cow dust hour
n.— «The “cow dust” hour of evening—how I love that phrase—when the call comes for home and family, and the sky is filled with the green, gold, crimson of the screaming, homing parrots.» —“Exquisite Fantasy of Rural India” by Phil M. Buck Jr. Chicago Daily Tribune Mag. of Books Feb. 29, 1948. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...
The slang phrase someone ate and left no crumbs means the person did something really well. In a previous call, a listener who works in theater noted the use of ate to mean “did something well,” as in they really ate that haircut! This...