migra n. the border patrol at the shared U.S. boundary with Mexico. Editorial Note: Used by Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants as la migra. The border patrol, originally part of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, is now a part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection within the Department of Homeland Security. Etymological Note: Clipped form of Sp. migración ‘migration.’ (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...