donkey
n.— «Contrary to myth, a helicopter doesn’t necessarily fall out of the sky when the engine, affectionately known among pilots as the “donkey,” stops. The machine can glide to a survivable landing (albeit a brick-like one), much as a sycamore seed rotates to the ground, but only if the pilot makes the right moves, and quickly.» —“Get your rotors running: learn to fly a helicopter” by Tony Newton Belfast Telegraph (Ireland) June 5, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Katie in Everett, Washington, is curious about the expression If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no need for tinkers. What is a tinker? She heard this phrase on the television series The Gilded Age, in response to a character who...
“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation for the difference between...