big dance n.— «He has written a forthcoming book entitled “The Big Dance,” the gang’s code name for the robbery.» —“Key Brink’s Suspect ‘Intelligent’ Radical” Newsday (New York City) Feb. 14, 1986...
pimp v.— «My son might come in and get two As and a B, and be like, “Man, I pimped that test!”» —“Nelly Showcases Originality With CDs” by Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York City Newsday Sept. 15...
toe-touch n.— «You talk a lot about the practice back then of the ‘toe-touch’—someone reporting a story from their home desk and then traveling only briefly to the city where the story is set just to ‘get the dateline.’ You say editors...
on one’s bicycle adj.— «In the 12th round it looked like Oquendo had hit Byrd with a clean right and knocked him to the canvas, but referee Eddie Cotton ruled it a slip. Perhaps thinking he had the bout sewn up, Oquendo got on his bicycle...
bouma shape n.— «In visual terms, a word is distinguished by its characters’ relation to the white space surrounding it and the nature of its letter face (for instance, small thin strokes are common to handwriting, and thick short strokes...
buffet flat n.— «Have you ever been to a buffet flat? It’s neither a lunchroom nor a variation of a western plain. It’s peculiar to Harlem, yet few white visitors to that Negro haven in New York City ever hear of it, and practically none...