We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means “Winter Street,” and in Hawaii, a term for the Milky Way...
Jennifer, an elementary-school teacher in Tallahassee, Florida, loves saying the term chockablock, meaning “closely packed together,” and wonders about its etymology. Chock can refer to a kind of wedge used to hold something in place...
Overhaul comes from nautical use, meaning to add slack to tackle so the blocks in a block-and-tackle system move apart. The verb builds on haul, the sailor’s word for pulling on lines or sheets, and later broadened to mean redoing, remaking...
athlete’s clock n.— «The Huskies had hoped Miller would still be granted four years of eligibility and that the five-year window each athlete is given—commonly called an athlete’s clock—would not have started in that summer of 2006...
bring the wood v. phr. in American football, to play or tackle with extra force or violence. Etymological Note: This term appears to have originated the University of Nebraska. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)