wab

wab n. a Mexican. Also v. wab or wab out ‘to dress or behave like a stereotypical Mexican.’ Editorial Note: This term appears to be most common in California. Etymological Note: Usually said to be a shortening of wetback, perhaps from the abbreviation w.b. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

The Mystery 19th-Century Code Found in a Dress

When an archaeological curator discovered pages of strange code in a secret pocket inside a vintage dress, it set off a years-long search to decipher the seemingly unrelated lists of words. The mystery was solved in 2018, when a researcher at the...

Dressing the Bed Means Making the Bed

Janet calls from Aiken, South Carolina, to say that her father used to ask Have you dressed your bed? meaning “Have you made your bed?” The word dress likely derives from Latin dirigere, meaning “to straighten” or “to...