whisper number
n.— Note: A rumor about a company’s financial performance, plans, deals, etc. «Pre-election, Blair’s Labor Party held a 166-seat majority in Parliament. The betting was on how big a majority he would keep, with the general consensus—in Wall Street parlance, “the whisper number”—being 100 seats.» —“With Dictators Like Hugo Chavez, Who Needs to Make It Up?” by Jeff Matthews Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up May 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through the dictionary and...
How do dictionaries define colors? And why are some of those definitions so confusing, like “stronger than carmine” and “bluer than fiesta”? Dictionary editor Kory Stamper explains it all in her new book. Plus, the story behind the expression more...