stove pipe
v.— «“There are a lot of data processing systems out on Navy bases and stations,” he said. “But they’re, for lack of a better word, stove-pipe systems that found one specific application and solved that problem very efficiently.”» —“A review is last hurdle for BASIS” by Brad Bass Government Computer News June 5, 1987. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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...
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...