blue canary n.— «As miners once used caged canaries to warn them of poisonous gas underground, the greatest fear of these two streetwise veterans is a “blue canary,” a police officer or emergency worker who unknowingly walks...
five and fly n.— «“We were hoping he’d pitch an inning, but it was five and fly,” Macha said, referring to the U.S. team’s quick win Friday. “There’s a little bit of concern there.”» —“U.S. team gets fresh start in...
flat-water pool n.— «With apologies to Dr. Seuss, what do you call a swimming hole with no sprinklers, kerpinklers or soaking walinklers?…“In the business, we refer to it at as a flat-water pool,” says Peter Dunn of St. Louis...
meteorwrong n.— «Every day, people mail Washington University geochemist Randy Korotev pictures and packages of rocks. They want him to say that their backyard nuggets are from out of this world—and, gram for gram, worth more than gold...
hully-gully adj.— «You take a kid nowadays and throw him a ball in a vacant lot, they’re not going to line up in and run wishbone.…They’re going to junk it around the yard a little bit, kind of hully-gully style. That’s what I call...
stationary patrol n.— «The Missouri Highway Patrol…has begun to encourage this technique, called “stationary patrol,” as a way to conserve gasoline after prices soared in recent months. The patrol asked troopers to cut...