free shot
n.— «The current arrangement also means Baltimore City officials don’t have to give up their seats to run for the legislature or statewide office. The practice is called a “free shot.” McFadden did it in 1986 when, as a Baltimore city councilman, he challenged an incumbent state senator and lost. Now an incumbent senator, McFadden said he thinks Baltimore officials need to be willing to give up their posts to run for state office.» —“Proposal seeks to reschedule Baltimore elections” by Melissa Harris Baltimore Sun (Maryland) Mar. 9, 2007. (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...
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...