–tacular suffix in the forming of nouns, ‘an exciting or extravagant event’ associated with the root; in the forming of adjectives, an intensifier of the root, ‘a lot, great, large, extravagant, excessive.’ Editorial Note: Terms created with...
Root Canal Republicans n.— «Root Canal Republicans are led by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan) and House Minority leader Bob Michel (R-Ill). The Root Canal Republicans want to balance the budget by spending cuts across the board...
caterpillaring n.— «What is caterpillaring? First we take the root word, caterpillar. A caterpillar is the elongated wormlike larva of a butterfly or moth. Basically it just moves from leaf to leaf eating and sleeping until such time it...
snag n.— «A Bitterroot National Forest firefighter was fatally injured Monday morning after he was struck by a falling snag while battling a small fire near the Lost Trail Pass ski area.» —“Firefighter killed by fallen snag while...
turf n.— «“If your mother sends you a letter to the editor saying she loves you, check it out. It might be turf. Today especially, there is an 80 percent probability it is turf.” “Turf” is editorial page slang for form...
chamcha n.— «Akbar has been called a chamcha (which means spoon in the Hindi language and has become a slang word for sycophant) to the Gandhi family, and some of that slavish devotion shows up in his uncritical acceptance of Nehru’s...