charity stripe
n.— «In basketball parlance, it’s called the charity stripe. And China Spring was loving that line at the Class 3A basketball state tournament. The Lady Cougars were nearly automatic from the free-throw line, nailing 18 of 22 in the fourth quarter.» —“1 down, 1 to go for Lady Cougars” by Brice Cherry Tribune-Herald (Waco, Texas) Mar. 27, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...