donkey
n.— «Contrary to myth, a helicopter doesn’t necessarily fall out of the sky when the engine, affectionately known among pilots as the “donkey,” stops. The machine can glide to a survivable landing (albeit a brick-like one), much as a sycamore seed rotates to the ground, but only if the pilot makes the right moves, and quickly.» —“Get your rotors running: learn to fly a helicopter” by Tony Newton Belfast Telegraph (Ireland) June 5, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...
In parts of Appalachia, the expression give someone down the road means “to reprimand” someone or “tell someone to get lost.” In Ireland, to give someone down the banks has a somewhat similar meaning, apparently referring to...