wila n. a surreptitious note (sent by or between prisoners); a kite. Editorial Note: Pronounced “WHEE-lah.” Etymological Note: This is an Anglicized or Spanglish spelling of the Mexican Spanish güila or huila, that, according to...
wila n.— «Of the hundreds of letters that arrive or leave the Bexar County Jail, officers in the mailroom filter them in search of wilas, letters that contain orders regarding gang hits or other criminal acts.» —“Cracking prison...
unk-unk n. especially in engineering, something, such as a problem, that has not been and could not have been imagined or anticipated; an unknown unknown. Editorial Note: The Barnhart Dictionary of New English Since 1963 (Barnhart/Harper & Row...
i18n n. internationalization. Editorial Note: This term is usually used in the localization of software, in which all text is translated into other foreign languages. It is sometimes written as il8n, where the second letter is a lower-case L, rather...
scarlet letter n. a license plate that indicates the automobile’s owner has been convicted of driving while drunk. Etymological Note: This is a more specific sense of scarlet letter ‘a badge or symbol worn to indicate the bearer has committed a...
Hajji mobile n.— «Right after I sent out my letter yesterday, George got a message that Raad, our interpreter, had been stopped by gunmen while driving his Hajji mobile.» —“11-12 May” by clcperky Between Iraq & a...