choir
n.— «Britain’s first convicted war criminal was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed from the army Monday in connection with the death of an Iraqi hotel worker. The victim died of asphyxia after being held in stress positions for two days in sweltering heat. Cpl. Donald Payne specialized in a practice called “the choir,” in which he kicked or punched a group of detainees, trying to make their shrieks of pain sound like a song.» —“Related developments” Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) Apr. 30, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add...
Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone who’s non-binary. She supports their relationship, but...