︎preing
n.— «“Pre” is no longer a prefix placed in front of a word meaning “before.” In Jamaica today if someone is “preing” you it means they are checking out or observing you.» —“Withdrawals and apologies” by Heather Robinson Jamaica Gleaner (Kingston) May 4, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he...