strike off wastage
n.— «It could also be expected that one or two aircraft will be routinely lost per 10,000 flying hours, due to what is termed “strike off wastage,” or accidents, in common parlance. The total bill therefore requires a very huge outlay.» —“The plane truth” by PR Chari Daily News & Analysis (India) Nov. 21, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...