ghost soldier
n.— «The course, which Fluck said is only three or four years old, prepares soldiers to be marksmen in the Stryker Brigade. A Stryker is an 8-wheeled vehicle that is smaller and more easily transported than a tank or other heavy artillery. The Strykers are known in Iraq as “ghost soldiers,” since they are “quieter than your car,” Fluck, of Reinholds, said. The vehicles are better suited than tanks for combat in an urban environment because of their quiet design and lighter weight, which make them more agile on city streets, he said.» —“Straight shooter” by Rachel Fetrow Lancaster Online (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) June 19, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten...