steaming
n.— «Liverpool fans supporting their team in the European Cup would travel to towns in Italy, Spain, Belgium or Switzerland and pick up classy Euro sportswear as trinkets. Trainers, ski wear, track suits were all lifted from quiet backwater sports shops. The practice was known as “steaming”—there wasn’t much a shopkeeper could do against 400 tourists piling into his shop and, locust-like, denuding it of luxurious tops.» —“Casual dress essential” by Jason Solomons Observer (U.K.) Aug. 14, 2005. (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...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski insists that the names of modern Olympic sports resulted from changing one letter in the original names for each activity. For example, he says, the pole vault must have originated from an earlier sport in which participants...