cotton shot
n.— «A cotton shot consists of the heroin and blood residues that are “pounded” out of a cotton remnant (sometimes an old cigarette filter) which was used in a previous injecting session to filter the heroin solution as it was drawn into each individual injector’s syringe.…Those members with more successful income-generating strategies categorically refuse to “pound cottons” and they often humiliate those who are regularly reduced to seeking cotton shots.» —“Participant Observation Study of Indirect Paraphernalia Sharing/HIV Risk in a Network of Heroin Injectors” by Philippe Bourgois, Charles Pearson National Institute on Drug Abuse (Bethesda, Maryland) Feb. 1, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
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...