United States Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Associated with or special to the United States or American people, places, or things. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

(93/93 pages) « First < 91 92 93

zeitgeber n. All companies exist in a cacophony of competing time rhythms, relentlessly drummed out by, among others, suppliers, clients, and competitors…These “external pacers” are known among academics as zeitgebers—German for “time givers”and they exert tremendous influence on your company. Zeitgebers can include anything from the fiscal year to the production schedule of a supplier to the school calendar in your community, and every company possesses a unique set of them. The more activities in your organization are synchronized with a particular zeitgeber, the more you’re “entrained” to it. [German Germany United States Business] [full cite] (Jun. 4, 2004)

zeitgeber n. Light and temperature are the only periodic or quasi-periodic environmental variables to which endogenous oscillation can be coupled: in nature they entrain the endogenous oscillation, thereby controlling period and establishing appropriate phase. They are, to use Aschoff’s phrase, the principal Zeitgeber. [German United States Science Jargon] [full cite] (Jun. 5, 2004)

zonker n. I have often wondered why a deep-dish fruit pie is called a cobbler. My online etymological dictionary suggests it is related to a 14th-century word for wooden bowl, cobeler. What is apparently the same dish is called zonker (or sonker) in Surry County. This local use is even more a mystery. [English United States North Carolina Food & Drink] [full cite] (May. 30, 2004)

(93/93 pages) « First < 91 92 93