smoking carriage
n.— «Ms Hewitt’s plans for licensed premises to provide “sin-bin” rooms in which employees or customers can smoke if they wish…are still on the table. Several ministers raised questions at yesterday’s meeting over how staff could be protected if they were expected to go into the rooms—also termed “cancer cabins” or “smoking carriages” in Whitehall—to clean up afterwards.» —“Tougher smoking ban is dropped for private clubs” by Philip Webster Times (London, England) Oct. 25, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through the dictionary and...
How do dictionaries define colors? And why are some of those definitions so confusing, like “stronger than carmine” and “bluer than fiesta”? Dictionary editor Kory Stamper explains it all in her new book. Plus, the story behind the expression more...