monkey board n. a small or narrow elevated platform on which a person stands (to operate a vehicle or machinery, or to perform other work). Editorial Note: While early in its history monkey board referred to a conductor’s place on wheeled vehicles...
descanso n.— «In the Southwest, the markers are called descansos, which comes from the Spanish word for resting. The practice comes from a Spanish tradition of placing stones where pallbearers rested between the church and the cemetery...
lily pad n.— «Among the places the military already has placed or hopes to base such new “lily pads” or jumping off points: the eastern European nations of Bulgaria and Romania; a pier in Singapore; and a tiny island off the...
ego ramp n.— «A 10-hour construction project had begun to erect a new, island-like stage from which President Bush will deliver his acceptance speech tonight surrounded by delegates. It will be the first such use of an island or arena...
haltura n.— «This last depicts a theater troupe’s desperate attempts to take a draft of a new play and, with only 20 minutes preparation, present it to the government censor for approval. As it happens, this drama about a revolution on a...
chi chi man n.— «Being gay or lesbian—a “chi-chi” man/gyal or a “battyman,”—is the ultimate sin in Jamaica, an island paradise so steeped in religion that it holds the Guinness Book of World Records title of having...
