shock
v.— «Ragan then fills the pool with water, shocks it and checks it about a week later to see if the chemicals are OK. “Shocking” a pool refers to using a chemical process called oxidization to break down water-soluble bather waste. Nobody wants to take a dip in a pool of dead skin cells, body oils, sweat and cosmetics, and other unmentionable icky stuff. Some things need to be shocked.» —“Gentlemen, start your pools” Sioux City Journal (Iowa) May 15, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the language of hobbyists and enthusiasts: If you’re a beekeeper, perhaps you call yourself a...
The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the vocabulary of the early 20th century? It may be jarring to hear the word swag, but it was already at...