scarlet letter
n.— «The court became the first in Ohio to immobilize the vehicles of repeat OMVI offenders. Adkins also began ordering repeat offenders to put yellow license tags on their automobiles as “scarlet letters,” he said.» —“Court of Appeal; Fun-Loving Yet Serious Circleville Judge Makes An Impression” by Jim Massie in Circleville, Ohio Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) Sept. 2, 1993. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
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...