rowback
n.— «A week ago, Kinnock began a famous rowback that I read about in the London newspapers last Monday morning. He still wanted to get rid of the Trident submarine missile systems contracted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he said in a television interview, “but the fact is that it does not have to be something for nothing. The fact is now that it can be something for something.”» —“Kinnock thinks again about nukes” by Wilbur G. Landrey St. Petersburg Times (Florida) June 12, 1988. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Carmen in Jacksonville, Florida, was told she was pretty as a speck of puff. The more common simile is pretty as a speckled pup or cute as a speckled pup. This is part of a complete episode.
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