machineroomless elevator

machineroomless elevator
 n.— «Otis has introduced flat hoist belts, made of polyurethane threaded with steel, which are lighter, stronger, and more energy-efficient than the old steel ropes. (Otis gave its employees gifts of belts made out of the cable.) The flat cables have made possible much smaller machines, facilitating the proliferation of what are called, rather inelegantly, “machineroomless” elevators.» —“Up And Then Down” by Nick Paumgarten New Yorker Apr. 21, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

NRG Grammagram

Our conversation about rebuses and grammagrams prompted several listeners to note that people in scientific fields sometimes use the letters NRG as a stand-in for the word energy. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “NRG...