shrink
n.— «My second and last 2 carat ring was stolen. The guy was “looking” at it and turned around and bolted out the door with it. LOVELY! That’s close to $13,000.00 worth of shrink (Wal-Mart slang for merchandise that we can’t account for) just in three rings that I know of. At Wal-Mart over 70% of our shrink is due to paperwork issues, not theft like most people think.» —“I’m still standing” by Michaela Wherever I went…I was running! May 14, 2006. (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...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...