rat hole
n.— «The intervening space between tire and wheel well is sometimes called the dead cat hole, according to Peter Davis, director of interior design for global compact utility vehicles at G.M. More colorful and less formal terms come in handy in the studio. Mr Davis supplied rat holes, which, he said, were the “small unwanted, usually triangular holes that result from parts coming together.”» —“Body Language: How to Talk the Designers’ Talk” by Phil Patton New York Times Apr. 1, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way...