bug
n.— «The numbers game (known also as policy, clearing house, the bug, butter and eggs and other names) operates every day except Sunday throughout the year, players wagering anything from a penny upward on a three-digit number (000-999).» —“Lotteries Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” by Ernest E. Blanche Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science May, 1950. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
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...