dog
n.— «Race track “dogs” (or the equivalent thereof) could have been a factor in the International victory of France’s Match II.…They’re in the category of the carpenter’s “Horse”…A few feet of two-by-four with four legs attached.…The removal of two legs, from one end, turns a horse into a dog. The wooden dogs, often seen in guarding a street excavation and holding a red light at night, once were stock equipment at all race tracks.…Most have been replaced by the inverted yellow traffic cones. Dogs or cones are placed several feet out from the inside rail at times when a track is wet, so that this part of the racing strip will be protected during morning workout hours.» —“About Horses And People…” by Walter Haight Washington Post, Times Herald Nov. 15, 1962. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
David says that when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, his family referred to the grassy area between the sidewalk and street as the devil strip. He’s since moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he doesn’t hear that term. There are lots...
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a species. A book about the end of the universe...