hoe-chucker
n.— «The Vancouver parks board received two log-loaders yesterday from Finning Canada and Caterpillar to aid in Stanley Park’s restoration. The half-million-dollar machines, commonly called hoe chuckers, are used to play a log-sized game of pick-up-sticks. Without moving, to keep the impact on the forest floor to a minimum, hoechuckers are equipped with a claw at the end of a hydraulic arm to grab and hoist away the top log in a tangled mess of fallen trees. The result is precise enough to leave a pile undisturbed.» —“Heavy hitter gathers wood” by Dharm Makwana 24 Hours (Toronto, Canada) July 6, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family’s beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in the United States, some Latino elementary...
The word shambles originally referred to an abattoir or butchers’ stalls filled with blood and guts. Over time, this word underwent semantic bleaching, and now simply refers more generally to “a mess.” This is part of a complete...