beachcrosser
n.— «So can we say a beachcrosser is someone who daringly blazes a trail in an exploratory way across new beaches? Well, no. Later she writes: “The first Maori to visit Australia were Tuki, a priest, and Huru, a warrior, from the Bay of Islands, in 1793. Having adventurously boarded a supply ship, the two young beachcrossers found themselves transported to Norfolk Island,” etc.» —“Philippa Mein Smith: A concise history of New Zealand” by Gordon McLauchlan New Zealand Herald May 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A psychiatric home health worker is curious about the use of nuthouse to mean “a mental health facility.” This term goes back to the turn of the 20th century. The word nuts itself once had an extremely positive connotation, referring to...
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern...