nick n.— «Then he saw a familiar face: his close friend’s mom. “I need a nick,” she mumbled to him. Without hesitation, he sold her a nickel bag—$5 worth of crack.» —“Philly’s drug dealers: Younger all the...
old head n.— «Donnie excused himself. An emerald-green Oldsmobile driven by a man in his 20s pulled up to the corner. Donnie slinked into the back seat. “That’s his old head,” said one of the boys, using street slang for...
opera hot n.— «He’s also peppered the 2006-’07 season with big names such as Anna Netrebko and Juan Diego Flórez (whom geeks refer to as “opera hot,” or extremely attractive in comparison to the archetypical Wagnerian fat lady with...
midnight plumber n.— «Why would thieves—midnight plumbers as the police call them—tear out the floorboards, toilets, even the walls of the homes, all in search of copper tubing?» —“With the Price of Copper Up, the Plumbing Can Go...
macing n.— «Former Allegheny County Sheriff Pete DeFazio was following a western Pennsylvania political tradition when he coerced employees to contribute to his campaigns.…After all, this was the way they always did it around here:...
turtle back n.— «I have seen books labeled field guides that are too big or heavy to be comfortably carried on a hike. The guideline is that the book be less than 5 inches wide, 8 inches high and about 1 inch thick so it will fit in a...