flush tax
n.— «The U.S. Department of Defense has agreed to spend $22 million upgrading its wastewater- treatment plants throughout Maryland in lieu of paying the Ehrlich administration’s “flush tax”—a move that ends nearly two years of legal wrangling and makes money immediately available to reduce pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.» —“‘Flush tax’ dispute ends” by Rona Kobell Baltimore Sun (Maryland) July 20, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm memories of how a childhood...
The owner of a Berlin, Maryland, produce stand wants to know: When a customer is buying four ears of corn, should they say I have four corn or I have four ears of corn? Corn is a mass noun that can also be counted as a plural, just as we might say I...