lap-cutter
n.— «The driver, known to police as a regular CBD “lap-cutter,” was taken to hospital after the car he was driving launched more than a metre above the Kepler and Lava streets roundabout.…Police said the incident highlighted the growing concern at the “crew of constant lap-cutters” relentlessly driving around the inner-city streets.…“It was disappointing to see that immediately after the accident many of the vehicles that are known to frequent the CBD on a Friday and Saturday night attended the scene.”» —“Lap-cutter flies away” by Alex Johnson Warrnambool Standard (Victoria, Australia) Aug. 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
Mark in Scranton, Pennsylvania, calls about a phrase he heard on an old detective show: drop a dime. It means “to inform on someone” or “tip off the police,” and comes from the practice of literally dropping a dime into a...