fiddle yard

Such a halt would enhance any model railway, perhaps leading to a fiddle yard on the right.

1999, Alan Postlethwaite, Odd corners of the Southern: from the days of steam, page 27:

I know of a few modelers who take this concept to the ultimate by providing a dedicated cassette for each individual item of equipment; however, this requires more dedication than I'm inclined to! It also makes for a lot of high-precision work in the fiddle yard.

2009, Iain Rice, Shelf Layouts for Model Railroads, →ISBN, page 20:

A scenic fiddle yard might seem like a contradiction in terms, since a model railway layout is generally split quite clearly into a scenic portion and a nonscenic fiddle yard. One of the arguments for hiding the fiddle yard is that it does not look as nice as the rest of the layout. The idea behind making a fiddle yard more scenic in appearance is to try to help to blend it with the rest of the layout, possibly even to make the layout seem bigger.

2014, Richard Bardsley, Designing and Building Fiddle Yards, →ISBN:

A section of a model railway layout that is reserved for storing and working on trains, often hidden from view.


hudwit

I'd missed them by a couple of hours. This dip did not bode well for the Hudwit.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124:


seventy-threes

Carlsen concluded the domestic parley with the ham sign-off, "Seventy-threes," and went to the bridge to look at the ocean.

Seventy-threes and hope to catch you later.

1976, Popular Electronics - Volume 9, page 92:

Seventy-Threes to you, Neil. Look for you later on the flip.

1977, Bob Cunningham, Rod Furan, Barbara Howell Furan, 10-33 emergency, →ISBN, page 8:

Seventy-threes (regards) to the Cycle Man and spread 'em around (pass the word) on that Super Slab (Interstate).

1978, U.S. Army Recruiting and Career Counseling Journal:

Seventy-threes to you, Deke. Still totin' the Lord?”

2003, Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHaye, Pursued, →ISBN, page 7:

(amateur radio, CB) Best wishes; regards.


plate block

I gave up plate blocks long ago, but still obtain PNC's - but only one of each issue and without regard to the particular number.

1997 June 18, R Sumner, “Re: Why collect new U.S.?”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):

(philately) A block of stamps from the edge of the sheet which shows the plate from which the stamps were printed.


plate number coil

en-noun

plate number coil (plural plate number coils)

We have developed other philatelic interests over the years so that it isn't important to us to have every new issue. Or, as Dave Lee suggested in another post, we work a specialty within modern issues such as plate number coils, or transportation issues, etc.

1997 June 18, WJFIELDS [username], “Re: Why collect new U.S.?”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):

(philately) A United States postage stamp with the number of the printing plate or plates printed on it.


AAMS

American Air Mail Society
w:American Air Mail Society

(US, philately) Initialism of American Air Mail Society.


numismatician

One who studies and/or collects coins and/or currencies.


letter sheet

(philately) A sheet of paper that may be folded (and often sealed) and mailed without the use of an envelope.


unwmk

(philately) Abbreviation of unwatermarked.


inverted Jenny

inverted Jenny (plural inverted Jennies)

(philately, historical) A 24-cent US postage stamp first issued in 1918.


overfrank

en-verb

overfrank (third-person singular simple present overfranks, present participle overfranking, simple past and past participle overfranked)

overfranks (present singular third-person)
overfranking (participle present)
overfranked (participle past)
overfranked (past)

Why would the UNPA overfrank a piece of mail?

2001, The American Philatelist, volume 115, page 390:

(philately) To apply stamps with a higher value than the postage required to a letter.


count circle

(birdwatching) A designated radius in which bird populations are measured as part of a census.


model railway

(UK) A railway in miniature built as a hobby.


California kilowatt

en-noun

California kilowatt (plural California kilowatts)

A few nights ago conditions on 20 were at their usual level, the California kilowatts were in full charge, the 50 watt diehards were busy calling endless CQ's, and the DX stations were reaping the harvest.

1967, CQ; the Radio Amateur's Journal, volume 23, numbers 1-6, page 51:

And one California kilowatt equals 3 East Coast KWs. And—as everybody knows that—we, on the East Coast, are the only legal ones.

1974, CQ: The Radio Amateurs' Journal, volume 30, number 1, page 36:

Several people commented about those damn California kilowatts as they stood there in front of those huge tubes in Jack's transmitter.

2014, Dave Bell, W6AQ, World's Best Hobby (page 16)

(CB radio, slang) An amateur radio broadcast strength exceeding the legal limit of one kilowatt, or (by extension) a transmitter broadcasting in this manner.


SWL

SWL (countable and uncountable, plural SWLs)

(uncountable, amateur radio) Initialism of shortwave listening.

(countable, amateur radio) Initialism of shortwave listener.


VLH

(philately) Initialism of very lightly hinged.


FVF

(philately) Initialism of fine/very fine.


MLH

(philately) Initialism of mint, lightly hinged.


XF

(philately) Initialism of extremely fine or extra fine; also EF.


sideface

1998, Colin Beech, The Redhead: A Collector's Guide to Shading the Stamps of the One Penny Red George V., Sideface Issues of Australia, 1914-1922, British Society of Australian Philately, page Title:

(philately) A definitive stamp with the portrait facing to the side of the stamp.


twitchable

en-adj

twitchable (comparative more twitchable, superlative most twitchable)

more twitchable (comparative)
most twitchable (superlative)

(birdwatching) Of a bird, able to be visited and viewed by birders.


bibliophilately

(rare, philately) The collection or study of postage stamps and other philatelic material thematically related to books or libraries.


EFO

(philately) Initialism of errors, freaks, and oddities.


astrophilatelist

(philately) One who practices astrophilately.


maximum card

(philately) A postcard with the stamp placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in concordance.


MHH

Loose mixed lot, with duplication, of the Portugal & Colonies first decimal definitive designs. Very mixed condition, from VF to junk, all "mint" in some form or another, some MNH, some MH, some MHH, some MNG, etc.

1995 February 12, R L Silverman, “For Sale: Portugal/Colonies "Ceres" 1912-1931”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):

(philately) Initialism of mint, heavily hinged.


misperf

Loose mixed lot, with duplication, of the Portugal & Colonies first decimal definitive designs. […] Includes perf varieties, paper varieties, color varieties, misperfs, etc.


biophilately

A recent addition to the list of Life Members of the Wilson Ornithological Society is Dr. John T. Emlen, Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin. […] He has three sons, all of whom are students of biology, and besides his professional work finds time to devote to conservation matters, as well as photography and biophilately.

1966 March, “New Life Member”, in The Wilson Bulletin, volume 78, number 1, page 120:

For instance, Philately is the most popular hobby of the world. Hence, introducing biophilately in the agenda of the concerned NGO will enhance its success in its aims. Spotting animals, birds, plants, insects, etc. on stamps may provide interested people with an efficient media of education […]

1990, Desh Bandhu, Harjit Singh, A. K. Maitra, editors, Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, New Delhi: Indian Environmental Society, page 486:

(rare, philately) The collection or study of postage stamps and other philatelic material thematically related to biology (animals, plants etc.).


souvenir sheet

(philately) A small block or sheet of postage stamps, including a single value or a series of stamps, often without gum or perforations, having a wide margin with an inscription or design identifying an event being commemorated, printed as a souvenir or for collecting purposes.


miniature sheet

en-noun

miniature sheet (plural miniature sheets)

(philately) A smaller-than-normal sheet or pane of usually identical postage stamps, commonly containing gum and perforations, sometimes bearing a marginal inscription identifying an event being commemorated, printed as a souvenir or for collecting purposes.


postage due stamp

postage due stamp (plural postage due stamps)

(philately) An adhesive stamp affixed by a post office to an item of mail, indicating that insufficient or no postage has been prepaid.


telegraph stamp

telegraph stamp (plural telegraph stamps)

(philately) A stamp intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees.


grip off

en-verb

grip off (third-person singular simple present grips off, present participle gripping off, simple past and past participle gripped off)

grips off (present singular third-person)
gripping off (participle present)
gripped off (participle past)
gripped off (past)

(birdwatching, transitive) To tease or taunt another birdwatcher about a bird you have seen but they missed out on.


seabirding

With the lack of unusual birds and a growing sure-footedness at sea, I certainly had plenty of time to look around and observe the behaviour of that mental seabirding bunch, and how parochial they all seem to be.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 133:


birdwalk

I joined Andrew on the morning bird walk and had seventy-five species before I even left Kingfisher Park.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 296:

A walk taken for the purpose of birdwatching.


nockies

I am shameless enough to sometimes speak of my "nockies".

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 56:


commic tern

Sterna hirundo
Sterna hirundo#Translingual

Sterna paradisaea
Sterna paradisaea#Translingual

(birdwatching) A tern that is either a common tern, Sterna hirundo, or an arctic tern, Sterna paradisaea.


gropper

Enjoyed a wide range of Sedge warblers, heard a gropper, and saw a spoonbill, and our first house martins and swifts of the year. The avocets were grand (nearly 50 of them) and not as argumentative as usual at his time of the year.

2001 April 29, Michael J Davis, “A grand day out and request for help”, in uk.rec.birdwatching (Usenet):

These overwhelmingly male gatherings remind me of paparazzi flocks I’ve encountered. Like a reluctant celebrity, the Pallas’s “gropper” (twitchers have their own language, as well as paparazzi-style ripping yarns about this trip or that shot) was skulking in the bushes.

2017 September 25, Patrick Barkham, “Twitchers and groppers: when birdwatching turns ugly”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal, birdwatching) The grasshopper warbler.


health stamp

(New Zealand, philately) Any of a long-running series of postage stamps of New Zealand whose price includes a premium for charitable causes in addition to the usual charge for postage.


stockbook

(philately) storage book used by stamp collectors for storage of postage stamps placed in pockets, on pages, for easy viewing.


detectorism

The hobby of using a metal detector to search for buried coins, etc.


Meghdoot card

(India, philately) A reduced-rate post card, with advertising on the address side used to subsidize the postage cost.


ambulance cover

en-noun

ambulance cover (plural ambulance covers)

(philately, informal) An envelope used by the postal authorities to convey a letter damaged during sorting.


Zeppelin stamp

(philately, historical) A postage stamp intended to pay the postage for mail carried on Zeppelin flights, either specially designed or overprinted, issued by certain countries during the late 1920s and early 1930s when Zeppelins flew passengers and mail between Germany and other countries.


wmkd

(philately) Abbreviation of watermarked.


spark bird

The spark bird is a moment of epiphany, a conversion experience. There are “born-again birders,” no joking, and many birders cleave their lives neatly in two: “before the spark” and “after the spark.”

2019, Ted Floyd, How to Know the Birds: The Art and Adventure of Birding, National Geographic Books, →ISBN, page 29:

As we start walking we spot a red-winged blackbird. It’s a very significant bird in Cooper’s life, he calls it his “spark bird”, a term used to describe the type of bird that first converts a person to birdwatching.

[2023 June 19, Morgan Jerkins, “‘She doesn’t have the power’: Central Park birdwatcher Christian Cooper on why racist ‘incident’ won’t define him”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A particular bird that peaks one's interest in birdwatching.


bird hide

A hideout or blind constructed for watching birds unnoticed, typically a hut or wall with holes in it.


chalky paper

chalky paper (countable and uncountable, plural chalky papers)

(philately) A kind of paper coated with a chalky solution for security purposes, to prevent removal of a postmark without damaging the stamp.


penny post

Alderman Johnson condemns the Reform Act, and is for going backward, in all things, to the good times. Punch humbly suggests that every man who votes for the Crab Alderman should be punished as follows:— The said voter never to be permitted to travel by rail, but to journey to York or elsewhere by the very slowest coach. Never to go to Margate by steamboat, but to take three days to the voyage, per hoy. Never to send a letter by penny-post, but to pay 10d. or 13d., as the case may be—the good old price of the good old times.

1847, “Vote for Alderman Johnson”, in Punch, volume XIII, page 40:

The penny-post is, commonly, an institution through which you seriously offer a man that penny for his thoughts which is so often safely offered in jest.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

(historical) Any of various postal systems in which a short letter or light package could be sent for the price of one penny, particularly uniform penny post in which the rate applied regardless of distance.


fence hopper

(birdwatching) A bird that has escaped from an enclosure, zoo, or the like, as opposed to a genuine wild bird.


shorb

The first of the rare species of shorb for AZ I started finding this fall was the Semipalmated Sandpiper, an overlooked and overeported species in Maricopa County.

2016 September 10, Caleb Strand, “Fall Madness: Shorebirding And More!!!”, in Birding With Caleb (blog), archived from the original on 2023-11-23:

With it was a much larger curlew species: Long-billed Curlew (the largest regularly occurring shorb in the ABA)

2019 December 20, Jared Conaway, “On The Wesside Feelin Like a Great”, in AK-AZ Birder (blog), archived from the original on 2024-04-12:

Unfortunately people coming back down the beach flushed the small shorb flock but they flew to the golf course and stuck around a bit.

2023 September 24, Mary Walsh, “Archived copy”, in Macaulay Library, archived from the original on 2024-04-12:


SPIFS

An acronym, variously explained as "stamps perforated for individuals or firms" or "stamps perforated with initials of firms or societies".


stamp collection

stamp collection (countable and uncountable, plural stamp collections)

(philately) A philatelist's collection of stamps.


seawatching

From sea + watching, after birdwatching.

(birdwatching) A type of birdwatching where participants observe seabirds from a fixed point on the mainland.


green stamp

(historical, philately) A type of trading stamp.


second day cover

second day cover (plural second day covers)

Coordinate term: first day cover

(philately) A letter or card with a new postage stamp, postmarked on the day after the official release of a stamp.