nuclear option
n.— «One Conservative MP, fresh from helping to “talk out” a bill to outlaw fox-hunting last Friday, said the convention was only one of a number of ways to “filibuster” legislation. “‘I spy’ is the nuclear option,” he said. “But members intent on frustrating a bill can still deliberately table numerous amendments, or shuffle extremely slowly through the voting lobbies.”» —“MPs propose abolition of ancient Commons rituals” by Liam Halligan Financial Times (U.K.) Mar. 10, 1998. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...