crying call n.— «Sometimes you face a big bet on the river and you think you’re beat. But you hope you’re not, so you call, only to find out that you indeed were beat. In poker parlance, it is known as a “crying call,” and while it might...
You may have learned that an estuary is where a river meets the sea, but a reference librarian asks whether she should eschew estuary as a word for the confluence of freshwater bodies. Martha and Grant tide her over with some more information. This...
didymo n.— «Didymosphenia geminata, or didymo, was first identified in Southland’s Mararoa and lower Waiau Rivers in October last year—the first time it had been found in the Southern Hemisphere.» —“‘Rock snot’ found in...
aerotropolis n.— «This phenomenon is not new, Bender and others say. It even has a name, which was coined by University of North Carolina professor John Kasarda: the aerotropolis. The idea is that major business centers have always...
ski-tacular
suffix— «Digital Music Express Water Ski Tacular.» —“1992 Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta Schedule” News Record (North Hills, Penn.) Aug. 2, 1992. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
bark mitzvah n.— «Next channel. Talk show host Joan Rivers appears. It’s her dog Spike’s 13th birthday, his “bark mitzvah.” Rivers promises, “We’re going to have a gala celebration with lots of four-legged friends and...