toad
n.— «“There’s a toad!” she exclaimed, referring not to a warty amphibian but to a defunct Toys “R” Us (Toad: Temporary, Obsolete, Abandoned or Derelict site).» —“Defining Sprawl: From A to Z” by Patricia Leigh Brown in New Haven, Conn. New York Times June 17, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
David says that when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, his family referred to the grassy area between the sidewalk and street as the devil strip. He’s since moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he doesn’t hear that term. There are lots...