tent pole
n.— «As the only major industry in town, it is the tent pole of Stratford’s economy.» —“As Stratford’s World Turns” by Gina Mallet Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) Mar. 27, 1986. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...
It’s hard to remember how to spell the names of some cities. Tallahassee, Florida, for example. Then there are towns with very few letters to remember. Y, a tiny town in northern France, has only two main streets, which come together to form...