tumblehome n. the slope at which an automobile’s sides or windows angle to meets its roof. Etymological Note: Originally applied to the design of seacraft, in which the upper part of the sides of a boat or ship—the topsides—angles upwards from a...
float n.— «Ms. Trujillo, who wears a leather holster belt holding a rock hammer, and geologist’s compass, tells them that if they find “float”—the term for loose fossils individually scattered over the ground by water...
creeper n.— «A 32-year-old woman told police last week that a cunning creeper made his way into her 5th Avenue apartment, taking only her $400 blue hybrid road bike.» —“Bike burgle” Park Slope Courier (Brooklyn, New...
freeleap n.— «It turns out that waterfall ranking is, well, rancorous. Waterfall people—who are a lot like train people and lighthouse people—are burning up the discussion boards, debating Gocta’s place on the charts with fierce...
Joey n.— «A Joey is a person who dresses all wrong for snowboarding. He’s probably from New Jersey, these baggie-clothed mountain boys guess. One of a Joey’s worst sins is wearing his jacket open, so it flaps as he comes down the mountain...
yard sale n.— «The “yard sale” resulted completely from the fact that I was going to fast, given the fact that I was coming down from an easy slope where all the folks around me were going waaaay slower, and doing occasional...