third shift
n.— «The simplest and most dramatic form of the problem is something that Asia-based investigators jocularly refer to as the “third shift,” the “midnight shift,” or the “ghost shift. Say a U.S. company orders 20,000 dresses from an overseas factory. The contractor fills the order during its two day shifts but then runs off 10,000 extra at night, possibly using inferior materials. Those he sells out the back door, so to speak, trademark and all.…In addition to literal night-shift activity, the “third shift” is an umbrella term for any form of unauthorized production by otherwise authorized contractors. A common variant arises when a brand owner tells an overseas contractor to stop producing a line of product, and the contractor doesn’t.» —“Not exactly counterfeit” by Roger Parloff Fortune May 1, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...