weeper n.—Gloss: Related to the meaning of weeper ‘a hole or pipe in a wall to allow water to run off.’ «Six inches of rain between Friday night and Sunday afternoon proved too much for track crews. Crews fought a day-long...
Mike from Manchester, Connecticut, asks about wet behind the ears, meaning inexperienced, and wonders if it has to do with milk trickling behind a nursing baby’s ear. Probably not. A more likely explanation, made clear by Charles Earl Funk of Funk...
eleven n.— «Botox also is used for “losing your 11,” the term for vertical frown lines on the forehead, for crow’ feet at the outer corner of the eyes, for smoker’s lines and for horizontal lines on the forehead...
finé del capo n.— «I preferred Knoebels’ Twister, with its banging 101-foot split-lift hill (it climbs in two stages), and terrifying finé del capos (head-choppers, or low-hanging beams)? It’s a gut-wrenching coaster.» —“A Good Old...
catch a body v. phr.— «Bell added in his statement that they had the intention of “catching a body, but it wasn’t. We didn’t go downtown to catch a body, only Arthur did.” The street term, “to catch a body,” refers...
Ruth, a minister in Pennsylvania, grew up hearing by way of Robin Hood’s barn and around Robin Hood’s barn for taking a long, scenic, or indirect route. The image likely draws on the ficitonal Robin Hood’s life in Sherwood Forest, with his “barn”...