(Canada, US) A class period, usually in boarding school or high school, where students are afforded the time for independent study and homework assignments, as part of the curriculum or after hours, the last notably as a punishment called detention.

The supervising teacher's stern expression at the front of the drab study hall left little doubt that no nonsense would be tolerated there.

(Canada, US) The classroom or other school hall used for such a purpose.


UBC

United Brotherhood of Carpenters
w:United Brotherhood of Carpenters

(Canada, US) Initialism of United Brotherhood of Carpenters.


ECH

Enhanced Combat Helmet
Enhanced Combat Helmet#English

(military, US) Initialism of Enhanced Combat Helmet.


tea cozy

(Canada, US) Alternative form of tea cosy


NRCA

w:National Roofing Contractors Association

(US) Initialism of National Roofing Contractors Association.


niggerish

You all seem really fucked-up, talking niggerish and all--'taken care
of' means ELIMINATION thru DEADLY MEANS! SEE its POLL @ goodbuddytoil
on YAHOO.

2006 August 22, goodbu...@gmail.com, “POLLING”, in alt.music.white-power (Usenet):

But the good news is he's gonna make us all learn Spanish and
Niggerish and I figure when we are called to arms being able to tell
the Beaners and the Nappy Power Rangers what we think so they can
understand it is a good thing.

2008 November 21, Patriot Games, “FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE GEORGE W BUSH AND REPUBLICANS-FINANCIAL CRISIS IS NOT THE DEMS FAULT!”, in alt.politics (Usenet):

One boy claims he speaks “niggerish." Whatever they are speaking I do not understand, which is good.

2015, Evelyn Uddin-Khan, The Other Side of Teaching:

African-American Vernacular English
African-American Vernacular English

(derogatory, offensive, vulgar, ethnic slur, colloquial, chiefly US) African-American Vernacular English.


DARE

Alternative form: D.A.R.E.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education
w:Drug Abuse Resistance Education

(US) Acronym of Drug Abuse Resistance Education.


red, white and blue

Thy banners make tyranny tremble, When borne by the red, white and blue.

1843, David T. Shaw, “Columbia – the Gem of the Ocean”, Lee & Walker, page 5

(US) The flag of the United States of America.


red, white and blue

en-adj

red, white and blue (comparative more red, white and blue, superlative most red, white and blue)

more red, white and blue (comparative)
most red, white and blue (comparative superlative)

Some folks are born made to raise the flag / they're red, white and blue

1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival (lyrics and music), “Fortunate Son”, in Willy and the Poor Boys:

What is more red, white, and blue than cheeseburgers!

2007, David Harsanyi, Nanny State, →ISBN:

This multilingual grunter would fit right in, as red, white and blue as a telephone solicitor hyping penny stocks to shutin geriatrics.

2010, Stephen Coonts, The Red Horseman, →ISBN:

He's an intelligent man who reads books and knows history, but he could not bring himself to admit that a Puerto Rican girl's childhood in the Bronx was just as red, white, and blue as an Irish American boy's childhood in Washington.

2011, Eugene Robinson, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, →ISBN, page 99:


tippee

If tippees trade on the information, knowing it was given improperly, they, too, can be found guilty of insider trading, says attorney Jared Kopel

2002 October 17, “Tips on insider trading How an investor can avoid the problems”, in San Francisco Chronicle:

(US, law, finance) A recipient of inside information.


inside information

Must a corporation issue a news release if it becomes aware that material inside information has leaked out? "It should make an immediate announcement,"

1968 September 12, “SEC Calls 'Insider' Cases Beneficial to Public”, in New York Times:

Recently, the hedge-fund industry has been shaken by allegations that it exploits inside information.

2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN:

(US, law, finance) Information obtained by or from a person in a position of trust (a director, an employee, a consultant) that affects the price of publicly traded securities.

內幕信息 /内幕信息

information obtained by or from a person in a trusted position


the moon on a stick

The term describes something that is impossible to obtain.

Once I saved twenty-five dollars and bought her a print gown for her birthday, and she was so pleased you'd have thought I'd given her the moon on a stick.

2002, Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon:

There is no point in asking for the moon on a stick, but we can produce cheap sticks through a sensible division of labour and sell them with effective market segmentation strategies. Leave the moon for dreamers.

2002, Martin Parker, Utopia and Organization:

You promise partners the moon on a stick, so that you can snatch it back easily when you change your mind.

2006, Stella Hyde, Tonwen Jones, Snarling Tiger, Dirty Rat:

What more do I want—the moon on a stick of course.

2007, Pamela Cotterill, Sue Jackson, Gayle Letherby, Challenges and Negotiations for Women in Higher Education:

(chiefly US, hyperbolic, idiomatic) All that one could desire, especially as an unreasonable demand; everything.

kuu taivaalta

all that one could desire, especially as an unreasonable demand — see also everything


single-wide

(US) A trailer measuring eighteen feet or less in width and ninety feet or less in length, able to be towed as a single unit.


double-wide

(US) A trailer measuring twenty feet or more in width and ninety feet or less in length, towed as a two separate units before assembly; especially, a mobile home that is twice its standard width.


cheapass

cheapass (comparative more cheapass, superlative most cheapass)

more cheapass (comparative)
most cheapass (superlative)

(Canada, US, slang) Cheap, stingy; unwilling to spend money.


cheapass

(Canada, US, slang) A stingy person; a cheapskate.


verklempt

verklempt (comparative more verklempt, superlative most verklempt)

more verklempt (comparative)
most verklempt (superlative)
faclempt (alternative)
faklempt (alternative)
farklempt (alternative)
ferklempt (alternative)
verklemmt (alternative)

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿאַרקלעמט (farklemt, “depressed, distraught; choked up”), cognate to German verklemmt (“inhibited; hemmed in, squeezed”).

cog

Ferklempt Without You—Very pretty, sexy, fun, active, Jewish, 35, ad exec seeks handsome, funny guy for love and happiness. It'll be like buttah!

1994 July 25, “Strictly Personals”, in Kurt Andersen, editor, New York, volume 27, number 29, New York, N.Y.: K-III Magazine Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 101, column 4:

I've grown very tired of everyone saying freedom isn't free. The reason is, well, it's because I don't know where it came from and quite frankly, I think that some guy named Sal could be responsible, like maybe he started the whole thing after one too many beers at a picnic a few years back and all of a sudden it's become our unofficial national freedom slogan and it's in our songs and on our bumper stickers and tee shirts and it causes us all to get a little verklempt, like we're supposed to somehow get it if we say it.

2006, Jeff Jacobson, “Everything Unfettered and Free”, in So I Go Now: Following after the Jesus of Our Day, [Victoria, B.C.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, part 6 (We are Not the Author):

Aunt Tilly had told her of our tradition, and it made me split between farklempt, and being overwhelmed with delight.

2006, J. Lee Kline, chapter 1, in Bramble Days: On the Road of Life, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 15:

"Hey Dad," says Ray [in the film Field of Dreams]. "You wanna have a catch?" / We're welling up at this point. / "I'd like that," says John, as the music nears crescendo. / Ray picks up his glove, and we're totally verklempt. Searching for Kleenex in the pocket.

2009, Ray Didinger, Glen Macnow, The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Films of All Time, Philadelphia, Pa.: Running Press Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 63, column 1:

Oh like you, I got all farklempt when I watched her [Michelle Obama] in that dazzling one-shouldered gown dancing cheek-to-cheek with President [Barack] Obama.

2009 January 23, Antonia Zerbisias, “Tricks up her sleeveless gown”, in Toronto Star, Toronto, Ont., archived from the original on 2019-03-30:

I was silent, perhaps even verklempt. I hugged Gerry and kissed him. We all know how I get when I am the least bit emotional and soon Gerry and I were sliding down the slippery slope toward making out like teenagers, […]

2011 August, Karen H. Vaughan, chapter 19, in Over Her Dead Body, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 90:

"It was wonderful of you to go to such trouble. I want you to know how much it meant to me." / "Stop," she waved her hands in front of her eyes, trying to divert the conversation away from the uncomfortable road it was heading down, "you're making me all faklempt."

2012, Julie Ann Walker, chapter 6, in In Rides Trouble, Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Casablanca, →ISBN; republished in Black Knights Inc. Boxed Set: Volumes 1–3 (Black Knights Inc.; 2), Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2013, →ISBN, page 93:

(US, colloquial) Overcome with emotion, choked up.

meeleliigutuses

overcome with emotion — see also choked up

[…] I noticed that Mom could barely hold a fork, write, walk, get up, sit down. She was verklemmt. Vermischt. More Yiddish words that mean what they sound like.

2007, Susan G[oldsmith] Wooldridge, Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 218:

Hoping to jolt her out of her deep meditation, he sprightly added, "Believe me, Ma, when you get horny, you'll know it. You might be verklempt, but you'll know what to do," he maintained. / "Rayn Wickett," a shocked Lizzy rebounded, "watch your tongue. I'm still your mother, or have you forgotten that?"

2012, JoAnne Bunyak, chapter 13, in Lizzy’s Bridge, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 131:

"Oy, gevalt!" Mu-mu says. "Be a good bubula and get me some seltzer. I'm starting to feel faclempt."

2012 November 13, R. J. Feliciano, chapter 26, in Wally’s Christmas Odyssey: A Novel, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 141:

(US, colloquial) Flustered, nervous, overwhelmed.


SYP

southern yellow pine
southern yellow pine#English

(US) Initialism of southern yellow pine.


steep-slope roof

en-noun

steep-slope roof (plural steep-slope roofs)

(technical, construction, US) According to ASTM standard E 1918-97, a roof whose uppermost part is installed at a slope of 2:12 (9.5 degrees) or more.


beat out

en-verb

beat out (third-person singular simple present beats out, present participle beating out, simple past beat out, past participle beaten out or beat out)

beats out (present singular third-person)
beating out (participle present)
beat out (past)
beaten out (participle past)
beat out (participle past)

She beat out three other contenders to claim the prize.


grease payment

Critics say there is no distinction between extortion and bribery, and that the distinction between a payoff (illegal) and a "grease" payment made to speed along normal duties (legal under the act) is unclear.

1981 July 28, Peter Grier, “US curb on overseas bribes: too prim, or simply proper?”, in Christian Science Monitor, retrieved 2009-04-09:

An important legal distinction is the difference between bribery and “grease payments,” which are paid in these countries not to affect someone’s decision-making but to speed the process of dealing with government.

2007 October 30, Mike Rast, “Webinar Prepares Local Companies for Cultural Gaps with India, China”, in globalatlanta.com, retrieved 2009-04-09:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, business, law, ethics) A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.


dog around

dog around (third-person singular simple present dogs around, present participle dogging around, simple past and past participle dogged around)

dogs around (present singular third-person)
dogging around (participle present)
dogged around (participle past)
dogged around (past)

(idiomatic, transitive, slang, US) To treat wrongly, especially in a romantic relationship; to insult or nag.


bear cat

"Carmen's a bear cat," I says. "If they was all as good as Carmen, I'd go every night."

1916, Ring W. Lardner, “Three Kings and a Pair”, in The Saturday Evening Post:

(US, slang, now rare) An excellent or formidable thing or person.


disremember

disremember (third-person singular simple present disremembers, present participle disremembering, simple past and past participle disremembered)

disremembers (present singular third-person)
disremembering (participle present)
disremembered (participle past)
disremembered (past)

“[…] and just in the edge of the evening she started over with her nigger woman in the horse-ferry to stay all night at her friend’s house, Miss What-you-may-call-her, I disremember her name, and they lost their steering-oar, and swung around and went a-floating down, […]

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 114:

“Why don’t you say some yourself?” the child asked, with wondering eyes. “I disremember them,” he answered.

1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part II (The Country of the Saints), chapter I (On the Great Alkali Plain), page 53:

she replied, with her air of mock seriousness: ‘I seem ter disremember at the moment.’

1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 70:

Then there was the honest count straight through, next the side show with its pretence of "disrememberin'", or doubts as to the number - doubts never laid except by a double count.

1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 33:

"Take those things I sold yesterday. How much did you make on them?" "I couldn't say, dearie. I disremember what I paid for them," said Mrs Dibble evasively.

1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 51:

‘I got a idee he's maybe sniffin around after a sartin gal, and me'n John is wonderin if he aint complete disremembered that that gal belongs to John's boy.’

(chiefly US dialectal) To fail to remember; to forget.


Rotkohl

This one, who held the annual title, comic to the English but a beautiful reality to the German, of Miss Sauerkraut, had in her pallid tall glory exactly the texture of that well-prepared vegetable. A dab of rotkohl would not have harmed her cheeks. Miss Civitavecchia took a deep breath and began, palms outstretched : 'Ma—ma Mi—a!' And went on, for a long time, expending in a tumult of Italian the full breath of her bosom.

1956, William Sansom, A Contest of Ladies:

Emil Arnstedt paused with the forkful of Rotkohl suspended under his lips. He slipped it into his mouth and spoke as he chewed: […]

I got out [some garbled words] around a mouthful of Rotkohl.

2020, Madeline Bell, Gaby - More Changes, →ISBN, page 305:


frazil

en-noun

frazil (countable and uncountable, plural frazils)

From Canadian French frasil, frazil, fraisil, from French fraisil (“coal cinders”), from Old French faisil.

Following currents that flow across the Bering and Chukchi shelves, microplastics from the Pacific that arrive in Arctic waters are gathered up by the tiny crystals that clump together to form ‘frazil’ (the gloss of soft ice that forms on the surface of the water) and then are bound into the sea ice.

2020, David Farrier, “The Library of Babel”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN:

(Canada, US) A collection of stray ice crystals that form in fast-moving water.

frazil

a collection of stray ice crystals that form in fast-moving water


jack-of-the-dust

(US, slang, naval) The storekeeper in charge of dry foodstuffs.


ECO

MECO

a different type of black hole replacement, that inspired the formulation of ECOs

magnetospheric eternally collapsing object

(US, astronautics) Abbreviation of engine cut-off or engine cutoff. (a NASA term for when rocket engines are shut down)


RIO

You'll pick up your RIO when you get to the ship, and if you don't, give me a call. I'll fly with you.

1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Viper (Tom Skerritt):

radar intercept officer
radar intercept officer#English

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of radar intercept officer.


CAPCOM

CAPCOMs (plural)
capcom (alternative)
Capcom (alternative)

Normally, the Capcom was a fellow astronaut. At Mission Control in Mission Elapsed Time 6:37, the man sitting at the fourth Houston seat in the second row of consoles at Mission Control was Capcom Michael Collins, who had been scrubbed from this very mission due to the occurrence of a bone spur on his spine.

2013, David West Reynolds, Wally Schirra, Gene Cernan, Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, 1963-1972, Zenith Imprint, →ISBN, page 103:

“Apex One here. Do you read, Capcom?” Dad's voice said, “I read. Do you have the package?” “Roger that, Capcom. Let's do this thing.” When I'd rendezvoused with Tinkerbell, we'd done it in stages, adjusting location, velocities, and headings until I'd gotten a visual.

2014, Steven Gould, Exo: A Jumper Novel, Macmillan, →ISBN:

capsule communicator
capsule communicator#English

(US, astronautics) Clipping of capsule communicator; a NASA position, the liaison between an in-space crew and mission control.


cah

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(US, eastern Massachusetts) Pronunciation spelling of car.


commodore admiral

commodore admiral (plural commodore admirals)

(US, military, nautical, historical) a flag officer of a rank between a captain and a rear admiral, having a O7 NATO rank scale equivalency.


CADM

commodore admiral
commodore admiral#English

(US, military, nautical, historical) Abbreviation of commodore admiral.


COMO

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of commodore.


leaf peeper

leaf peepers (plural)
leaf-peeper (alternative)

Those "leaf peepers" (that's what you will be to locals) whose New England wanderings lead them through Amherst, Boston, Cambridge, [...]

1984, Robert L. Sammons, Travel Holiday, volume 162, Floral Park, N.Y.: Travel Magazine, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52:

Actually, I'm a leaf peeper myself in May, and when the trail began its acute northwest ascent into the Berkshire foothills west of Greenfield, I found myself marveling at the thousands of pale shades of green and yellow and pink in the new May leaves that walled the roadside and formed a canopy overhead.

1995, William G. Tapply, chapter 9, in The Seventh Enemy: A Brady Coyne Book, New York, N.Y.: Otto Penzler Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, 2013, →ISBN:

Fall colors bring leaf peepers out of the woodwork, making it a challenge to find uncrowded roads.

1995 September, “Technicolor Road Trips”, in Snow Country, volume 10, number 5, Trumbull, Conn.: NYT Sports/Leisure Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, image caption, page 237, column 3:

The valley was stunning this time of year in particular, which drove thousands of leaf-peepers to enter the Mount Washington Valley by busloads to take in the splendor that lay for all to see.

2004, Donna Marie Robie, chapter 5, in One Quiet Night: Murder in New Hampshire, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 22:

Perched on a peak amidst the leaf peeper’s paradise of Western North Carolina, Fire Mountain Inn is a secluded retreat with close ties to the land.

2007 October, “Best Places to Catch Fall Color”, in Rebecca Burns, editor, Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga.: Emmis Publishing, →ISSN, page 244, column 3:

[T]hey found the ski lifts were operating, taking leaf peepers up to the summit to view the beautiful fall foliage.

2014, Christyne Butler, chapter 5, in The Last-chance Maverick (Harlequin Special Edition), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Books, →ISBN, page 81:

A magnet for leaf-peeper pilgrimages, the color is brilliant in autumn, sweeping over the knolls and rises of the landscape.

2014, Marcia Glassman-Jaffe, “The Berkshires”, in Amy Lyons, editor, Fun with the Family: Massachusetts: Hundreds of Ideas for Day Trips with the Kids (Fun with the Family Series), 8th edition, Guilford, Conn.: GPP Travel, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 1:

[R]aisin-apple butter muffins [...] We love apples, and apples in the fall are a big deal around here. There are heirloom apple tastings, thousands of home-baked apple pies are sold to leaf-peepers, and fresh cider is pressed along the side of the road.

2015, Nancy Cain, “Quick Breads, Breakfast Foods, and Muffins”, in Against the Grain: Extraordinary Gluten-free Recipes Made from Real, All-natural Ingredients, New York, N.Y.: Clarkson Potter Publishers, →ISBN:

(US, slang) A tree sightseer who enjoys observing the leaves change color in the autumn.


drumette

drumettes (plural)
drummette (alternative)

(US) The first segment (meatier part) of a chicken wing, closest to the body.


fried bread

fried bread (usually uncountable, plural fried breads)

fried breads (plural)
frybread (alternative)
fry bread (alternative)

(US) A Native American food, found throughout the United States, a leavened flat dough fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard.


draftnik

(US) One who studies and reports on the draft (player selection) for professional sports leagues.


yeoperson

yeoperson (plural yeopersons or yeopeople)


Joe Shmoe

(US, informal) Alternative spelling of Joe Schmoe


average Joe

(US, informal) Alternative form of Joe Average (“typical average person”)


Archgrounds

the Archgrounds (canonical)
Arch grounds (alternative)
Archground (alternative)

The Archgrounds are a major attraction in St. Louis.

(US, in St. Louis, Missouri) The grounds (land) of the Gateway Arch.


purp

(US, slang) A variety of marijuana with purple flowers.


doody

doody (usually uncountable, plural doodies)

doodies (plural)
doodie (alternative)
dooty (alternative)

Respelling of duty (“act of urinating or defecating”), possibly by analogy with doodoo and/or because the sense is so far removed from the usual meaning of "duty."

Petra would like to drop despondently onto a rock to pout, but you have to look before you sit, because there are goat doodies everywhere.

2007, Brian Bouldrey, Honorable bandit: a walk across Corsica:


doody

en-verb

doody (third-person singular simple present doodies, present participle doodying, simple past and past participle doodied)

doodies (present singular third-person)
doodying (participle present)
doodied (participle past)
doodied (past)
doodie (alternative)
dooty (alternative)

Something smells poopy! It's okay if you just doodied, because we have LOTS of paper towels and extra socks.

2014, Jason James Johnson, Catbug Says, →ISBN:

(intransitive, US, slang, childish) To defecate, poop.


vacher

From French vacher (“cowherd”). Doublet of vaquero.

Thus they fought, totally regardless of Alabama, the blows and shouts of the vachers, each striving for victory

1841, C. Austin Woodruff, “Adventure and Scenery in the Far South-West”, in The Southern Literary Messenger:

(US, Southwestern, obsolete) A keeper of stock or cattle; a herdsman.


boat race

(US, sports, slang) A contest in which one competitor boat-races the other(s)


Hallmark holiday

en-noun

Hallmark holiday (plural Hallmark holidays)

Hallmark holidays (plural)
hallmark holiday (alternative)

From the Hallmark Cards greeting card company.

See? Valentine's Day is not just a Hallmark holiday after all.

1999, Karen Rauch Carter, Jeff Fessler, Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 88:

[…] that the whole funeral and gravestone thing was just a racket, was this ridiculous tradition, rooted in commerce, a Hallmark holiday sort of thing, […]

2001, Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 224:

Honestly, it didn't much matter to me that Marina had forgotten Mother's Day, though I did feel bad on my mother's behalf. As any parent can tell you, what hurts far more than no card on a Hallmark holiday are the casual slights, the eye rolls your child thinks you don't see, the muttered "whatevers," the unasked-for-and-unwanted criticism of your clothing, your speech habits, your existence.

2008, Holly Chamberlin, Tuscan Holiday, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 8:

(derogatory, US) An ostensible holiday, or, by extension, any occasion, invented or popularized for profit.


swamper

(US) A person who lives in a swampy area.

In the latter part of winter, I hired with a lumberer – camped out, and wrought in the forest as a swamper.

1860, James Brown, New Brunswick as a Home for Emigrants, page 10:

(US) A person who clears a road for lumberers in a forest or swamp.

To use such a brake on the front wagon, the driver stood up on the seat, letting the team follow the leaders, and threw his whole weight on the upper end of the bar, while the swamper braked the rear wagon.

1926 Apr, Jacob Allred, “Driving the last 20-mule team across Death Valley”, in Popular Mechanics, page 610:

(Canada, US, slang) A truck driver's assistant; an assistant to a driver of horses, mules or bullocks.

The old swamper shifted his broom and held it between his elbow and his side while he held out his hand for the can.

1937, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Penguin, published 1994, page 19:

(US) A handyman or general employee in a liquor saloon; a cook's assistant.


floom

(US, archaic) A flume, as in a mill flume.


partial-birth abortion

partial-birth abortion (plural partial-birth abortions)

Intact dilation and extraction
intact dilation and extraction

(US, law, colloquial) Intact dilation and extraction.


Salt River

In US poltics, after the Salt River in Kentucky. Various explanations exist.

(archaic US slang) Used in reference to losing an election; found especially in the phrase "rowed up Salt River".


talk out one's ass

en-verb

talk out one's ass (third-person singular simple present talks out one's ass, present participle talking out one's ass, simple past and past participle talked out one's ass)

talks out one's ass (present singular third-person)
talking out one's ass (participle present)
talked out one's ass (participle past)
talked out one's ass (past)

talk out of one's ass
talk out of one's ass#English

(chiefly Canada, US, slang) Synonym of talk out of one's ass.


mansionette

From mansion + -ette. Doublet of maisonette.

In the smaller plans of a "Mansionette near Wimbledon Park," "Semi-detached Houses," and "The Compact House built near Blackheath," we are not favoured with any scale.

1860 July 25, The Gentleman's Magazine, page 80:

Trading in their battered RV and Louisiana swamplands for a sumptuous pink mansionette with swimming pool, the Malloys pull off their ruse with skill and also childish naïveté.

2007 March 12, Alessandra Stanley, “For This Family of Pros, the Con Is Everything”, in New York Times:

(US) A large and somewhat luxurious house.


lilyturf

en-noun

lilyturf (countable and uncountable, plural lilyturfs)

From lily + turf, a coinage of the 1920s.

(US) Any of a group of low-growing, grasslike perennials of the genera Liriope and Ophiopogon that are often used in landscaping for ground cover.


license to print money

license to print money (plural licenses to print money)

licence to print money
licence to print money#English


dieselize

en-verb

dieselize (third-person singular simple present dieselizes, present participle dieselizing, simple past and past participle dieselized)

dieselizes (present singular third-person)
dieselizing (participle present)
dieselized (participle past)
dieselized (past)
dieselise (alternative)

(US, transitive) To convert or adapt an engine to diesel fuel.

(US, transitive, rail transport) To replace steam or electric train service on a particular route or network with diesel-engined trains.


Eyetie

Eyeties (plural)
eye-tie (alternative)
Itie (alternative)

The only danger of gas from the Eyeties was when they breathed garlic on you.

We got out to sea again, but it was not long before the Eyeties were on our track again.

1944, Richard Baxter, Stand by to surface:

The Frenchies eat 'em [small birds] and so do the Eyeties.

D'you think they're Eyeties? Supposed to be great lovers...

1986, Aidan Chambers, Dance on My Grave:

'Someone give this girl the bumps! She's getting married. Ah, the good die young. What's his name again? Francesco. An eye-tie? I move for a mistrial.

(US, British, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Italian.


detailer

In the case of Richmond Hill, the torch has been passed to Simcha Waisman, 62, vice president of the neighborhood’s block association. Mr. Waisman’s devotion to neighborhood welfare is legendary; he has been known to stake out freshly painted walls for as long as a week, waiting to catch someone painting graffiti. Mr. Waisman drives a cranberry-colored Expedition, which he says has been so marred by dripping creosote that his detailer now refuses him service.

2007 July 25, Ellen Barry, “Drips, Squeals and Patience: Life by the El”, in New York Times:


jocklike

en-adj

jocklike (comparative more jocklike, superlative most jocklike)

more jocklike (comparative)
most jocklike (superlative)

(US) Resembling a jock (slow-witted athletic person).


tackey

Riding a small tackey[…], he was compelled continually to be on the look-out for, and defence against, the overhanging branches and vines clustering about the trees, through which his horse, in its own desire to clamber over the roots, continually and most annoyingly bore him.

1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter IX, page 115:

(US, Southern US) A scrubby, neglected horse.

(US, Southern US) A person in a similar condition.


theocon

Theo-cons demonized the emerging health crisis [AIDS] as a "gay plague".

2007 May 21, Leslie Feinberg, “Cuba mobilized before first diagnosis”, in Workers World:


big one

“Little Caesar stopped by. You guessed it. Edward G. Robinson himself, and paid four big ones for the seated figure. […]”

1988, Arthur Allen Cohen, Acts of Theft, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 166:

He smiled faintly and dropped 100 big ones down on the bar.

2002 September 23, Hunter S. Thompson, “Dr. Thompson Is Back from Beirut”, reprinted in Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness: Modern History from the Sports Desk, Simon and Schuster (2004), page 144

You could spend the five big ones and the client could get downsized to a Jiffy Lube janitor the next week.

2002, George Avgerakis, Desktop Video Studio Bible: Producing Video, DVD, and Websites for Profit, McGraw-Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 364:

(US, colloquial) One hundred or one thousand dollars.

The visitors won't know the difference because […] after they’ve dropped five hundred big ones at the factory outlet stores, an extra dollar will seem like the bargain of the century.

2007, Sam Venable, Someday I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist's Life, University of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 157:

I spent seventy-five big ones to have my computer crash.

2007, Wilson Marsh, Ouiji (novella), in Six After Midnight, Steel Moon Publishing, page 78

“[…] I paid 150,000 big ones for her to kill herself in front of the biggest wigs in Hollywood? […]”

2008, Daniel Edward Craig, Murder at Hotel Cinema, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 101:


coupelike

coupelike (comparative more coupelike, superlative most coupelike)

more coupelike (comparative)
most coupelike (superlative)

The Chrysler Nassau concept car, a less costly take on the Mercedes CLS, a sedan with coupelike styling.

2007 January 7, Lawrence Ulrich, “Detroit Puts on a Show, and It’s Playing for Keeps”, in New York Times:

(US, rare) Resembling a coupe (car with two doors).


flatty

From flat + -y.
(policeman): From flatfoot.


biggity

biggity (comparative more biggity, superlative most biggity)

more biggity (comparative)
most biggity (superlative)
biggedy (alternative)
biggety (alternative)
biggoty (alternative)
bigotty (alternative)

Apparently from big + -ed + -y, a compound suffix used to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”; compare uppity. Alternately, perhaps from big + -ety, a suffix used to extend monosyllabic words; compare hot diggety, hippity-hop. Attested in the Southern United States since the late nineteenth century.

[T]he captains were very independent and airy—pretty ‘biggity,’ as Uncle Remus would say.

1883, Mark Twain, chapter 58, in Life on the Mississippi:

"Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows 'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' niggers—talks lack he own de whole county."

1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter 33, in The House Behind The Cedars:

“Aint you talking biggity. I bet you better not let your grandmammy hear you talking like that.”

1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Folio Society, published 2016, page 15:

(US, African-American Vernacular) Conceited, uppity.


HO scale

(US, Australia) A popular scale for model railroads; 1:87 scale


fraidy

fraidy (comparative fraidier, superlative fraidiest)

fraidier (comparative)
fraidiest (superlative)

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


sideliner

(US) A beekeeper, neither a hobbyist nor a fully-fledged commercial operator, for whom beekeeping is a secondary source of income.


deskman

His face showed his lack of confidence in the deskman.

2007 January 21, Michael Connelly, “The Overlook”, in New York Times:


base off of

en-verb

base off of (third-person singular simple present bases off of, present participle basing off of, simple past and past participle based off of)

bases off of (present singular third-person)
basing off of (participle present)
based off of (participle past)
based off of (past)

A lot of artists put skits in their records, but they based it off of De La Soul. We didn't base ours off of De La Soul, we based ours off of ours, because we were the first group to actually split up a rap album and not go cut for cut.

2006, Chuck D, Yusuf Jah, Chuck D: Lyrics of a Rap Revolutionary, volume 1:

They wanted something like a '70s thriller, so I based it off of The Man with the Golden Gun poster.

2015, Eric Nolen-Weathington, Modern Masters Volume 30: Paolo Rivera, page 40:

(ditransitive, US, informal) To base on.


military school

en-noun

military school (plural military schools)

(US) A secondary school (or middle school) that prepares its students for joining the military.


razzberry

As long as he would keep picking her up, making razzberries on her belly, and flipping her over so that she dangled above the ground, she couldn't care less about anything but being with him.

2014, Catherine Gayle, Holiday Hat Trick:

(US, informal) A raspberry (noise made to imitate flatulence).


Seabee

Spelling of the initials CB, for construction battalion, with the spelling probably influenced by the words sea (patrolled by the Navy) and bee (a symbol of industriousness).

The Navy is establishing a new Construction Battalion, or Seabee, unit in Charleston, S. C., Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, said today.

1971 January 20, “Seabee Unit in Charleston”, in The New York Times, page 15:

(US military) A construction battalion of the United States Navy, responsible for building, bulldozing, etc.


assmunch

(Canada, US, sometimes vulgar, slang, humorous) A despicable person.


buttmunch

Oh, now we have buttmunches talking how this is off charter! Isn't that great. Why don't you go find new ways to cheat, Scott?

1993 September 20, James P. Stuckey, “Re: Serpents/Rangers”, in rec.games.empire (Usenet), retrieved 2018-10-04, message-ID <CDnw31.KCH@rahul.net>:

At least she knew they were listening, but she responded to her classmate, "Don't you think I know that, you buttmunch?"

1999, Rose Wood, Dysinhibition Syndrome:

[…] and when some righteous buttmunch like Mike Barbour jacks him up, some ultra-righteous coach, say maybe Simet, has Barbour running stairs.

I had a cousin, name was Skeeter, which should tell ya something about what kinda PWT oxycontin-suckin' lowlife hillbilly buttmunch this guy was.

(Canada, US, slang, somewhat vulgar, humorous) Term of abuse for a stupid or contemptible person.


southern yellow pine

southern yellow pine (usually uncountable, plural southern yellow pines)

(US) A classification of lumber, widely used in construction in much of the US, from any of several species of genus Pinus grown in the southeastern United States.


CCW

(US, firearms) Initialism of concealed carry weapon.


CCW

(US, firearms) Initialism of carrying a concealed weapon.


blowdryer

(US, Philippines) Alternative spelling of blow-dryer


hold hard

en-verb

hold hard (third-person singular simple present holds hard, present participle holding hard, simple past and past participle held hard)

holds hard (present singular third-person)
holding hard (participle present)
held hard (participle past)
held hard (past)

Originally an expression used in riding or driving, now general.

Hold hard: here come the sheep.

(UK, dated, Rhode Island, often imperative) To remain still; to stop suddenly.


quiet down

quiet down (third-person singular simple present quiets down, present participle quieting down, simple past and past participle quieted down)

quiets down (present singular third-person)
quieting down (participle present)
quieted down (participle past)
quieted down (past)

As the lights dimmed the general noise quieted down.

quieten down which is preferred usage in UK

The teacher did her best to quiet the children down.

(transitive, US) To make someone or something become quieter.

taire

Diplomacy can only begin when the violence quiets down.

(intransitive, transitive, US) To diminish in intensity.


flying purple people eater

en-noun

flying purple people eater (plural flying purple people eaters)

flying purple people eaters (plural)
flying purple people-eater (alternative)

From The Purple People Eater, a song by Sheb Wooley, which describes the titular creature as a "flying purple people eater".

He exits quickly, looking like he's just seen the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater. "Some gooks are in there!"

2001, James D. Johnson, Combat chaplain: a thirty-year Vietnam battle, page 181:

I used to be afraid to go to bed at night — the name was "one-eyed, one-eared flying purple people-eater."

2003, Darcy O'Brien, The Hillside Stranglers, page 249:

"Something ate the middle." / "I don't suppose that something was the flying purple people eater?" Chylak said. / He knew this scenario well: next Elliott would demand that his Happy Days night-light be left on all night

2005, Eugena Pilek, Cooperstown, page 74:

Being rushed by a hungry, one-eyed, one-armed flying purple people eater and its pet Zygot, however, will cause very high levels of SNS action

2007, Cody Lundin with Russell Miller and Christopher Marchetti, When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes, page 47:


scungy

en-adj

scungy (comparative scungier, superlative scungiest)

scungier (comparative)
scungiest (superlative)

1975, The Bulletin, Issues 4951-4963, page 44,
[…] bewitched by the culinary oddities introduced by migrants from the scungier sections of the Old World.

“[…]I have been saving up the scungiest, most disgusting fix-up and cleanup jobs just for you.”

1990, Rob Kantner, Made in Detroit, page 3:

1990 September, Byron Coley, Underground, Spin, page 86,
The cassette collects outtakes, demos, and scungier droppings, so it′s only about as intrinsically interesting as the leftover's from Ric Menck's Groovy Strum comp must be.

2007, Nigel Latta, Into the Darklands and Beyond, 2010, HarperCollins New Zealand, unnumbered page,
They lived in a scungy state house that was far scungier than it needed to be.

And while for most people, talk of “green” fridges might conjure up images of hygiene disasters in scungy student flats, the revolutionary invention is not on the nose.

2009 January 13, AAP, “Enviro-friendly fridges”, in Herald-Sun, archived from the original on 2009-09-09:

That is a scungy lawn in front of the rented flat down the road.

(Australia, New Zealand, US, informal) Dirty, messy; sordid.


dramshop

dramshops (plural)
dram shop (alternative)

From dram (“small unit of liquid”) + shop.


under lock and key

If it was him we can have him under lock and key in 24 hours.

(US, UK, idiomatic) imprisoned with little or no chance of escape; locked up.

It is the policy of the organization to keep unused check supplies safeguarded under lock and key.

2008, Edward J. McMillan, Model Policies and Procedures for Not-for-Profit Organizations, page 239:

(US, UK, idiomatic) safely guarded; locked away.


greyback

en-noun

greyback (countable and uncountable, plural greybacks)

greybacks (plural)
grayback (alternative)

Coordinate term: bluebelly

...to resist the farther advance of the greybacks.

1871, Mary Stephens Robinson, A household story of the American conflict:

Sheridan managed to keep the graybacks at bay while he tore up the railroad, but he abandoned the plan to link up with Hunter, and the southerners soon repaired the railroad.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2004, page 739:

(historical, US, colloquial) A Confederate soldier during the US Civil War (because of the grey uniforms).


bar review

/ˈbɑɹ ɹɪˌvju/

/ˈbɑː ɹɪˌvjuː/

(US, law) A course of study designed to prepare someone to take a bar examination.


git-go

(US, dialect) Alternative form of get-go


correctional institution

correctional institution (plural correctional institutions)

correctional facility
correctional facility#English

(US, formal, euphemistic) Synonym of correctional facility


cracker bonbon

(US) A party favor in the form of a Christmas cracker


LOI

LOI (countable and uncountable, plural LOIs)

(US, space science) Initialism of lunar orbit insertion: NASA terminology for a spacecraft maneuver to enter into orbit around the Moon.


Jesus Harold Christ

Unknown or disputed. Likely a variant of Jesus H. Christ, from the Christogram IHS, an abbreviation of Ancient Greek Ιησούς (Iēsoús) Χρῑστός (Khrīstós, “Jesus Christ”). An alternate theory speculates that Harold is a mishearing of hallowed in the Lord's Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” A third theory is that the middle name is arbitrary, used to mark the difference between profane and sacred invocations of Jesus Christ.

The BPBs [members of the Brotherhood of Professional Believers] would have these long discussions about how a simple man with a Mexican name had become the savior of Jerusalem and the whole world, and what was Christ’s middle name or did he have a middle name at all? One of the rooks said that he thought the full name might be Jesus Harold Christ, because he had heard his father refer several times to Jesus H. Christ.

[1974, Jack Olsen, “The Flight III: 10 Rounds a Second”, in Alphabet Jackson, Chicago, Ill.: Playboy Press, →ISBN, page 91:

Since, as I mentioned, my arse is intact, I meditate first upon the pain in my balls. Jesus Harold Christ! I wonder if Monger's got some morphine kicking about. I wouldn't put it past him.

2007, David Thewlis, The Late Hector Kipling, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 304:

(US, potentially offensive) An expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, frustration.


Moana

en-proper-noun

Moana (countable and uncountable, plural Moanas)

From Hawaiian Moana (“sea, ocean”), Maori moana, and other Polynesian languages.

A unisex given name from Polynesian.
(US) A unisex given name from Hawaiian.

A unisex given name from Polynesian.
A unisex given name from Hawaiian.


off the reservation

While politicians remained blackballed on opening night, the Clintonites' search for "real people" was not limited to the obscure. Thomason floated Billy Graham's name, but Hillary worried that he might get off the reservation on abortion.

1999, Martin Plissner, The Control Room: How Television Calls the Shots in Presidential Elections:

(US, politics) Having broken with one's party or group, usually temporarily.


nonfreeway

They also recorded the distance of each child’s home from the nearest limited-access highway and from other major nonfreeway roads.

2007 January 30, Nicholas Bakalar, “Highway Exhaust Stunts Lung Growth, Study Finds”, in New York Times:

(US, Canada) That is not, or does not relate to, a freeway.


dipperful

en-noun

dipperful (plural dipperfuls or dippersful)

He [the horse-doctor] made up a bucket of bran-mash, and said a dipperful of it every two hours, alternated with a drench with turpentine and axle-grease in it, would either knock my ailments out of men in twenty-four hours, or so interest me in other ways as to make me forget they were on the premises. […] I took up the Christian Science book and read half of it, then took a dipperful of drench and read the other half.

1899 October, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter III, in Christian Science […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, published February 1907, →OCLC, book I, page 28:

Earmarks—those undebated dipperfuls of taxpayer-financed contracts that tripled under the Republicans—will undoubtedly return in the new budget.

2007 February 3, “A rare bill in Congress”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(US) As much as a dipper will hold; a cupful.


ice pop

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

(US) A snack made of frozen juice on a stick; an ice lolly or popsicle.


Medal of Honor

Franklin D. Roosevelt was yesterday posthumously awarded a special Medal of Honor by a unanimous vote of the House of Representatives, press dispatches said.

1945 May 23, “FDR HONORED”, in Free Philippines, volume 3, number 24, page 1, column 2:

(US, military) The highest military award given in the United States.


fraktur

fraktur (countable and uncountable, plural frakturs)

frakturs (plural)
Fraktur (alternative)
fractur (alternative)
Fractur (alternative)

1886 fractur, 1904 fraktur, from German Fraktur, from Latin frāctūra (“breaking”, noun), from frangere (“to break”), past participle fractus. Compare English fracture, fraction. Doublet of fracture.

(US) A Pennsylvania German document style, incorporating watercolor illustration and fraktur lettering.


Mormonize

en-verb

Mormonize (third-person singular simple present Mormonizes, present participle Mormonizing, simple past and past participle Mormonized)

Mormonizes (present singular third-person)
Mormonizing (participle present)
Mormonized (participle past)
Mormonized (past)
Mormonise (alternative)

(US, transitive, rare) To convert to Mormonism.


clout list

By the way, joining Ronan in the move from "10 worst" to the clout list is his on-and-off nemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

1991 July 7, Thomas Hardy, “To make clout list, it's not what you know, but who you know”, in Chicago Tribune, page 4:

Gov. Blagojevich's office kept a clout list of hundreds of state employees recommended by lobbyists, lawmakers and major fund-raisers.

2006 May 17, Chris Fusco, Dave McKinney, “Governor's office kept clout list”, in Chicago Sun-Times, retrieved 2009-06-05:

The University of Illinois announced Monday that it will temporarily suspend the use of a clout list in the admissions process—a practice school officials first downplayed after it was described in a Tribune investigation.

2009 June 2, Stacy St. Clair, Jodi S. Cohen, “Clout Goes to College: Clout list put on suspension”, in chicagotribune.com, retrieved 2009-06-05:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, politics, ethics) A usually secret list containing the names of people who are to be given special access, benefits, or influence in a political or social situation, especially as a result of having personal, professional, or financial relationships with those in authority.


designated survivor

en-noun

designated survivor (plural designated survivors)

(US, government) A member of the cabinet who stays at a physically distant, secure, and undisclosed location when the president and all those in the line of succession are gathered at a single location, so as to provide a successor should a catastrophic event occur where the others die or are incapacitated.


jelly roll

jelly rolls (plural)
jellyroll (alternative)

(US) A cylindrical cake containing jelly (jam).

(by extension, US slang) The female genitalia, sexual intercourse, or a lover.


ridge-runner

Recorded since 1917; from ridge (reference to the Appalachian mountain chain) + runner.

(US) An inhabitant of the Southern Appalachian region.


Swinging Sixties

[Mary] Quant's happy perpetuation of the mythology is hardly surprising as she was part of the Chelsea Set, a group of creative entrepreneurs consisting mostly of upper-class artists, photographers and writers such as Alexander Plunckett-Green and Nell Dunn, who together with (American) mass media such as Time Magazine (scrutinized in Chapter 4), dreamt up what we now conceive of as the Swinging Sixties.

2016, Sebastian Groes, British Fictions of the Sixties: The Making of the Swinging Decade, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 3:

(UK, US) An often nostalgic name for the 1960s.

teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties

Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties


crimenetly

I am not, in any way at all, trying to prevent or say she can't discuss what she wants. Sheesh, and crimenetly! It's an opinion!!

1995 May 9, Donald M. Gooch, “Re: [some] LEFT WINGERS [aren't fond of] THE POPE!”, in bit.listserv.politics (Usenet):

My dad could hit his thumb with a hammer and yelp "Crimenetly!" but it didn't count.

2006 October 25, “Close to Home”, in Indianapolis Monthly, page 70:

(US, slang) Alternative spelling of criminently


Sloanie

(US, informal) A student or alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management.


standard of identity

standard of identity (plural standards of identity)

(US, Canada, law) A government regulation establishing the criteria which must be met before a product may be labeled as being a certain food.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Food and Drug Administration
standard of identity


Fox

en-prop

Fox (countable and uncountable, plural Foxes or Foxs)

* (surname): From fox (“vulpine animal”)

I watched a great show on Fox last night.

In some ways, it’s a pragmatic practice: Fox anchors such as Sean Hannity and, at one point, Tucker Carlson routinely attack Milley – and during the Trump years, there was also a reasonable expectation that the president would be talking to the hosts of those shows.

2023 September 25, Katie Bo Lillis, Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky, “Mark Milley leaves a controversial legacy as America’s top general”, in CNN:

(US, broadcasting, uncountable) Fox Broadcasting Company, a large television network from the USA.


Canada jay

Perisoreus canadensis
Perisoreus canadensis#Translingual

(US) The gray jay, Perisoreus canadensis.


camp robber

(US) A gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis).


whiskey-jack

(US) Alternative form of whisky jack (gray jay, Canada jay).


uh-oh, Spaghetti-O

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-uh-oh, Spaghetti-O.wav

Advertising campaign for SpaghettiOs, an American brand of canned spaghetti rings.

"Uh-oh, spaghetti-o!" She retreated a couple of steps. "Guess I'm in for it now."

1987, Ellen Frye, Look under the hawthorn:

Mary clucked, "Uh-oh, spaghetti-o." I raced to the bathroom door, kicked it open . . . and stopped dead in my tracks. Ai, talk about squalid scenes!

2001, John Treadwell Nichols, The voice of the butterfly:

Uh-oh, Spaghetti-ohs. You sunk my battleship. But wait!

2005, Erik Grayson, A mind of summer: post-punk dispatches from a post-structuralist world:

Uh oh, Spaghetti-O. We exchange places. Bobby walks up to the pole, bends over, sets himself, and gets a good grip.


shit fit

shit fits (plural)
shit-fit (alternative)
shitfit (alternative)

When the Republicans found out that Wilson's second bill was actually being credited to Al Blumenthal and Fred Ohrenstein, two Democrats the Republicans have a particular animosity toward, they, to put it mildly, threw a shit-fit.

1974, Phil Tracy, "State Secrets, The Village Voice, 23 May, p. 3 (retrieved 17 June 2009)

My sweet little usually mellow kitty was having a total shit fit, screaming her head off.

2007, Kris Carr, Sheryl Crow, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, →ISBN, page 25:

(chiefly US, Canada, vulgar) A childish display of anger or frustration; a tantrum; a frantic outburst.


Nuremberg defense

en-noun

Nuremberg defense (plural Nuremberg defenses)

Nuremberg defenses (plural)
Nuremberg defence (alternative)

/ˈnjʊəɹəmbəːɡ dɪˈfɛns/

Albert Speer
Alfred Rosenberg
Franz von Papen
Hans Frank
Nuremberg Charter
Nuremberg trials
Rudolf Hess
Wilhelm Frick

An allusion to a defense used by former Nazi officials prosecuted during the Nuremberg trials after World War II. The trials were held in Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany.

A relatively novel legal issue was raised by dissenters who contended that they did not so much oppose war in general as the Viet Nam war in particular. This contention, which became known as the Nuremberg defense, was raised by some young men who did not qualify as conscientious objectors and who were prosecuted for refusing to submit to induction.

1967, “The Nuremberg Defense”, in Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, volume 25, part 2, Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 936, column 1:

In United States v. Berrigan, a Federal court in Maryland laid down a legal blueprint for the treatment of war protest cases where an attempt was made to invoke the "Nuremberg defence." Father Philip Berrigan and three others stood charged with injuring the property of the United States Government, mutilating records filed in a public office of the United States, and hindering the administration of the Military Selective Service Act.

1980 January, Gary Komarow, “Individual Responsibility under International Law: The Nuremberg Principles in Domestic Legal Systems”, in The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, volume 29, number 1, London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 28:

Even during the Vietnam War, in the Pentagon Papers case, a standing objection would not have barred the assertion of a Nuremberg defense by those who committed the civil disobedience.

1985 October, Jules Lobel, “The Limits of Constitutional Power: Conflicts between Foreign Policy and International Law”, in Virginia Law Review, volume 71, number 7, Charlottesville, Va.: Virginia Law Review Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, footnote 452, page 1158:

[pages 413–434] The modern Nuremberg Defenses are the antithesis of the original defense: criminal defendants today build a defense based on the reasoning and principles used by the Allied nations to convict Germans at Nuremberg. There are essentially two modern Nuremberg Defenses: the Citizen's Duty and the Citizen's Privilege. [...] Under the Citizen's Duty defense, defendants assert that they could be held liable for complicity with international crimes if they fail to take action to prevent such crimes. [...] [page 416] Under the Citizen's Privilege formulation of the Defense, the Nuremberg Principles are joined with the statutory and common law privileges allowing citizens to prevent crime. This then creates a "citizen's privilege" to break domestic law.

1989 January, Frank Lawrence, “The Nuremberg Principles: A Defense for Political Protestors”, in Hastings Law Journal, volume 40, number 2, San Francisco, Calif.: Hastings College of the Law, University of California, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-01-05, part II (The Modern Nuremberg Defenses), pages 413–414 and 416:

The American judiciary's narrow interpetation of the standing requirement under the Nuremberg Principles has eviscerated the Nuremberg defense and limited its application to a narrow range of cases. [...] The judiciary, in rejecting defendants' standing to raise the Nuremberg defense, ignores the recognized privilege of citizen intervention to prevent the commission of a crime.

1991 fall, Matthew Lippman, “Nuremberg: Forty Five Years Later”, in Connecticut Journal of International Law, volume 7, number 1, Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Journal of International Law Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1; republished in Guénaël Mettraux, editor, Perspectives on the Nuremberg Trial, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, →ISBN, part IX (Lowering the Procedural Barriers: Recognizing the Nuremberg Defense for Political Protestors), page 539:

An area in which one may indeed use the international defence, like the Nuremberg defence, though with little success, is opposition to nuclear weapons and other situations where civil disobedients set themselves against military combat. [...] Therefore, civil disobedients' interference in the production of weapons is not criminally culpable, but rather clearly excusable as avoiding the violation of a more serious law. Although this defence has had little success so far, it is worth brandishing and counts amongst the defences preferred by civil disobedients.

2004, María José Falcón y Tella, “The Positive Aspect”, in Peter Muckley, transl., Civil Disobedience (Monographs on International Law and Human Rights; 7), Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, page 216:

(US law, by extension) An explanation offered as a defense to criminal or wrongful behavior, claiming that one is justified in not obeying a governmental order or a domestic law because the order or law is itself unlawful.