187
n.— «They use graffiti to mark territory but also to send messages. In some cases, threats are made as when the number “187,” a gang’s name and an individual’s name appear. “That is a call to kill the person,” McDaniel said.» —“Graffiti Identifies Gang Activity” by Kathy Steele Tampa Tribune (Florida) Jan. 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Chad in Hilliard, Florida, wonders about the expression old as Methuselah, meaning “extremely advanced in years.” The phrase references Methuselah, a figure in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian tradition said to be 969 years old when he...