hover pit
n.— «The F-35B is currently undergoing crucial tests in what is known as a hover pit. As Tomlinson explains, a hover pit is a specialized testing facility designed to measure the performance of a STOVL aircraft on the ground. “It’s not quite the same as flying, but almost. It’s like fooling the aircraft into thinking its flying. It’s as nearest to flying as we can make it.” Tomlinson said.» —“Ride the Lightning: Testing the Marine Corps’ latest fighter” by Dave Majumdar in New York Examiner.com Mar. 27, 2009. (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 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...