take a zero
v. phr.— «I have come in from the AT for two nights to hit the post office, the store, the laundromat and get a shower. Everyone in town is very understanding, want to know how long you’re out for, are you having fun out there? how are the animals… and I’m taking a whole day to do it, staying at the hostel near town. I’m doing what the thru-hikers call “taking a zero,” meaning that they haven’t made any miles on the trail at all that day.» —“Having fun out there” by Rodent RealTravel June 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...
Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted...