mungo
v.— Note: A verb form of the noun mongo. «Such works and many like them are cast in bronze, an alloy of copper and tin that is particularly durable. They could easily take on time and weather, but not a strong market in scrap metal. “Entire statues were carted off in the 1970s,” Adrian Benepe, the commissioner of parks and recreation, said. “They would be mungoed—a police term for the stealing of scrap metal.”» —“Bronze Eagles Owe Survival to Drug Dealer” by Jim Dwyer New York Times June 18, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...
Chris in Omaha, Nebraska, asks about the use of the adjective husky to describe the boys’ clothing section in a department store. This coded term refers to clothes made for heavier fellows. Husky was originally a positive term connoting the...