duster
n.— «Wells, rigs, drilling and dusters all appear in greater force than they did in the proceeding [sic] month. The latter class however are not in quite as strong force as the public outside of this field evidently anticipated. Four so called dusters are paying producers, two of the same being wells of a superior grade, while the two remaining ones will pay a handsome interest on the investment and possibly enable the investort [sic] to lay by something against the proverbial rainy day besides. That this field has been presistantly [sic] discriminated against and the character of its wells purposely misrepresented by the cowardice or jealously of outside capital, either or both, cannot be denied.» —“Allegany Field” The Democrat (Olean, N.Y.) Aug. 4, 1881. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Chris in Omaha, Nebraska, asks about the use of the adjective husky to describe the boys’ clothing section in a department store. This coded term refers to clothes made for heavier fellows. Husky was originally a positive term connoting the...