A wet dress rehearsal is a run-through of all the processes required before a rocket launch, up until, but not including, liftoff. What makes this simulation wet is that the rocket’s fuel tanks are filled, then drained once the countdown clock...
If you think back on all the words you’ve looked up in the past year, only to turn around and forget their definitions immediately, Martha’s New Year’s resolution sounds like a no-brainer: be a little more mindful, and take care to...
Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you’ve looked it up before? Maybe it’s time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from Kurt Vonnegut himself, with some reassuring...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game about words and phrases that involve furniture or parts of a house. For example, if you want to see your lover but you only have two hours, that’s a tight window of opportunity. And if you invest in, say...
wall-cross v.— «Wells Fargo wanted to be among one of the first banks to get to the market before fund managers and investors became overwhelmed by the supply of stock. Being first also carried the risk that the offering could be too big...
weeping tile n.— «Key components to this portion of the project, besides the 6 x 6 lumber, are a perforated four-inch drain pipe (also referred to as weeping tile), course gravel, 10-inch galvanized spikes, a 1/4 inch ship auger and a...