floater
n.— «Verts doesn’t consider himself a doctor, anyway. He’s a horse floater, one who “floats,” or files down, teeth. Some say floaters got their name from their partiality to drifting about the country. Others think they were named for the similarity of their hardware to the flat-faced tools—floats—used for finishing concrete.» —“Horse dentist floats around in a stable job” by Ellen Barlett in Davie, Florida Washington Post Dec. 1, 1982. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Whether it’s a Rubik’s cube or a round of Wordle, why do so many of us find puzzles irresistible? A new book celebrates the allure and psychological benefits of brain teasers. Plus, powerful language for talking about the chronic...
Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...