fifth stroke
n.— «“It helps when you have a good dolphin kick. It’s called undulation. It means you have good wave motion.” That wave motion has carried Kelly to the top of the state leaderboard in just about every stroke. “If you’re good at it, it can work for you,” Scharbat said. “They refer to it as the fifth stroke. It’s something the elite swimmers have. If you’re doing it just to do it, it won’t help.”» —“Margaret Kelly, a junior, is the latest star at Ann Arbor Pioneer” by Mick McCabe Detroit Free Press (Mich.) Nov. 12, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...