Co-Cola

en-noun

Co-Cola (countable and uncountable, plural Co-Colas)

Jem giggled. "He's got a Co-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there."

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 160:

His breathing was shallow and fast. His hand shook as he picked up the Coca Cola Olive had brought him. "This will pick you up," she said. "Co-cola is the best thing for any weakness."

1992, The Texas Review, volume 13, page 25:

Later that month, the principal called me into his office, offered some pleasantries and a Co'-Cola, then asked: “Son, are you a subversive?”

(US, Southern US, informal) Coca-Cola, or (by extension) any soft drink.


fumfer

en-verb

fumfer (third-person singular simple present fumfers, present participle fumfering, simple past and past participle fumfered)

fumfers (present singular third-person)
fumfering (participle present)
fumfered (participle past)
fumfered (past)
phumpher (alternative)
fumper (alternative)

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿאָנפֿען (fonfen, “to speak with a nasal twang, to mumble”) + -er (frequentative suffix). First attested in 1954. Compare fumf.

bor+

She fumfered around and refused to give a straight answer.

In school, Dr. Noah heard lectures on [Sigmund] Freud, [Carl] Jung and [Alfred] Adler. There wasn't much chance to try out their ideas in Monticello. Pragmatic medicine was practiced up there. To fumfer with the locals, any dreams, say what's in the mind, what do you see in the blots, would produce too many complications.

1975, Harvey Jacobs, Summer on a Mountain of Spices, New York, N.Y., […]: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 192:

"Well," she continued, searching for the right words, "you're young, you're attractive, you're . . . no threat, if you know what I mean." Ron looked Liz straight in the eye. "I-don't-know-what-you-mean." / "Well, you know . . ." Liz fumfered. "You and Talbot."

1983, David Marlow, Winning Is Everything, New York, N.Y.: G P Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 108:

It was not what I had expected. I began to fumfer. "Perhaps I'm just here to buy a cookbook on Afghan cuisine."

1998, Lydia Adamson, A Cat on Stage Left: An Alice Nestleton Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, →ISBN, page 56:

The interviewer began the dialogue by asking if my father would feel equal outrage had the blacklist targeted Nazis rather than Communists. Wrong-footed, Frank [Tarloff] fumfered some sort of response.

2011 September 21, Erik Tarloff, “My Father Was a Communist”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-08-09:

President [Donald] Trump's tax-reform rollout came stumbling out of the gate this week. And much of the blame belongs to the clumsy, hacky salesmanship of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn, who fumfered his way through an awkward White House press briefing.

2017 September 27, Daniel Gross, “Why Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn Are So Bad at Selling Trump's Tax Plan”, in Slate, archived from the original on 2022-11-08:

Thanks to some storytelling gymnastics that would score straight 10s at the Olympics, Anastasia ends up as the head of the fiction division at an important publishing company. At her first staff meeting all the grey hairs are fumfering about declining numbers.

2017 February 10, Jordan Hoffman, “The seven most wonderfully ridiculous moments in Fifty Shades Darker”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-28:

He tears through his chapter books, bursting into the room, bushy hair on end, to ask for definitions: Perplexed! Secretary! Brassiere! We give him most, and fumfer around others, especially when he gets into the newspaper.

2020 September 8, Priyanka Mattoo, “'I Hate It with Both My Eyes!'”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-25:

Fumfering – a word we get from Yiddish – means to mumble, mutter, murmur, dither, waffle, be evasive, temporize and stall. Fumfering is also the right term to describe Israel’s immoral and imprudent policy on the Ukraine crisis and war.

2022 April 29, Alon Pinkas, “Israel’s Ukraine Policy Isn't Only Immoral. It's Also Unwise”, in Haaretz, archived from the original on 2022-12-23:

(informal, US) To speak awkwardly or evasively; to dither, waffle.

I fumfered with the USB stick, trying and failing to plug it in.

There was a candle on the nightstand, she remembered. After a great deal of fumbling and fumfering around in the dark, she managed to get it lighted.

1995, Marcia Rose, Like Mother, Like Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 236:

For an excruciating half hour, Jeremiah starts the engine, fumfers with things in the cab, gets out to polish the hood ornament, shakes hands, waves good-byes.

2001, Robert M[orris] Sapolsky, A Primate's Memoir, New York, N.Y., […]: Scribner, →ISBN, page 64:

Take, for instance, the media executive who told me he got hooked on Lost via iTunes, tried to watch it on television one Wednesday night, realized he didn't know what network it was on, started fumfering around with TV listings, and then decided it was just easier stick to downloads.

2006 May 15, Jon Fine, “Local TV's Clear Shot At The Net”, in Bloomberg Businessweek, New York, N.Y.: Bloomberg L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-07:

Or perhaps it's having to watch tens of thousands of passengers fumfer around in their bags, unload their electronics, plastic bags, shoes and water bottles.

2014 August 27, Marissa Rothkopf Bates, “The Sparrow Rolling Bag Is Designed to Roll Through the TSA”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek Publishing LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-02-01:

I'm still fumfering with the infotainment system in my Sorento.

2015 August 5, Jason Fogelson, “2016 Kia Sorento Long-Term Update #2: Road Trip”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-11-14:


oldass

(US, vulgar) Used in the same context as old, but more intense.


oralize

en-verb

oralize (third-person singular simple present oralizes, present participle oralizing, simple past and past participle oralized)

oralizes (present singular third-person)
oralizing (participle present)
oralized (participle past)
oralized (past)
oralise (alternative)

(chiefly US) To speak out something that is written, to turn something written into something oral.


oralization

en-noun

oralization (countable and uncountable, plural oralizations)

oralizations (plural)
oralisation (alternative)

(chiefly US) The act or an act of oralizing; the act or an act of turning something written into something oral.


tisswood

(US) A name for various trees, particularly:

A name for various trees
Red bay (Persea borbonia).

A name for various trees
Silverbell (genus Halesia).

A name for various trees
Box elder (Acer negundo).


gold star family

gold star family (plural gold star families)

And when he came down with a life-threatening case of Covid, he suggested that he might have caught it from Gold Star families he had met with after his positive test — that is, he blamed people he himself had callously endangered.

2021 December 7, Paul Krugman, “Where Have All the Grown-ups Gone?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US military) the immediate family of a U.S. soldier who was killed in action


gold star father

gold star father (plural gold star fathers)

(US military) the father of a member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action


gold star mother

gold star mother (plural gold star mothers)

blue star mother: the mother of a living active-duty U.S. serviceman)

(US military) the mother of a member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action


gold star wife

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gold star wife.wav

From gold star (“(attributively) relative of a United States soldier when the latter has been killed in action”) + wife. Gold star refers to stars of that colour traditionally shown on service flags displayed by families of members of the U.S. armed forces.

(US military) The widow of a member of the United States armed forces who was killed in action.


gold star

From Gold + star from the star shape of the award and its colour, representing the highest of three levels: gold, silver, bronze.

a gold-star mother

(in compounds, US military) A relative of a U.S. soldier when the latter has been killed in action.


soft money

soft money (usually uncountable, plural soft moneys)

(US, politics) Funds contributed to political parties for activities intended to influence state or local elections.


county court

(US) A court which handles both civil and criminal cases.


soccer football

soccer football (countable and uncountable, plural soccer footballs)

association football
association football#English

(uncountable, Australia, US, rare) Synonym of association football


chick magnet

When he walks his dog the girls all want to pet it – it's a real chick magnet.

(US, colloquial) Something that tends to get the attention of women, especially young women.

With those clothes and that smile, he's a real chick magnet.

(US, colloquial) Someone (chiefly, a man) whom women, especially young women, find very attractive.


gas lamp

Alternative form: gaslamp

Meronym: gas mantle

(US) A lamp that operates by burning gas (gaseous matter), usually illuminating gas (in any of various types).


yellow broom

(US) Baptisia tinctoria, of the tribe Thermopsideae: subfamily Faboideae.


white nigger

(US, UK, slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) An Irish person, especially an immigrant to the United States.

(US, UK, slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) An Italian person, especially an immigrant to the United States.


white negro

white negro (plural white negros or white negroes)

white negros (plural)
white negroes (plural)

(US, slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) Synonym of white nigger


hopper car

(rail transport, US) A railroad freight car which is used to transport bulk materials in a hopper, the load being usually discharged through one or more hinged doors at the bottom of the car.


fugitive disentitlement

(US, law) A judicial doctrine to strike down the claim of a party in the civil forfeiture action who had absconded on the criminal case.


RTC

As graduation approached there were several rumors swirling around us and they were intended to add salt to our wounds before leaving RTC.

2013, David Banagis, Twenty-Three Days at Sea: A Sailor's Story, Bloomington, IN: Abbott Press, →ISBN, page 15:

w:Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois

(US, military) Initialism of Recruit Training Command: a unit within the United States Navy responsible for conducting the initial orientation and indoctrination of incoming recruits, located at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois.


Carnegie unit

Carnegie units (plural)
Carnegie Unit (alternative)

Used since 1906; from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which was itself named after Andrew Carnegie.

(education, US) A time-based unit of measurement used in American secondary schools to track student educational attainment. Each unit represents 120 hours of class or contact time with an instructor over the course of a year.


midnuptial agreement

midnuptial agreement (plural midnuptial agreements)

Therefore, the modern rule is that midnuptial agreements do not inherently violate public policy Courts no longer view antenuptial and midnuptial agreements as void per se, but such agreements still receive special treatment.

(US) A legal document, signed by both parties during marriage, stating the legal claims on each other's estate upon a subsequent divorce.


donnybrookian

en-adj

donnybrookian (comparative more donnybrookian, superlative most donnybrookian)

more donnybrookian (comparative)
most donnybrookian (superlative)

Hereupon Ted drew forth his cudgel, hit the Turk a donnybrookian whack over the skull that laid him flat on the ground, and took to his heels.

2012, R.M. Ballantyne, The Pirate City: A Tale of the Pirates of the City of Algiers, and Their Defeat by the British Navy, The Floating Press, page 256

The favourite device of one of the Indian desert foxes here is of a donnybrookian flavour.

2016, Arthur Morrison, The Complete Works of Arthur Morrison, Delphi Classics - Series 6, (unpaginated)

All at once we find the irrepressible Count of Poitou in the thick of the fray, for no reason whatever that I can discover, except, may be, a general donnybrookian tendency to take part in any fight that is going!

1878, George Murray Smith, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Cornhill Magazine - Volume 37, Periodical Publication, page 87

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) Of or pertaining to a donnybrook; bellicose; disconcerted; raucous; clashing.


Mx.

“He takes a lot of inspiration directly from Elon Musk for better or for worse,” Mx. Morey said.

2021 May 4, Taylor Lorenz, “Mr. Beast, YouTube Star, Wants to Take Over the Business World”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

[TITLE] Mx. [PLURAL] Mxes. / Pronounced “mixes” [WHO USES IT] Nonbinary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming people [IN WRITING] Mx. Riley Smith / Mx. Smith / The Mxes. Smith (relatives, or a married couple) / The Mxes. Smith, Laughlin, and Freedman (relatives or a group of individuals) / Mx. Riley Smith and Mx. Kai Laughlin (individuals or a couple) [IN CONVERSATION] “This is Mx. Riley Smith, they handle our design work.” / “The Mxes. Smith and Jones from the architecture firm Redefine Design are attending the wedding.” [NOTES] Mx. can also be used when you don’t want your gender known.

2022, Lizzie Post, Daniel Post Senning, “Greetings & Introductions”, in Emily Post’s Etiquette, centennial/20th edition, New York, N.Y.: Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 45:

“They’re like, we want to make it like a place where people want to meet up. But why wouldn’t people want to meet up in a gigantic ice-cream parlor?” questioned Mx. Herzog, who prefers to use a gender-neutral honorific.

2022 July 29, Dodai Stewart, “The Fight to Save New York’s Extravagantly ’80s Subway Entrance”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mx. Silverman is a playwright and the author, most recently, of the novel “There’s Going to Be Trouble.”

2024 April 28, Jen Silverman, “Art Isn’t Supposed to Make You Comfortable”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

US and Canada standard form of Mx (“gender neutral title”).


gold star parent

en-noun

gold star parent (plural gold star parents)

(US military) the parent of a member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action


dudical

en-adj

dudical (comparative more dudical, superlative most dudical)

more dudical (comparative)
most dudical (superlative)

With his mohawk and sunglasses, Josh looked really dudical.


top piece

top pieces (plural)
top-piece (alternative)
toppiece (alternative)

The Mayor took himself up in the lift, quite naked of course, except for his top-piece and neckpiece with his two shopping-bags […].

1973, Christina Stead, The Little Hotel, Text Classics, published 2016, page 79:

(colloquial, chiefly US) Something worn on the head; a hat, a wig or toupee.


Esperantize

en-verb

Esperantize (third-person singular simple present Esperantizes, present participle Esperantizing, simple past and past participle Esperantized)

Esperantizes (present singular third-person)
Esperantizing (participle present)
Esperantized (participle past)
Esperantized (past)
Esperantise (alternative)

Calque of Esperanto esperantigi, equivalent to Esperanto + -ize.

(US, Canada) To translate into Esperanto.

(US, Canada) To transcribe (a proper noun) into the alphabet of Esperanto.


EOC

(US, education) Initialism of end-of-course test.


FedRAMP

(security, US) Acronym of Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (a U.S. government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud computing services used by the federal government)


gas boat

Round noon the gas boat’s impudent sputter ticked out across the wide face of the Naas River.

1941, Emily Carr, chapter 9, in Klee Wyck:

(Canada, US) A boat powered by a petrol engine.


it's the hit dog that howls

it is always the hit dog that howls (alternative)
it is the hit dog that howls (alternative)

(US) If somebody is ranting or complaining about something, they were probably hurt by it.

اللّي فيها حْلِيب تْصَيَّح

If someone is ranting about something, it means they were hurt by it


I'm good

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-I'm good.wav

Possibly originally poker slang, used to tell the dealer that one does not want additional cards.

(chiefly US, informal) No, thank you: used when asked whether one wants or needs something, etc.


angel mom

From the sentiment that a mother's child has gone to heaven and is now an angel.
In 2000 the organization "Angel Moms" was founded, a group of mothers whose children had died, not limited to a specific cause. In the second sense the term was introduced by Donald Trump on 31 August 2016 at the end of a speech about illegal immigration. He had mothers whose child was killed by an undocumented (illegal) immigrant come on stage and tell their story.

(US, informal, euphemistic) A mother whose child has died.

undocumented immigrant
undocumented immigrant

(US, right-wing politics) A mother whose child was killed by an undocumented immigrant.


ASLC

w:Association for Library Service to Children

(US) Initialism of Association for Library Service to Children.


moom pitcher

A moom pitcher gal is a lady who reviews moving pictures for the press.

1930, Creative Reading: A Course in Current Literature, page 47:

Goody goody—a moom pitcher show. I'm just in the mood.

2006, Robert M. Price, The Antarktos Cycle: Horror and Wonder at the Ends of the Earth, page 511:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(US, slang) Pronunciation spelling of moving picture.


moolie

moolies (plural)
mooley (alternative)
moolinyan (alternative)

Derived from a Calabrian dialect word for Neapolitan mulignana (“eggplant, aubergine”).

der

"I'm serious," Peter said. "We oughta file a missing person's report or something. Not like any self-respectin' Italian girl would go wit a moolie. Not on her own. It's fuckin' kidnappin'."

(US, slang, used by Italian-Americans, ethnic slur, derogatory) A black person.


snake fence

Snake fences were extravagant in land and in wood, but wood and land were cheaper in Canada in early days than were nails and hinges.

1942, Emily Carr, “Beginnings”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

A breaker of green uniforms plunges down the slope of Lime Ridge, curls around sugar bushes and thickets, cascades over stone walls and snake fences, as the Fenians come howling down on them, rifles snapping.

2011, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 22, in A Good Man, McClelland & Stewart:

(US, Canada) A zigzag fence built from interlocking split logs or young trees, not secured with nails.


X-plane

(US, military) Any of a series of experimental aircraft and rockets, used to test and evaluate new technologies and aerodynamic concepts.


Yankee White

(US, informal) An intensive background check carried out on employees who will have sensitive work in the Department of Defense or with the President and Vice President.


SSBI

Single Scope Background Investigation
w:Single Scope Background Investigation

(US) Initialism of Single Scope Background Investigation.


Q clearance

(US) A security clearance issued by the United States Department of Energy, allowing access to top-secret material.


FRD

(US) Initialism of formerly restricted data: a classification level below RD that allows sharing among military agencies.


L clearance

(US) A security clearance issued by the United States Department of Energy, allowing civilian access to nuclear-related materials, but less rigorous than a Q clearance.


Yumpsville

Every Which Way but Loose (1978), an immensely profitable undertaking, stands as an epic example of what disorganized, mindless drivel can excite the denizens of Yumpsville.

1981, Lester J. Keyser, Hollywood in the Seventies, page 115:

Yumpsville is Yahooland, where macho admirers of actor Charles Bronson are derogated.

1981, William Safire, On Language, page 164:

"By personality you mean tits and ass," says Drackenstein.
"I didn't say it," says Miracle. "But this will not sell in Yumpsville. Clover's ass will."
"This is not meant to sell in Yumpsville, O.U. This will sell in New York and L.A. and Paris. This will be a winner in Cannes. […]

1986, Ronald Sukenick, Blown Away, page 76:

(US, slang, derogatory, rare) An unsophisticated rural region where simplistic and titillating films are likely to succeed.


CALRAB

California Raisin Advisory Board
w:California Raisin Advisory Board

(US) Abbreviation of California Raisin Advisory Board.


NSI

National Space Institute
w:National Space Institute

(US, historical) Initialism of National Space Institute.


roll coal

en-verb

roll coal (third-person singular simple present rolls coal, present participle rolling coal, simple past and past participle rolled coal)

rolls coal (present singular third-person)
rolling coal (participle present)
rolled coal (participle past)
rolled coal (past)

“Why don’t you go live in Sweden and get the heck out of our country,” Mr. Blue wrote.” I will continue to roll coal anytime I feel like and fog your stupid eco-cars.”

2016 September 4, Hiroko Tabuchi, “‘Rolling Coal’ in Diesel Trucks, to Rebel and Provoke”, in The New York Times:

The light turned red, and Jerry peeled into the intersection, hooking left as an oversized pickup truck rolled coal and blared its horn at us. “Sorry!” I screamed for no good reason. Jerry skidded into another right turn.

(Can we date this quote?), Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Three, Jack Townsend, page 59:

(US, slang) To emit sooty exhaust fumes from a modified (diesel) engine (fad among anti-environmentalist American truck drivers).


about east

I went into the dining-room, and sot down afore a plate that had my name writ on a card onto it; and I did walk into the beef and 'taters and things about east.

1884, Hiram Bigelow, Family Companion, letter, quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, page 198:

(US, slang, New England) OK; all right; in a proper manner.


NYY

(US, sports) Initialism of New York Yankees.


TV timeout

TV timeouts (plural)
TV time-out (alternative)
TV time out (alternative)
television time-out (alternative)
television time out (alternative)
television timeout (alternative)

(Canada, US, sports television) A time-out taking place during a televised sports match where the game clock is stopped for a period of time to allow for TV commercials to air before the resumption of play. The delay is usually after a whistle or other stoppage of play occurs, and not an interference with gameplay in and of itself.


fanny pad

(US, UK, automotive, slang) An unsprung separate pillion seat on a motorcycle.


postique

Blend of postal + boutique. Originally a trademark of the US Postal Service.

(US, dated) A retail store selling items relating to postal mail, such as stamps and stationery.


land agent

On January 10, 1951, a land agent of the plaintiff called at the home of the defendants and requested of Mrs. Bancroft permission to enter' upon the land to make a survey for location of a pipe line.

1950, John J. Sweeney, Connecticut Law Journal - Volume 17, page 250:

The casual approach to mineral leasing, where each lease was typed up on an individual basis, was no longer appropriate. Efficiency demanded a standardized form and one, moreover, that could be completed by the land agent in the field.

2008, John Bishop Ballem, The Oil and Gas Lease in Canada, →ISBN, page 10:

(chiefly US) An employee of an oil or mining company who negotiates with landowners for rights to extract oil or minerals from their property.


agogare

(archaic, US thieves' slang) Be quick! Look out! Beware!


political machinery

en-noun

political machinery (usually uncountable, plural political machineries)

From the analogy between political machine and machinery.

political machines
political machine#English

(US, politics, chiefly historical) The existence or activity of political machines.


PNW

Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest#English


NOBLE

w:National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives

(US) Initialism of National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.


birdmom

(informal, US, rare) The female owner of a pet bird.


Klandidate

Klandidates (plural)
klandidate (alternative)

(US, derogatory) A political candidate for elected office who is really or allegedly connected with or similar in views to the Ku Klux Klan.


Alcan

Nowadays the Alcan presents a true challenge to the traveler as the road surface is "variable" to say the least.

2004, Andrew Montgomery, On the Road, →ISBN, pages 136–137:

The trip had been my idea. Like a lot of travel obsessions, it began with a map and a hazy idea of what we might see and encounter. I wanted to explore parts of the 1,387-mile-long Alaska Highway, a.k.a. the Alcan, constructed in a hurry during World War II to connect the contiguous United States to Alaska.

2015 July 4, Rosemary McClure, “Wonder-filled trip of a lifetime along the Alaska Highway”, in Los Angeles Times:

(slang, US, Canada) The Alaska Highway, which connects British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska.


play in Peoria

en-verb

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

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

The idiomatic sense is reported to have originated in vaudeville performances in the early 1900s.

We must constantly ask ourselves whether our analysis will play in Peoria.

1977, Institute for World Order, World Food/Hunger Studies, →ISBN, page 9:

Mr. Baker persuaded his boss that this pocketbook explanation of war aims, despite its negative reception with opinion leaders, would play in Peoria.

1990 November 19, William Safire, “Essay: Not Oil Nor Jobs”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-11:

Will black-lace-trimmed purple panties play in Peoria? Why not? Cool is the common denominator of teens everywhere.

2002 April 29, Dody Tsiantar, “Adieu to the Muumuu”, in Time, retrieved 2016-10-11:

Cruz was not speaking of Jews. . . . He was talking about liberals and liberalism of the kind that never, ever plays in Peoria.

2016 January 15, Peter Roff, “Cruz-ified”, in U.S. News, retrieved 2016-10-11:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) To receive widespread acceptance among members of the general American public.


statutory exclusion

en-noun

statutory exclusion (countable and uncountable, plural statutory exclusions)

Statutory exclusion is clearly the most rigid method of determining how a juvenile offender will be processed, and most determinations are based on serious offenses and age limits.

1996, United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Combating Violence and Delinquency, →ISBN:

Statutory exclusion is part of the same trend toward “get-tough” legislation that has shifted decision-making from judges to legislators and prosecutors (Feld, 2000).

2009, Richard Lawrence, Mario Hesse, Juvenile Justice: The Essentials, →ISBN, page 166:

Statutory exclusion laws allow politicians, not judges, to decide which violent juveniles should be prosecuted by the criminal court.

2009, Kären M. Hess, Juvenile Justice, →ISBN, page 324:

Similar to statutory exclusion mechanisms, prosecutorial discretion is often limited to a subset of cases based on age and offense characteristics.

2012, Elena Grigorenko, Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, →ISBN, page 97:

(US, law, uncountable) The legal requirement that under specified circumstances, a juvenile be tried as an adult, without the possibility of judicial discretion.


Wa.

WA (alternative)
WA. (alternative)
Wa (alternative)

(US) Abbreviation of Washington. (state of the United States)


S.J.

SJ (alternative)
S. J. (alternative)
SI (alternative)
S.I. (alternative)
S. I. (alternative)
SJ (alternative)
S. J. (alternative)

(US) Abbreviation of San Jose. (a city in California)


weedeat

en-verb

weedeat (third-person singular simple present weedeats, present participle weedeating, simple past and past participle weedeated)

weedeats (present singular third-person)
weedeating (participle present)
weedeated (participle past)
weedeated (past)

John weedeated Mrs. Smith's yard the other day just after mowing it.

(landscaping, US) To trim weeds using a weedeater (a string trimmer).


weedeating

(landscaping, US) The act or task of trimming weeds with a weedeater.


colorsome

en-adj

colorsome (comparative more colorsome, superlative most colorsome)

more colorsome (comparative)
most colorsome (superlative)
coloursome (alternative)

It's more than suspicion, Why can't it be seen / A colorsome trio are Straight, Rose and Green?

2008, Roland Perry, Last of the Cold War Spies:

“That's likely because the papers has [sic] ever been more interested in more colorsome stuff, like shootouts. [...]”

2012, Lou Cameron, Stringer and the Hanging Judge:

It fits you snugly, is coloursome and flattering to your person.

Howevertheless, speaking for me, myself and I personally, we are all of us agreeing that it has been so brightingly coloursome and wondrous to have felt you again.

2014, Brady Styles, Nightmare Begins with an Eye:

(US) Characterised or marked by color; colorful; (by extension) vibrant; cheerful


Gold Code

(US) A launch code for nuclear weapons, provided to the President of the United States.


Greenvillian

John W. Stokes (1818–1889) was a native Greenvillian whose family had settled here soon after the Revolution.

2015, Judith T. Bainbridge, Attorneys & Law in Greenville County: A History:

(US) Someone from a place named Greenville.


junior higher

(US) A student at a school that includes grades 6, 7 and 8; a preadolescent.


Milwaukee goiter

en-noun

Milwaukee goiter (countable and uncountable, plural Milwaukee goiters)

In reference to Milwaukee's beer-brewing industry.


green band

From the green color of the horizontal bar on the cinematic rating screen at the start of the show.


red band

From the red color of the horizontal bar on the cinematic rating screen at the start of the show.


public enemy number one

John Dillinger, America's Public Enemy No. 1 and the most notorious criminal of recent times, was shot and killed at 10:40 o'clock tonight by Federal agents.

1934 July 22, “Dillinger Slain in Chicago”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-26, page 1:

"Sure you never heard of him?" he asked incredulously. "Never," I said flatly. "You must have," he argued. "Why Hamilton was a Public Enemy No. 1 at one time."

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 119:

(US, law enforcement, dated) A person who ranks highest on the federal government's prioritized list of wanted criminal fugitives.


fountain drink

(US) A soft drink dispensed from a soda fountain.


rosemaler

/ˈɹəʊzəˌmɑːlə/

/ˈɹoʊzəˌmɑlɚ/

From rosemaling + -er; or borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål rosemaler, from rose (“rose”) + male (“to paint”) (cognate with Old Danish malæ (Danish male), Old Norse mála, Old Swedish mala (Swedish mala), from Middle Low German mālen (“to paint”)) + -er (“-er, suffix indicating a person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb”).

Vesterheim, the Norwegian American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, […] sponsored a national exhibition of rosemaling in 1967 and began inviting Norwegian masters to the museum to give workshops to grassroots rosemalers.

2006, Philip Nusbaum, “Rosemaling”, in Richard Sisson, Christian Zacher, Andrew [R. L.] Cayton, editors, The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 410:


rosemaled

en-adj

rosemaled (comparative more rosemaled, superlative most rosemaled)

more rosemaled (comparative)
most rosemaled (superlative)

/ˈɹəʊzəˌmɑːld/

From rosemaling + -ed, modelled after Norwegian Bokmål rosemalt.

Rosemaled Amerika trunks and other items have been prominently displayed in Norwegian American homes in the upper Midwest since frontier days. Early in the twenty-first century, in Norwegian areas of the Midwest, one also sees rosemaling in public settings such as stores and churches.


Patriots

(US, sports) The New England Patriots, a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston region.


coal cracker

Our first coal region poll, and what a great one it was! Coal Crackers sure do love their pizza.

1998 October, “Top Ten Lists: Pizza Parlors”, in CoalRegion.com, retrieved 2016-10-29:

Pawel Gobol is Joey's humble father, a coal cracker who worked in the mines since he was 15.

2008, Gene Gomolka, Coal Cracker's Son, Back cover (Google books)

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Mike Stack . . . said his grandfather was a “coal cracker from Girardville.”

2016 March 20, Mark Gilger Jr., “Revelers celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Irish history at Girardville parade”, in The Republican-Herald, Pennsylvania, US, retrieved 2016-10-29:

(US, slang) A native or established resident of the traditional coal-mining area of northeastern Pennsylvania; a worker in the mines of this region.


suicide special

en-noun

suicide special (plural suicide specials)

Saturday-night special
Saturday-night special#English

(US, slang) Synonym of Saturday-night special (“an easily-obtained handgun”)


in the tank

[J]ournalists were stung by a pair of "Saturday Night Live" skits that portrayed them as in the tank for Obama.

2008 May 5, Howard Kurtz, “Media Notes: Obama's Chilly Spring”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-11-02:

"We are working hard to get the word out and meet the people, but in some ways it seems as if the press is in the tank for Villaraigosa."

2009 February 11, “Craig Rubin: L.A. mayoral candidate”, in Los Angeles Times, retrieved 2016-11-02:

Leading the charge of the utterly crazy is, you won’t be surprised to hear, Donald Trump, who has accused the Fed of being in the tank for Democrats.

2016 February 12, Paul Krugman, “On Economic Stupidity”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-11-02:

(idiomatic, US, politics, often followed by for or with) Supportive, approving, favorably disposed.


Bushie

(US, politics) A political supporter or fan of U.S. President Bush (either Bush 43, or Bush 41, or both Presidents George Bush)


never-sweat

“If you're planning on drilling your own oil, Ms. McCullough, let me assure you there is no faster way to go bankrupt, and you'll end up living in one of those houses with the niggers and the never-sweats.”

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 281:

(slang, chiefly Canada, US, Australia) An idle or lazy person.


George Washington

George Washington (plural George Washingtons)

After George Washington, first President of United States of America.

(US, slang) The one-dollar bill of the United States of America, which features a portrait of President George Washington.

en:George Washington
en:George Washington (disambiguation)


ROS

(ISS, space science, US) Initialism of Russian Orbital Segment. (the part of the International Space Station that was contributed by Russia, or using ROSCOSMOS/Mir specification-based modules)


reich winger

reich wingers (plural)
reich-winger (alternative)

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

(US, slang, politics, derogatory) A right-winger, especially an advocate for more extreme or militant views.


LIB

Libertarian Party
w:en:Libertarian Party (United States)

(politics) Abbreviation of Libertarian Party.

(US, politics) Abbreviation of Libertarian Party.

Abbreviation of Libertarian Party.
Abbreviation of Libertarian Party.


tylenol

tylenol (countable and uncountable, plural tylenols)

(Canada, US, uncountable) The pharmaceutical drug acetaminophen (“paracetamol”)

(Canada, US, countable) A tablet containing this drug


vonce

vonce (countable and uncountable, plural vonces)

Borrowed from Yiddish וואַנץ (vants, “bedbug”), by analogy to the English slang term roach. Attested since the 1950s.

(US, slang) Marijuana; cannabis, especially used as a drug.


vonce

Uncertain; Possibly either of the etymologies listed above. Attested since the 1960s.

That "Legs," I hate it and the little vonce knows it, so of course he's hittin me where I live, my lousy bowlegs.

1963, Irvin Faust, Entering Angel's world: a student-centered casebook, page 57:

Is that strict, you fucking vonce? Sorry to use such language in front of a woman

2001, David Mamet, Heist, Burbank, CA: Warner Bros, →ISBN:

That little vonce – that cockroach – shouldn't be anywhere near my place.

2011, Linda Fairstein, Death Dance, →ISBN:

(US, slang, term of abuse) A jerk; an unpleasant person.


Big Red One

The shoulder insignia of this unit is emblazoned with a red numeral one.

(US, informal) The United States 1st Infantry Division.


land of fruits and nuts

In reference both to the agricultural bounty of the state, and to the suggested character of its people, fruit being slang for a gay or effeminate man, and nut for a crazy person.

You can make a book on some of the people who were there. That is, if you get a chance to see them perform before some midnight rider from the William Morris Agency makes off with them to the land of fruits and nuts.

1970 August 30, Terry Galanoy, “Ted Liss-talent polisher”, in Chicago Tribune, page 42:

This is very important to me right now because I always have an automobile accident after a break-up, and Sandra, my lover of five years, just left me for some babe who lives in San Francisco, the promised land of fruit and nuts.

1998, Achy Obejas, We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?:

We were all young software company executives, but I was the one from out of state, the one from the land of fruit and nuts, and no one could see my nuts, they would say.

2013, Bob Mack Peak, The 85% Man and Lessons from Lucille:

(US, derogatory, slang) The U.S. state of California.


GPO

W:United States Government Publishing Office

(US) Initialism of Government Publishing Office, formerly Government Printing Office.


GPO

(US) Initialism of group purchasing organization.


surgicalist

The two are being hired as surgicalists, a new term coined from the more common title surgical hospitalist. Both mean the same thing: doctors hired by hospitals to treat patients full time, replacing local physicians who work at the hospital on an “on-call” basis.

2005 October 27, Alan Wechsler, “These doctors will work 24/7”, in The Times Union:

We now have two new specialists that are growing in numbers, the hospitalist and the surgicalist. Knowing everything about hospital care but having no experience with office and outpatient care presents a new set of problems for the patient.

2011, Dr. Lowell Fisher, Marcus Welby is Dead: Now Who is Your Advocate?, →ISBN, page 62:

You know, the surgicalist can take care of the appendicitis and drain simple abscesses and stuff like that.

2013, Martin A. Croce, David H. Livingston, Frederick A. Luchette, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma 75th Anniversary 1938-2013, →ISBN, page 459:

(US) A surgeon who works exclusively in a hospital setting.


gradeschooler

gradeschoolers (plural)
grade schooler (alternative)
grade-schooler (alternative)

(US, Philippines) A pupil in a grade school.


white girl

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


nigger pool

(US, slang) A numbers game (illicit lottery).


nigger pennies

(US, slang, ethnic slur) A numbers game (illicit lottery).


major junior

(sports, Canada, US) pertaining to the top-level competition leagues of the junior age group, above junior AAA


repug

(US, slang) Alternative form of repugnant


Mouse

The surname is sometimes an Americanized spelling of German Maus.

At Disney, on the other hand, there was only one landowner and one government; public and private were fused. […] Spawned by the Mouse's arrival, I-Drive (as it is known locally) runs parallel to I-4, lying partly in Orlando and partly[…]

2001 January 1, Richard E. Foglesong, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 93:

They are cut off from their regular jobs to see how the Mouse operates. Eisner told the Harvard Business Review.
Synergy happens at Disney because it should. Our products scream out for synergy.

2005, Ralph E. Hanson, Mass Communication: Living in a Media World:

[…] take eventually eked up to $33 million worldwide, but not before Walt Disney Studios declared the whole experiment a disappointment. […] But when the Mouse cut bait, MAGI was forced to close its LA office and sell off Synthavision.

2013, Tom Sito, Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 165:

This has led to the public believing that every animated film is made by the Mouse or, at least, is family-friendly entertainment. (A similar situation: Many people refer to all 3D animated films as “Pixar” films.) The cause dates back to Walt Disney's early days as an animator.

2017 August 11, Whitney Grace, Lotte Reiniger: Pioneer of Film Animation, McFarland, →ISBN:

(US, metonymically, uncountable, with "the") The Walt Disney Company.


sprankle

en-verb

sprankle (third-person singular simple present sprankles, present participle sprankling, simple past and past participle sprankled)

sprankles (present singular third-person)
sprankling (participle present)
sprankled (participle past)
sprankled (past)

With that hehry antlets on him and the bauble-light bulching out of his sockets whiling away she sprankled his allover with her noces of interregnation: How do you do that lack a lock and pass the poker, please?

I snapped the curtains down in the floor, all of 'em was burnin', and I run in the back room and drug all the bed clothes off the bed and sprankled water on.

1980, Studs Terkel, American Dreams: Lost and Found, →ISBN, page 197:

We sprankled water on the clothes to damp'm 'em down to make 'em easier to am an'en rolled 'em up and poked 'em down in a piller slip to keep ,em damp.

2005, Cleo Hicks Williams, Gratitude for Shoes: Growing Up Poor in the Smokies, →ISBN:

The childern take'n her ashes out to everplace they ever lived at and sprankled part of her under azalea bushes and mimoser trees, in ditches and ponds, just all over everwhere that she lived at and loved.

2012, Paul Ruffin, Jesus in the Mist: Stories, →ISBN:

(chiefly US) Pronunciation spelling of sprinkle.


archimollusk

(US) Alternative spelling of archimollusc


Giving Tuesday

(US, marketing) The Tuesday after Thanksgiving Weekend, promoted as a day for donations, after the consumerism of Black Friday/Black Week/Cyber Monday


Tripgate

(informal, US, sports) A 2010 controversy involving an NFL game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, in which the Jets' coach Sal Alosi tripped Dolphins gunner Nolan Carroll as he ran down the Jets sideline.


Sodagate

(informal, US, sports) A 2013 controversy around an NBA basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers, in which a player deliberately spilled a cup of soda to delay the game.


Napgate

(informal, US, sports) A 2010 controversy in which Ken Griffey, Jr., of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, was reported to have been asleep in the clubhouse during a game.


Textgate

(informal, US, sports) A 2015 controversy in which the Cleveland Browns and general manager Ray Farmer were disciplined for sending text messages to coaches during games in the 2014 season, in violation of NFL rules.


motor voter

(US, chiefly attributive) A person who registers as a voter while applying for a driver's licence.


Quailgate

The squall over Mr Cheney's behaviour in Quailgate will probably die down, providing Mr Whittington survives. But the debate over hunting will go on growing.

2006, The Economist, volume 378, page 34:

(US, informal) The 2006 controversy over the accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas.


stock split

(finance, US) An event wherein a company that has previously issued shares of stock increases the number of shares while reducing the value of each share accordingly.


On the other hand, there were more trucks on I-5.

1993, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 256:

(US) Interstate 5, an interstate highway running between Blaine, Washington and San Diego, California.


mil-spec

milspec (alternative)
mil spec (alternative)

a mil-spec pistol

(US) Of the grade and quality used by the military.


winnebago

en-noun

winnebago (plural winnebagoes or winnebagos)

winnebagoes (plural)
winnebagos (plural)

Genericization of the trademark Winnebago, named after Winnebago County, Iowa, where the company used to be headquartered.

The wildly entertaining trip that follows, involving a used Winnebago and an old pickup truck with ropes for seatbelts, has a profound effect on Pedro.

2023 September 13, Matt de la Peña, “‘Mexikid’ and ‘Salsa Magic’ Drive Latino Kids to Their Roots”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

recreational vehicle
recreational vehicle

(Canada, US, automotive, slang) A motorhome; a recreational vehicle (RV).


cathead biscuit

cathead biscuit (plural cathead biscuits)

From cat + head + biscuit, apparently from the fact that the biscuit is similar in size to a cat’s head.

Her cathead biscuits were at least three inches in diameter and two inches thick. The trick to eating catheads was to get the butter on them before they got cold—then they were delicious. When, unluckily, they were allowed to get cold, they tended to a gooeyness, not unlike a wad of tired gum.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 6, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, page 36:

(US) A large fluffy biscuit, typically served with gravy.


edge city

Popularized by the 1991 book Edge City: Life on the New Frontier, by Joel Garreau.

central business district
central business district

(US, urban studies) A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment locations outside a traditional downtown (or central business district), in what was previously a residential or rural area.


over-the-road

an over-the-road trucker

(US, road transport) long-haul; interstate


tellerless

Electronic tellerless banking is the future.


la-la

Unknown. Compare la, an interjection used to introduce a statement or express emotion.

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

We all agreed he was wise, but we did want the worst way to see that girl. We were sure that she was a la-la from all Billy said.

1897, “A fair hypothesis”, in Michiganensian, volume 1, →OCLC:

(slang, US) Something unusually good; (occasionally) something unusually bad.


capologist

(US, business sports) One who studies capology.


Thanksgivukkah

Blend of Thanksgiving + Hanukkah. Coined for 2013, when the first day of Hanukkah fell on Thanksgiving.

We’re still 24 hours away from Thanksgiving 2012, but it’s never too early to start thinking of next year, right? Apparently not, at least, not for the folks behind Thanksgivukkah. You see, next year Thanksgiving falls on the first night of Hanukkah, and well, “Thanksgiving” + “Hanukkah” = “Thanksgivukkah”. Get it?

2012 November 21, Rafiss, “Well, This Exists: Thanksgivukkah”, in Heeb:

Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah — the Jewish Festival of Lights — fall on the same day this year, creating what many celebrants have dubbed “Thanksgivukkah.” And it’s opened up a whole new world of culinary opportunities.

2013 October 21, Jim Romanoff, “Thanksgiving and Hanukkah — together at the table”, in Houston Chronicle:

The pairing of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah as Thanksgivukkah works so well, it raises the question among us daters -- why not pair up even more things in your life that can benefit you romantically?

2015, Mark Miller, 500 Dates: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Online Dating Wars, →ISBN:

My mother requested that I make sufganiyot" -- Hanukkah jelly doughnuts -- "and did hear that some people are filling them with cranberry jam, which I think is a great idea for Thansgivukkah," Bialik chuckled.

2016, Vance Lehmkuhl, V for Veg: The Best of Philly’s Vegan Food Column, →ISBN:

This recipe is based on one of my contributions to Thanksgivukkah that has lived on past all of that jazz.

2016, Molly Yeh, Molly on the Range: Recipes and Stories from an Unlikely Life on a Farm, →ISBN:

(Judaism, US) A combined celebration of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.


dog bread

dog-bread (alternative)
dogbread (alternative)

Cornbread was on the table at each meal, but it was cooked in different ways: dog bread, milk bread, pone bread, fried bread, molasses bread, and clabber bread, which has a sour taste. The dog bread was put on the table each morning six days a week, cooked in a round cast-iron pan and cut like a pie to serve each person at the table.

1999, Mildred Council, Mama Dip's Kitchen:

Dog bread is just about the simplest way to consume cornmeal, short of simply parching it and eating it out of the hand. Served hot, with lots of butter, these crisp griddle cakes have a charm that can pair them well with sophisticated beef and pork roasts.

2009, Bill Neal, Bill Neal's Southern Cooking:

I guess the "dog bread" Miss Dora threw into the backyard was too great a treat to walk out on. She made it with hot water instead of milk and it was crusty and brown.

2009, Brenda Starks Miles, Summer Nights/Dixie Dog Delights: And Other Memories:

(US) A variant of cornbread, sometimes made into patties and fried.


land patent

(US, Canada) An exclusive grant of land made by a sovereign entity with respect to a particular tract of land.


en-proverb

From the poem "A Heap o' Livin'" (1916) by Edgar A. Guest.

We often hear the famous lines quoted that it takes a heap of living to make a house a home, but we have to recognize that the family cannot do it without a house in which to start.

1973, Government of Canada, House of Commons Debates, Official Report, Volume 3, p. 2476 (Google search result)

It may take a heap of living to make a house a home, as the old cross-stitched samplers used to urge, but a commission-collecting realtor cannot deposit a six percent cut of a seller's hearth sentiments in a bank account.

1989, Carlton T. Mitchell, Values in Teaching and Professional Ethics, →ISBN, page 123:

Just as "it takes a heap of living to make a house a home," and just as it takes character to turn an individual into a reliable person, so it takes sustained moral human interactions to make any institution viable.

1995, Max L. Stackhouse, On Moral Business, →ISBN, page 28:

(chiefly US) A house is simply a physical structure and does not count as a home until significant events in the inhabitants' lives have occurred there over a substantial period of time, and they have developed an emotional bond to the house and its immediate environs.


in the worst way

I need a drink of water in the worst way.

Man, I need a life in the worst way.

2008 March 17, Kady O'Malley, “Wake me up when it’s — what’s the opposite of ‘over’?”, in Macleans, Canada, retrieved 2016-12-27:

I wanted this to work in the worst way because my reputation was on the line here. . . .

2010 February 11, T. Coraghessan Boyle, “Excerpt: Wild Child”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-12-27:

Stern as well as assorted television executives needed a game seven in the worst way, and "the worst way" might be how they're getting one.

2012 May 25, Hunter Felt, “NBA playoffs preview”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2016-12-27:

(chiefly US and Canada, idiomatic) Urgently; desperately; to an extreme degree.


shitlib

Shitlibs have dehumanized themselves in our eyes. We simply don't give a shit about them, don't consider them human.

2017 August 15, Jared Yates Sexton, quoting a 4chan member, The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage, Counterpoint, →ISBN:

You arrived here as the mysterious Deepthroat Two, then you immediately told me that you work with CTV, informed me that your two exes were victims of the blasts, and laid out exactly what you'd do with the money we're giving you, so the moment either of those projects premiered, we'd have your name- not that we didn't have it already on account of you being the most loose-lipped deepthroater this shitlib state has ever seen.

2018, Richard Kelly, T/James Reagan, Southland Tales: The Complete Saga, →ISBN, page 388:

For a year and a half, on every social media platform, the Deplorables had waxed breathless about the extent to which they and their MAGA brethren were about to MAGA until every last shitlib had been pwned and rekt and BTFO'd.

2020, Andrew Marantz, Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation, Penguin, →ISBN, page 38:

"George Shaw's contribution emphasizes the importance of undermining the "Newspeak" of the "Marxist social engineers," which the alt-right does in part by reappropriating language and creating neologisms like "Cuckservative," "Counter-Semite," and "shitlib," a term that refers to pseudo-intellectual liberal "wearers of pussy hats" who are "slovenly, perverted, mongrelized, devious, tantrum-prone buffoons and lunatics."

2021 April 21, Alexander Laban Hinton, It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US, NYU Press, →ISBN:

Whenever left populists tried to make a nuanced point on gender politics, defend free speech, or propose a different way to address racism, the shitlib simply rejected all nuance and branded every proposed modification of the full-spectrum cultural agenda as "right-wing."

2023 September 4, Lama Abu Odeh, “How the Shitlibs Won”, in Compact:

(vulgar, slang, derogatory, US, politics) A political liberal, especially a hypocritical one.


MCI

en-noun

MCI (countable and uncountable, plural MCIs)

(US, military, food) Initialism of meal, combat, individual.


need-blind

(US, of a college admission policy) That requires the admitting institution to not consider an applicant's financial situation when deciding admission.

In a year, give or take, student loans would come due―Harvard was need-blind (that was significantly why he had chosen it), but even his generous financial aid package didn’t cover everything.

2022, Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Vintage (2023), pages 78-79:

(US, of a college) Having such an admission policy.


Foochow

From the Postal Romanization of Mandarin 福州 (Fúzhōu). Doublet of Hokchiu.

The steamer Lee Yuen, when about 30 miles from Foochow, abreast of Fuhyan, on her passage from this port to Foochow, carried away the lignum vitæ bush in the stern tube. She was beached for one tide under the lee of Matsu Island, for temporary repairs, and then proceeded to Foochow, where she has gone into dock.

1875 January 21, “Summary of News”, in North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, volume XIV, number 402, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 47, column 2; republished as “SHANGHAI”, in London and China Telegraph, volume XVII, number 601, 1875 March 8, →OCLC, page 186, columns 1, 2:

In the spring of 1857, I, with several friends, left Hongkong for Shanghai, viâ Foochow, in the small coasting steamer Antelope. No noteworthy incident occurred until after leaving Foochow when, as we were enjoying our after dinner coffee and cigars, and by chance discussing the question of thirteen sitting down at table that had occurred at a dinner at which one of the party had shortly before been present, a violent thump and tremulous motion of the vessel announced the unpleasant fact that we had struck upon something. We rushed on deck and found the steamer hard and fast on a reef near Matsu Island. Fortunately the day was fine and there was no sea on.

1890 February 28, W. S. Wetmore, “RECOLLECTIONS OF LIFE IN CHINA IN THE FIFTIES.”, in North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, volume XLIV, number 1178, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 256, column 1; republished as Recollections of Life in the Far East, 1894, →OCLC, page 32:

He told me of a place on the mainland, near his native village—some seventy miles up the coast, between Foochow and Amoy—where game was plentiful, and sportsmen rare.

1896, Charles J. H Halcombee, The Mystic Flowery Land: A Personal Narrative, London: Luzac & Co., page 110:

Powerful bombing airplanes, mostly of American make, went winging their way over Foochow and vicinity, dropping missiles of death on the Nineteenth Route Army, which was caught completely by surprise. Young American-trained aviators, flying in perfect formation and releasing deadly cargoes with perfect aim, soon converted the Fukien front into a shambles.

1938, Robert Berkov, Strong Man of China: The Story of Chiang Kai-shek, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 170:

Chinese army forces Saturday battled north along China's east coast to relieve militia fighting against Japanese marine landing parties at Siapu, 68 miles northeast of liberated Foochow, the Chinese High Command announced.[…]
Chinese troops pursuing Jap forces who pulled out of Foochow pushed to the outskirts of Loyuan, 35 miles southwest of Siapu while Japanese rear guards fought at Tangyang, 10 miles behind the Chinese units.

1945 May 29, “Chinese Battle Along East Coast to Stem Jap Landings”, in Manila Free Philippines, volume III, number 29, sourced from Chungking, →OCLC, page 2, column 4:

In a long cable on February 25 Secretary Dulles replied that he had talked with Anthony Eden about the Formosa crisis, reminding him that successful pressure on Chiang to surrender Quemoy and Matsu would permit the Chinese Communists to attack from the harbors of Amoy and Foochow, and invite the Chinese Communists to put to the test American resolution to defend Formosa.

1963, Dwight Eisenhower, Mandate for Change 1953-1956, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 475:

The Chinese Communists, after 1952, began developing major industrial activities in Foochow, augmenting existing manufacturing.

1968, Joseph Earle Spencer, “FOOCHOW”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 9, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 532, column 1:

The present study centers on Foochow, a city located in the southeast coastal province of Fukien, which was one of the early centers of Protestant missionary work.

1974, Ellsworth C. Carlson, The Foochow Missionaries, 1847-1880, Harvard University Press, page 1:

Hung was born in Foochow, Fukien, his family's native place.

1976, Philip West, Yenching University and Sino-Western Relations, 1916-1952, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 74:

A dispute broke out between two Chinese Communist military leaders last February over the rehabilitation of Teng Hsiao-ping, according to intelligence sources.
The sources said a high ranking Communist military man in Foochow revealed recently that the quarrel developed between Hsu Shih-yu, “commander of the Canton military region,” and Chen Hsi-lien, “commander of the Peiping military region,” during a conference of politburo members.

1977 May 22, “M'land military leaders fighting over Teng fate”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVIII, number 20, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:

By 1911, there were rumours of revolution, and Stursberg was worried by reports that Foochow was in the hands of revolutionaries.

2002, Peter Stursberg, No Foreign Bones in China, Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 92:


welfare mother

Welfare mothers who stay in school and finish their high school education secure a stable job and exit welfare rapidly.

1997, Kathleen Mullan Harris, Frank F. Furstenberg, Teen Mothers and the Revolving Welfare Door, →ISBN, page 125:

Here the welfare mother is the bad mother; the castrating matriarch.

2000, Vivyan Campbell Adair, From Good Ma to Welfare Queen: A Genealogy of the Poor Woman in American Literature, Photography, and Culture, →ISBN, page 22:

In fact, the political preoccupation with welfare reform, as it encompassed drastic changes to multiple forms of public assistance, became synonymous in the arguments of avid reformers with assumptions about undeserving welfare mothers, deviant women's responsibility, and dependency.

2008, Lynn Fujiwara, Mothers Without Citizenship: Asian Immigrant Families and the Consequences of Welfare Reform, →ISBN, page 128:

(US) A woman who receives government support for dependent children.


Associate Justice

Associate Justice (plural Associate Justices)

(US, law) A member of a judicial panel who is not the chief justice.


desert bean

(US) A wild plant of species Phaseolus filiformis, with edible beans, native to arid regions in northern Mexico and the southwestern US.


chili queen

We asked him what came to mind when we said "hidden kitchen." The chili queens of San Antonio was his response. The saga of the chili queens goes back nearly 200 years. Some kitchens are hidden by place, some by time.

2004, “The Chili Queens of San Antonio”, in NPR:

Chili con carne was introduced to America by the "Chili Queens," women who served food in San Antonio's Military Plaza as early as the 1860s.

2008, Robb Walsh, “History of Texas Chili—Without Beans”, in HoustonPress:

A former Chili Queen could even nab a job working on the line at the Gebhardt packing plant, making canned chilies and tamales. Less glamorous than being a Chili Queen, perhaps—but the work was reliable and profitable.

2016, Sarah Lohman, Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine, page 72:

(US, historical) A member of a group of women who sold chili con carne as street food in San Antonio, Texas.


ring wrench

(especially (US)) a wrench with a ring-shaped jaw with internal serrations which grip onto a nut or bolt.


outlawyer

en-verb

outlawyer (third-person singular simple present outlawyers, present participle outlawyering, simple past and past participle outlawyered)

outlawyers (present singular third-person)
outlawyering (participle present)
outlawyered (participle past)
outlawyered (past)

(US, informal) To have a larger or stronger legal team than.


cautionaries

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

Both the thrusters and the cautionaries thought the war would end with a massive naval battle involving the battleships of both fleets.

2002, Jean Heffer, The United States and the Pacific: History of a Frontier:

(US, historical, World War II) Those who air on the side of caution regarding military engagement.


funeral door

From funeral + door from being a door used for funerals.

(US, architecture) a door to the hall or foyer from the parlor to allow for the movement of caskets; from the time when the wealthy would host their wakes and funerals in their own homes. It is a supplementary door to the main doors of the front parlor. The funeral door existed to allow for the dead to move through doors without needing to use the doorways used by the living.

death door

an exterior door not connected to exterior stairs or walkways, for use in moving corpses into and out of a house


death door

From death + door from being a door used for the dead.

(US, architecture) a door to the outside from the parlor or hall to allow for the movement of the dead; from the time when the wealthy would host their wakes and funerals in their own homes. It is a supplementary door to the main doors of the home, unconnected from exterior stairs or walkways. The death door existed to allow for the dead to move through doors without needing to use the doorways used by the living.


oftimes

A man whom I knew frequented a certain public-house, the landlady of which, on handing him his pint of beer, would oftimes accompany it with the remark, "Here, J—, is another nail in your coffin."

1859, Henry Mudge, Physiology, Health and Disease, Demanding Abstinence from Alcoholic Drinks, and Prohibition of Their Common Sale, page 38:

(chiefly US, uncommon) (elsewhere, archaic) Alternative form of ofttimes


sketch-ass

en-adj

sketch-ass (comparative more sketch-ass, superlative most sketch-ass)

more sketch-ass (comparative)
most sketch-ass (superlative)

(slang, vulgar, Canada, US) Sketchy; dubious.


postmile

(US, California) highway location marker


Audi 5000

Fanciful alteration of out, in reference to the Audi 5000 automobile.

"That crack head was Audi 5000."
"He jet the fuck out."

2009, Hezie Samuels, Soul Sand Grains: The Cost of No Change, page 32:

“Alright, y'all. I'm Audi 5000. I gotta go put it down.” Leander walked out of the door.

2016, D. S. Brown, When Love Is Not Enough:


watch-jobber

(obsolete, US) A merchant who sells watches on commission for a manufacturer.


presidential memorandum

en-noun

presidential memorandum (plural presidential memoranda)

presidential memoranda (plural)
Presidential Memorandum (alternative)

17 The Council on Economic Policy, established in February 1973 by Richard Nixon, was formally created by presidential memorandum, generally considered less prestigious than an executive order. The September 19 Haig memorandum to ...

1982, Roger B. Porter, Presidential Decision Making: The Economic Policy Board, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

Not surprisingly, agencies faced with massive hiring have concerns about making the process both faster and more user-friendly, and the presidential memorandum responds to those concerns quite concretely. As we saw earlier, currently, ...

2015, Norma M. Riccucci, Public Personnel Management, Routledge, →ISBN, page 143:

14, edited by L. Galambos and D. van Ee, Part II, Chapter 5, Document #373, p. 461 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). © 1996 The Johns Hopkins University Press, used by permission. This presidential memorandum ...

2013, Daniel M. Shea, Brian M. Harward, Presidential Campaigns: Documents Decoded, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 14:

... US assistance to refugees, presidential memorandum (4/21/99), 9510-1.375 Kosovo, conflict between Serbia authorities and ethnic Albanians, US emergency refugee admissions, presidential memorandum (4/30/99), 9510-1.394 Kosovo, ...

1999, American Foreign Policy and Treaty Index:

year unknown, Obama Administation’s Open Government Initiative: Issues for Congress, DIANE Publishing →ISBN
The presidential memorandum included a series of staggered deadlines for implementing each part of the directive. Both the Administration and private organizations have examined federal agency efforts to meet the OGD's requirements.

(US, government) A legally binding directive issued by the President of the United States, typically requiring one or more government agencies to carry out specified actions or to commence a regulatory process.


TrumpCare

Blend of Trump (“Donald Trump”) + healthcare influenced by earlier ObamaCare.

blend

Trumpcare (alternative)
Trump-care (alternative)
Trump Care (alternative)

If he got elected, you could sign up for Trumpcare and feel manly too.

2016, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right:

(US, neologism, originally derogatory) The possible replacement of ObamaCare that would be introduced by Donald Trump.


tire chain

tire chains (plural)
tyre chain (alternative)


EVUS

(US) Initialism of Electronic Visa Update System.


Carolina allspice

en-noun

Carolina allspice (usually uncountable, plural Carolina allspices)

(US) A fragrant shrub native to the Eastern United States, Calycanthus floridus

(US, rare) Any plant in the genus Calycanthus


tire fire

tire fires (plural)
tire-fire (alternative)

As the tire fire that is the Edmonton Oilers rages on, their AHL affiliate is going through a worse ordeal.

2014 December 19, “NHL: Oilers lose AHL affiliate Oklahoma City Barons due to attendance issues”, in Sports Illustrated, retrieved 2017-02-10:

The Reds pitching staff is a tire fire.

2016 May 18, Kraemer_17, "Listless Blue Jays Embarrassed for 2nd Night," BluebirdBanter.com (retrieved 10 Feb 2017)

The Browns . . . threw three quarterbacks into the tire fire against Baltimore last week.

2016 November 18, David White, “Pro Football: Who We Think Will Win in Week 11”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-02-10:

During his hourlong tire fire of an interview . . . the sheer volume of breathtaking lies flippantly uttered by President Trump made it legitimately difficult to decide which one of them posed the most direct threat to American democracy.

2017 January 26, Jay Willis, “Donald Trump Is Making Shameless Equivocation the Dominant Form of Political Discourse”, in GQ, retrieved 2017-02-10:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, usually sports) A disaster; a chaotic person, thing, or situation.


VAWA

The Violence against Women Act was not distinct from the Crime Bill but an integral part of it. […] Sanders has subsequently cited the inclusion of the VAWA as his reason for voting for the overall bill, on the rather Bidenian principle that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

2020 September 24, Keshava Guha, “Letters”, in London Review of Books, volume 42, number 18:

Violence Against Women Act
w:Violence Against Women Act

(US) Acronym of Violence Against Women Act.


meat bee

From meat + bee, so called because it resembles a bee and is known for feeding on meat and other human food left exposed outdoors.

(Canada, US, informal) The yellowjacket.


compliance car

The Honda for the most part is a compliance car, as shown by the fact the Japanese automaker only intend to build 1,100 of them.

2012 June, “2013 Honda Fit EV Review”, in InsideEVs, archived from the original on 2019-07-30:

Critics have called low-volume battery electrics “compliance cars,” built in relatively low numbers mainly to satisfy California’s zero-emission mandates.

2013 January, Jim Motavalli, “The Greenest and Meanest Cars in 2013”, in Wheels, The New York Times:

(US, automotive) A motor vehicle made in a manner to comply with government specification, in quantities to comply to government regulations on quota minimums, to sell to the public, frequently in limited areas, at a loss, without promotion, and under active dissuasion among dealers.


poundmaker

From pound (“animal pound”) + maker. From translation of the Plains Amerind terms.

A number of poundmakers have entered tribal history; their names are known and their deeds recounted. Such poundmakers include Loud Voice of the Plains Cree (Skinner 1914:525), and White Raven of the Assiniboin (Weekes 1948:16).

1973, Thomas F. Kehoe, The Gull Lake Site: A Prehistoric Bison Drive Site in Southwestern Saskatchewan:

Specialists known as poundmakers supervised the construction of a pound and possessed spiritual powers that enabled them to "call a herd" in for the kill.

1994, Katherine Pettipas, Severing the Ties That Bind: Government Repression of Indigenous Religious Ceremonies on the Prairies:

The best poundmakers in the band have done their work.

2016, Janet Louise Swoboda Lunn, The Story of Canada:

(Canada, US, Amerind culture) One who makes buffalo pounds.


queener

From queen (noun) + -er (measurement suffix) or + -er (occupational suffix).

We must run and pick up things, such as music strewn around, pillows out of order, or books left out of their places; or in other words we must always keep the downstairs in order, after the others, for the queeners. Oh my, the queeners are the bane of our poor existence […]

1914, Dragma To of Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, volume 10, page 19:

In an effort to encourage a milk diet among these inveterate queeners, some kind spirit pastured a cow in the house one morning. As far as we are able to determine, the brothers did not take the hint. Neither did the cow.

1928, The Stanford Quad, volume 35, page 437:

The social alienation between “rough-necks” and “queeners” ran deep. In 1899 the San Francisco Chronicle blamed Stanford's string of football defeats upon the fact that queeners had taken over the student body.

1986, Kevin Starr, Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915, page 334:

(US, Stanford University, slang, dated) A student who takes an interest in courting women.


mathwise

[…] odd little Mr. Jacobs […] taught math from the perspective of a character of his own invention called “Dilcue”—the inversion of “Euclid”—who did everything wrong, mathwise […]

2007, Stacey Grenrock Woods, I, California, page 65:

Using charts to identify trends is probably the slickest of the expert liar's tricks, and this stuff can get ambitious, mathwise.

2011, Gerald Everett Jones, How to Lie with Charts, page 16:


Ivy Day

(US) A ceremonial day at older colleges when a class memorial stone is unveiled.


call liquor

call liquor (countable and uncountable, plural call liquors)

(US) Any branded liquor at a bar, available to customers who specifically request it, as opposed to the generic well liquor.


paranursing

(US) Services provided by an assistant to a nurse, such as catering and clerical work, allowing the nurse to focus on the medical aspects.


pray the gay away

en-verb

pray the gay away (third-person singular simple present prays the gay away, present participle praying the gay away, simple past and past participle prayed the gay away)

prays the gay away (present singular third-person)
praying the gay away (participle present)
prayed the gay away (participle past)
prayed the gay away (past)
pray away the gay (alternative)

This was my secret problem, my sin, and I earnestly hoped and prayed nearly every day of my life that it would be taken away from me. But of course, because it was an intrinsic part of me (albeit a part that I hadn't yet come to embrace), I was never able to pray the gay away.

2014, Chris Dicken, Donny Wong, The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN:

(informal, chiefly US) To attempt to alter one's homosexuality through prayer.


poop sandwich

(US, euphemistic) Synonym of shit sandwich


tourist court

He slept that night at a tourist court on the eastern edge of Albequerque […]


unfulfill

unfulfill (third-person singular simple present unfulfills, present participle unfulfilling, simple past and past participle unfulfilled)

unfulfills (present singular third-person)
unfulfilling (participle present)
unfulfilled (participle past)
unfulfilled (past)
unfulfil (alternative)

From Middle English unfulfillen, equivalent to un- + fulfill.

He declares that when he was bachelor he had love relations with a woman whose name he cannot state and from which relations a child was borne by the name of Domingo, of forty three years of age, and who was baptized in the parish of Mandurriao, Iloilo, by the name of Domingo of unknown parents, and he being not willing to unfulfill the duties of his conscience and those which the nature imposes upon him, […]

1905, Cases and Points of the Supreme Court of the United States

Between the fulfillment to "unfulfill" and the unfulfillment to fulfill (to borrow Benjamin's messianic terms), the remnant is indeed the prophetic name of a birthing and an interruption, of a beyond to every "goal" in Hegel's sense: […]

2009, Bettina Bergo, Joseph Cohen, Raphael Zagury-Orly, Judeities:

The devil will employ anything for you to unfulfill your purpose.

2009, Jacob Butkiewicz, The Book of Sayings:

(transitive, US) to not fulfill; stop short of fulfillment or completion


JCC

(US) Initialism of Jewish community center.


warfarinize

warfarinize (third-person singular simple present warfarinizes, present participle warfarinizing, simple past and past participle warfarinized)

warfarinizes (present singular third-person)
warfarinizing (participle present)
warfarinized (participle past)
warfarinized (past)

(US) Alternative spelling of warfarinise


air one's paunch

air one's paunch (third-person singular simple present airs one's paunch, present participle airing one's paunch, simple past and past participle aired one's paunch)

airs one's paunch (present singular third-person)
airing one's paunch (participle present)
aired one's paunch (participle past)
aired one's paunch (past)

The grapes were so bitter I nearly aired my paunch.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 36:

(US, chiefly Western US, colloquial) To vomit, to throw up.


dauncy

en-adj

dauncy (comparative more dauncy, superlative most dauncy)

more dauncy (comparative)
most dauncy (superlative)

I had a dauncy spell but no one heard me over the wind.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 71:


playa lake

A few hours before sundown we camped at a small playa lake sunk beneath the level of the grass.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 73:

(chiefly US) A temporary lake formed after rainfall in a playa.


grandacious

grandacious (comparative more grandacious, superlative most grandacious)

more grandacious (comparative)
most grandacious (superlative)

Everyone was feeling grandacious, as if getting dressed for a night of beauing.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 74:


docious

docious (comparative more docious, superlative most docious)

more docious (comparative)
most docious (superlative)

I began to feel docious. Nothing was expected of me; she was a grown woman and she had the reins.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 137:


she-stuff

“You look at the Millers over in Carrizo, they used to own eighty sections, but they had nothing but she-stuff to pass it on to.”

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 149:


cutbank

That particular day, walking along the streambed by the church, they came to a fresh cutbank where the earth had caved.

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

(Canada, US) The outer edge of the bend in a stream or river, where the water cuts into the bank leaving the opposite side flat.


flyover country

Coordinate term: flyover state

(US, sometimes derogatory) The parts of the United States between the East and West Coasts.


gatoring

No gatoring on campus, though.

2009 September 23, Maureen Dowd, “Where the Wild Thing Is”, in New York Times:

(informal, US) The act of almost completely submerging oneself in water to resemble an alligator


nothingburger

/ˈnʌθɪŋbəːɡə/

/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbəɹɡəɹ/

Dow Jones & Company
The Wall Street Journal

The noun is derived from nothing (pronoun, noun) + -burger (suffix forming names of hamburgers served in buns with the addition of specified foodstuffs, or with foodstuffs in place of the usual meat), a metaphorical reference to a burger missing a patty—its most significant component. The word was apparently coined by the American gossip columnist Louella Parsons (1881–1972) in her widely syndicated daily column “Louella’s Move-Go-’Round” of June 1, 1953: see the quotation.
The adjective is derived from the noun.

coinage

Well, I think better a splendid fake than those little-bitty, itsy-poo nothing burger gold dinkies you wear only because they're real.

1970, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the New Single Girl, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Bernard Geis Associates, →OCLC, page 186:

There are some good pictures here but the Brand-X reproduction and nothingburger design reduces the overall look to a clutter […]

1981, American Photographer, volume 27, Boston, Mass.: American Photographic Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC:

For years you have touted anemic nothing[-]burger cars because they "cornered" and "handled." Now the Corvette comes along and blows them into the weeds, and you cannot bring yourselves to give credit where it is due.

1984, Bob Rich, “[Letter to the editor]”, in Car and Driver, volume 30, New York, N.Y.: Ziff Davis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13, column 1:

I don't know anything about the offices of tycoons and moguls […] I just know about small busy squares or rectangles with computers, word processors, files and telephones, gray, beige or brown really nothingburger desks.

1993, Helen Gurley Brown, “Work”, in The Late Show: A Semiwild but Practical Survival Plan for Women over 50, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, pages 285–286:

You can help me figure out why a pro like you, who looks to've spent time in some serious places, is babysitting Charlie Pundo's nothingburger baby-raping turd of a son.

2013 May, Steve Ulfelder, Shotgun Lullaby, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, page 118:

(originally and chiefly US, informal) Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact.


grade grubber

I was also a grade grubber, not an uncommon affliction. During my first term of high school, I complained to my counselor that my Latin teacher had not given me the A that I fiercely believed I deserved.

2016 March 5, Jay Mathews, “I was a grade grubber, but now I favor trends that down play grades”, in Washington Post:

(US, slang, derogatory) A student who engages in grade grubbing; someone seeking to improve their grades by sucking up or by trying to negotiate for any additional marks.


resurveil

en-verb

resurveil (third-person singular simple present resurveils, present participle resurveilling, simple past and past participle resurveilled)

resurveils (present singular third-person)
resurveilling (participle present)
resurveilled (participle past)
resurveilled (past)

Brink's delivery operations were resurveilled, and although little change in procedure was noted, the robbery ring displayed an antipathy for company customers.

2016, Noel Behn, Big Stick-Up at Brink's!:

(transitive, nonstandard, US) To surveil again.


madstone

I gathered my things and asked the Negroes to return the scalps they'd stolen, along with my madstone.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 332:

(US) A stone believed to have the power to heal the bite of a rabid or venomous animal.


Markush group

(US, law) Any of the functionally equivalent chemical entities referenced in a Markush claim.


aborgoin

aborgoins (plural)
abergoin (alternative)

A certain Mr. E., in early times in Ohio, who was very fond of the corn, as the Buckeyes call whiskey, took a notion to get married; and as the beverage in question was indispensable at all such gatherings of the aborgoins, in those days, the happy bridegroom could not resist his appetite for the bottle […].

1841, William Lyle Keys, Gleanings, page 33:

To Curwensville they hie them on frolic they are bent
And there indulge in all the sports the season can invent;
The "Aborgoins" are thunderstruck to see them cut up so,
And vow there's inspiration In this riding on the snow.

1858 March 10, The Raftsman's Journal, Pennsylvania, page 4:

And I may add that the severest critic of newspapers I ever met punctuated like a walking plow, pronounced "unique"' like it Is spelled, and referred to aboriginies as "aborgoins."

1916, Concordia Empire (Kansas), 2 March, p. 7

“I remember you could stand on Congress and hear billiards in one ear and whoopin' aborgoins out the other.”

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 412:

(US, dialectal, rare) An aboriginal inhabitant; a Native American.


sound on the goose

While not exactly sound on the goose, slavery struck me as the natural state: we had slaves, the Indians had slaves, you shall enjoy the spoils of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 440:

(US, colloquial, regional, now historical) Loyal to the party line; specifically, supporting the pro-slavery position in the pre-Civil War United States.


who-hit-John

The bottle of Who-Hit-John was only a quarter full now and he was giving serious thought to taking another swallow of the stuff, as harsh as it might be on a man's system.

1993, Jim Miller, Border Marshal, page 16:

Our leader, Colonel Sibley, found the march considerable boring, and a few weeks into it, he retired to the bed of his wagon, accompanied by two prostitutes and a barrel of who-hit-John.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 441:


cat wagon

“Kid, I like women too, but not that way. You need time to get acquainted, drink a little, talk a little. In the cat wagon you got to get it over with and out in five minutes, no time to button your pants.”

1975, Nels Anderson, The American Hobo, page 54:

There was an uproad from the fire-eaters, who imagined they were fighting for human dignity and freedom from the northern elite, but more cat wagons were requisitioned and the complaining stopped.

(US, slang, now historical) A small brothel operating out of a wagon or similar vehicle, servicing travelling labourers, soldiers etc.


six-month club

(US, travel) The official Customs and Border Protection list of countries whose citizens do not require six months' validity on their passport on arrival in the United States.


first-sale doctrine

(US, law) A legal doctrine that limits the rights of a copyright or trademark owner by allowing certain forms of distribution, such as enabling individuals to sell legally purchased copyrighted works to others.


Bourbon County

British North America
British North America#English

(US, historical, 18th century) A former county of Virginia, 13 Colonies, British North America. Named after the House of Bourbon, the ruling house of France at the time of naming.


free speech zone

en-noun

free speech zone (plural free speech zones)

(politics, US) An area set aside in public places for the purpose of protesting.


bull-mobile

(US, slang) A policeman's car, especially the kind used by policemen employed in railroad yards.


plowstaff

plowstaffs (plural)
ploughstaff (alternative)


broomtail

(US) A small, inferior horse of the American West, typically one that is untrained or wild.


rain frog

(US) A tree frog, especially, a spring peeper.

common rain frog

Breviceps acutirostris or Breviceps adspersus


ripgut fence

(US) A type of fence made of criss-crossed pairs of wood poles, which was fairly common in western rangeland before the introduction of barbed wire.


Chinkland

Chink-land (alternative)
Chink land (alternative)
chinkland (alternative)
chink land (alternative)
chink-land (alternative)

I used to tell the kids who slanted their eyes and told me to go back to Chinkland that I was a direct descendant of Robert E. Lee, giving me more right to live in this country than they had.

2004, Caroline Hwang, In Full Bloom, →ISBN, page 47:

Shit, all they wanted was to be back in Wyoming or South Carolina or Pennsylvania or wherever the hell they came from, copping a feel at a drive-in movie, sneaking a fifth with the guys, dreaming of their first car. Not slogging through a stinking tropical jungle in Chinkland, fighting off malaria, wondering if a Bouncing Betty was going to blow their balls off.

2013, H. W. "Buzz" Bernard, Supercell, →ISBN:

(derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) Loosely, East Asia or (chiefly US) Asia in general.


honor student

(US, Philippines) A schoolchild noted for their high academic grades or presence on the honor roll.

(US) A student enrolled in an honor society.


NODL

His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression, wielding the snarl word “smut” and the shibboleth “decency,” of liberal political and social ideas regarding divorce, sex education, family planning, and abortion include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale.

2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940:

w:National Organization for Decent Literature

(US) Initialism of National Organization for Decent Literature.


merit badge

/ˈmɛɹɪt ˌbæd͡ʒ/

Coordinate term: proficiency badge

(originally and chiefly US, scouting) An embroidered cloth patch awarded to a youth member of the Boy Scouts of America or other scouting organization who successfully completes an activity within an area of study (the badge bearing an image representing the activity), which is either sewn on to the sleeve of the scout's uniform or a sash worn with the uniform; hence, the award itself.

ansiomerkki

embroidered cloth patch awarded to a youth member of the Boy Scouts of America or other scouting organization who successfully completes an activity; the award itself

förtjänstmärke

more for meritorious contributions to the Scout Movement


merit badge university

merit badge university (plural merit badge universities)

merit badge universities (plural)
MBU (alternative)

(scouting, US) A usually annual event, held in many areas of the United States, where educational courses are hosted with the purpose of helping Boy Scouts to achieve certain merit badges.


MBU

merit badge university
merit badge university#English

(scouting, US) Initialism of merit badge university.


skeerd

en-adj

skeerd (comparative more skeerd, superlative most skeerd)

more skeerd (comparative)
most skeerd (superlative)

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


Lone Scout

(scouting, US, historical) A member of the Lone Scouts of America, a Scouting organization for American boys that operated from 1915 to 1924, after which it was merged with the Boy Scouts of America.


NESA

(scouting, US) National Eagle Scout Association, an organization of men who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.


court of honor

courts of honor (plural)
Court of Honor (alternative)
court of honour (alternative)
COH (alternative)


ASPL

(scouting, US) Assistant Senior Patrol Leader.


Radium Girl

(US, historical) A female factory worker who contracted radiation poisoning from luminous paint (containing radium) used in watch dials in the early 20th century.


does Dolly Parton sleep on her back

An allusion to the singer's large breasts, which might make sleeping on one's front difficult.

is the Pope Catholic
is the Pope Catholic#English

(US, colloquial, dated, vulgar, rhetorical question) Synonym of is the Pope Catholic


tendergroin

en-noun

tendergroin (countable and uncountable, plural tendergroins)

Rocky Mountain oyster
Rocky Mountain oyster


rock whore

(US, slang) A prostitute who exchanges sexual favors for crack cocaine.


Tattoogate

(US) A 2011 controversy when Jim Tressel, the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, resigned amid allegations that he lied in order to cover up activities, including tattoos, undertaken in violation of NCAA rules by players he was coaching.


back-butt

back-butts (plural)
back butt (alternative)
backbutt (alternative)

The amended criminal complaint specifically alleged that Hirsch touched A.L.H.'s "front butt" or vaginal area (Count I), then her "back butt" or anal area (Count II), and then her "front butt" a second time (Count III).

1987, North western reporter. Second series:

Well I was leaning over to get something, I think it was a blanket and then I felt his hand like on my back butt.

1988, Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Montana, Volume 232:

K.R. further testified that E.H. also made her suck her “back butt.” When asked to show the court where her “back butt” was, K.R. stood up and pointed to her tailbone.

But this time Mr Butt turned his gruesome, bared back-butt to me and let fly with a hideous windripper that must have broken records.

2016, Steve Cole, Invisible Inc., →ISBN:

(Canada, US, slang, euphemistic) Buttocks.


front butt

front butts (plural)
frontbutt (alternative)
front-butt (alternative)

(Canada, US, slang, euphemistic) Synonym of front bottom


parking attendant

parking attendant (plural parking attendants)

(US) A person employed (as by a parking facility, hotel, or restaurant) to park cars.


sports center

sports centers (plural)
sports centre (alternative)

(US, Canada) A building or building complex housing in which a variety of sports can be played.


merit badging

(scouting, US, rare, colloquial) The act of pursuing merit badges.


BMC

Boston Medical Center
w:Boston Medical Center

(US) Initialism of Boston Medical Center.

Baystate Medical Center
w:Baystate Medical Center

(US) Initialism of Baystate Medical Center.

(US, beer) Initialism of Budweiser, Miller, Coors. (big three American macrobreweries)


HBCU

[…] HBCUs. Much of the majority as minority research on the experiences of White students in the HBCU used Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, and Thomas' (1999) model of the social adjustment of Black students to a PWI as the framework (Closson[…]

2015 July 1, Ted N. Ingram, Derek Greenfield, Joelle D. Carter, Adriel A. Hilton, Exploring Issues of Diversity within HBCUs, IAP, →ISBN, page 189:

(US, education) Initialism of historically black college or university.


census-designated place

census-designated place (plural census-designated places)

(US, demography) A place containing a concentration of population, defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only; it is not a municipality, but either a subset of one or spanning into several.


Clemson

en-verb

Clemson (third-person singular simple present Clemsons, present participle Clemsoning, simple past and past participle Clemsoned)

Clemsons (present singular third-person)
Clemsoning (participle present)
Clemsoned (participle past)
Clemsoned (past)

From the performance of the Clemson Tigers (NCAA college football), who had a history of facing weak opposition in their conference and so their record of wins led to high expectations that were not met.

Anyone who was watching Saturday's loss to the Steve Spurrier-led Gamecocks surely could tell within the first quarter — if not that first failed drive — that Clemson was Clemsoning once again.

2013 December 2, Chris Haire, “God doesn't like the Clemson Tigers”, in Charleston City Paper:

At this point, it wasn’t enough to point out that Clemson had just Clemsoned in epic fashion.

2014 September 21, Des Bieler, “Against Florida State, Clemson's 'Clemsoning' was the most 'Clemsoning' Clemson ever Clemsoned”, in The Washington Post:

Clemson has not “Clemsoned” since losing to GT after starting 8-0 in 2011.

2015 October 12, Ty Duffy, “On College Football: Time For The Bob Stoops and Mark Richt Talks”, in The Big Lead:

Dabo, you talked about people saying how possibly are you going to get ready for this game, and I know as unfair as that term has been and the way it's been applied to Clemson, the whole "Clemsoning" thing and losing games you're not supposed to, how does this team kind of approach that differently in you mind?

2016, Clemson Tough: Guts and Glory Under Dabo Swinney, page 56:

(US, sports, slang) To perform uncharacteristically poorly, well below expectations.


wokeness

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

wokisme

state of being left-wing, especially from a right-wing perspective

Faux wokeness is the act of identifying yourself as an ally to people of color, but supporting color-blind, savior, or colonialistic approaches to activism. Faux wokeness ignores the intersectional, systemic, and institutional functions of racism.

2018, Laura A. Roy, Teaching While White: Addressing the Intersections of Race and Immigration in the Classroom, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 150:

(US, slang, politics) The quality or state of being woke (aware of social justice issues).


Foochownese

That the Chinese still do it when they are away from their homeland with regrettable result to themselves, is evident from cases reported by Manson (1880) in a Foochownese, by Koo (1924) in a Shantunguese, Seymour (? Cantonese), from South America (Cantonese), from the Philippines (Amoynese), and recently in this hospital in a native of Kiangsu who got the infection in Yokohama.

1930, J. H. Liu, Lien-tê Wu, Yui C. Voonping, The National Medical Journal of China - Volume 16, page 100:

Other elements are Hakkas, some Foochownese, some mixtures of Chinese and aborigines in the south, a few remaining Japanese, and many refugees from East China and other parts of China.

1939, Hawaiian Academy of Sciences, Proceedings - Issues 13-30, page 103:

During their first few years in Shantung, Hung and his brothers continued their education under their Foochownese tutor, Master Hsieh.

1987, Susan Chan Egan, William Hung, A Latterday Confucian: Reminiscences of William Hung, (1893-1980), →ISBN, page 1987:

The patient was a 53-year-old, married, Foochownese housewife.

1988 September, Yat-San Tsai, Shi-Chiy Su, Tai-Te Wang, Chien-Tien Hsu, Yun-Nan Lin, “Primary choriocarcinoma in the uterine cervix: report of 4 cases”, in The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, volume 14, number 3:


Foochownese

Cui Sung (Foochownese Romanization);

1874, Zoology Reprints and Separata, Etc - Volume 112:

The character 林, for instance, has the same meaning for all, although it is pronounced Lin in Pekinese, Ling in Foochownese, Liem in Foganese, Lam in Cantonese, etc.

1963, Vincent Tsing Ching Lin, Adult Education in People's Republic of China, 1950-1958, →OCLC, page 64:

(US) The dialect spoken in the area around Fuzhou.


suspook

That's when the suspook's handgun fell through the hole and into
Costello's lap. She grabbed the gun and aimed it at the suspook which
fled to the Impala.

2010 July 12, Smackwater Jack, “And The Stupid Feral Nigger Of The Week Award Goes To...”, in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh (Usenet):

The suspook swung up an axed dem about buying cookies, it returned
later displaying a handgun sideways as it took cash money from the
mother, according to handlers.
The suspook then swung through the stoh’s hooptie lot and remains
uncaged. It was described as a buck nigger between 16 and 19 in primate
years who is about 5 feet 4 to 5 feet 6 inches tall not including tail,
handlers said.

2017 February 14, Rick Mathers, “ShitApe Robs Girl Scout Cookie Stand At Gunpoint”, in soc.culture.african.american (Usenet):

Video of the suspook - Heard some of the usual suspects before this clip
was released saying "no way to know race, don't be racciss and assume
the killer is black !"

2022 January 19, Jesse, “Pretty young white girl murdered in LA by ,,, You know”, in uk.current-events.terrorism (Usenet):

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person suspected of committing a crime.


Griswold

Griswolds (plural)
Griswood (alternative)
Griswald (alternative)

(US, law, sexuality, US politics, informal, uncountable) Ellipsis of Griswold v. Connecticut. A 1965 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized contraception, allowing access to contraceptives for married couples; and reaffirmed the existence of a right to privacy under due process following the 14th Amendment.


big blue blanket

(US, military, historical) A system used in World War II for protecting American warships from Japanese kamikaze attacks, involving (among other things) the constant presence of the blue-painted Hellcat and Corsair aircraft over the fleet at all times.


Colorado brown stain

(US, dentistry, dated) A brownish stain on the teeth, a symptom of fluorosis.