show the flag v.— «One of the most time honored—and simplest—methods of lobbying is called “showing the flag.” It works this way: When a critical vote is imminent in Congress, representatives of contesting points of view show...
chamcha n.— «Akbar has been called a chamcha (which means spoon in the Hindi language and has become a slang word for sycophant) to the Gandhi family, and some of that slavish devotion shows up in his uncritical acceptance of Nehru’s...
lily pad n.— «We are already “reconfiguring our footprint”—that is, reviewing deployment of our troops globally to make us capable of applying mobile force anywhere rather than to sit in place to meet any specific threat...
lily pad n.— «Terrorist Osama bin Laden had a different agenda, he said. “He uses Afghanistan as a lily pad, a place to be, a place to go out and kill other people around the world.”» —“Rebels close in on last Taliban...
lily pad n.— «Among the places the military already has placed or hopes to base such new “lily pads” or jumping off points: the eastern European nations of Bulgaria and Romania; a pier in Singapore; and a tiny island off the...
blue-sky v.— «He insisted he was merely “blue skying” the idea. He swore he had never used the report, which he had promoted while at NIAAA, to solicit loans from banks to build a private treatment center.» —“The...