grow-op
n.— «Law enforcement agencies seized 11 expensive homes in Andover, Pembroke, Concord, Canterbury, Hopkinton, Weare and other communities and confiscated 7,000 high-quality marijuana plants. The police called it the biggest drug bust in state history. The homes appear to be what are called grow-ops. Their basements are lit by lamps like those used to illuminate the interstate and powered with electricity stolen from utilities. If the New Hampshire operations were being run like those discovered elsewhere, organized crime finances the enterprise and farmers are paid a share of the profits.» —“Big drug busts in small towns aren’t good news” Concord Monitor (New Hampshire) Dec. 18, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...