chipmunk
n.— «Turns out “chipmunk” is a colloquial term for a little battery-powered yellow circular saw, explains project leader Kate Drake, who adopted the slang after hearing it while working on a Habitat house in Houston, Texas.» —“Women forge ahead on ‘habitat’” by Valerie Zehl in Endicott Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, N.Y.) Aug. 30, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...