trap
n.— «The Greyhound, which looks as if it sprang from the womb of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, is 50,000 pounds of flying metal that must set itself down on the pitching deck of a ship at 120 knots and come to a complete stop in two seconds and 200 or so feet. Our pilot made the “trap” on the first try. But tonight Adm. Gortney will watch from his seat on the bridge as freshly minted pilots (“nuggets,” in Navy parlance) miss their traps and “bolter” off the deck to try again.» —“Naval Gazing: A Top Gun Fantasy Comes True” by Bret Stephens Wall Street Journal July 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...
Chrissie in Arlington, Virginia, has fond memories of her family playing bridge together. Whenever a trick with four cards that included an ace, a two card, a three card, and a four card was played, her grandmother would chuckle and say, Ace, two...