dipstick survey
n.— «The authorities have made preparations for a door-to-door survey on May 16 and 17 to cover children left out of the Sunday exercise, and also a “dipstick” survey for four days from May 20. The dipstick survey involves random inspection of houses in both urban and rural areas by the public health staff, that would complete the polio immunisation process in this round,» —“Survey to cover children left out of polio immunisation from today” The Hindu (India) May 17, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means “money.” In the same way, cat beer isn’t alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for “milk.” And imagine walking on a...