alligatoring
n.— «On the second floor, flames had corrugated the banister into what looked like charcoal briquettes, a phenomenon known in firefighter parlance as “alligatoring,” because of its resemblance to a reptile’s bumpy back. The marshals got to the ground floor, where the fire had been hottest and raged the longest. Every step of the stairwell and each railing and inch of banister was alligatored.» —“Working Backward and Seeking Reasons in the Ashes” by Cara Buckley New York Times Mar. 10, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
After our conversation about nighttime wakefulness, a Sacramento, California, woman shares the funny story behind the term she and her husband use for that phenomenon: squeegee. This is part of a complete episode.
Related
Corey in Buffalo, New York, says her family uses the word unta for “the piece of bread you use to sop up the last bite of what you’re eating.” They also use it as a verb, as in I’m going to unta. Her family is half Sephardic...