hard knocker
n.— «A hard knocker in racetrack parlance is a horse who races consistently with determination, regardless of circumstances.» —“Lone Star Park Notes” by Gary West in Grand Prairie Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) Apr. 28, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
On a busy day in the emergency room, Alisa of Dallas, Texas, told an efficient colleague that she was really humming, meaning it as a compliment. Her colleague took offense, maintaining that humming meant “smelly.” Since the 18th...
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...