scarlet letter n. a license plate that indicates the automobile’s owner has been convicted of driving while drunk. Etymological Note: This is a more specific sense of scarlet letter ‘a badge or symbol worn to indicate the bearer has committed a crime,’ often used figuratively. It originated in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 book The Scarlet Letter, in which a scarlet-colored A was worn as punishment for adultery. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts, spinning cookies, and pulling brodies: There are lots of ways to talk about spinning a car in circles on...
Amid a 1796 heat wave, Jane Austen wrote to her sister, “What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Jane Austen’s Continual State of Inelegance in a...