Word: plunger
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...holiday and prices shot upwards on word of the victory. Baruch was proud to have been a speculator, but he cringed at the implications the term came to carry. "Modern usage," he noted in a 1957 autobiography, "has made the term 'speculator' a synonym for gambler and plunger. Actually the word comes from the Latin speculari, which means to spy out and observe. I have defined a speculator as a man who observes the future and acts before it occurs...
...combined efforts produced a weapon of classic simplicity. The V-L (for Van Langenhoven) bullet consists merely of a cylindrical plug of solid propellant attached to the rear of a slug or missile. When the trigger of a V-L rifle is pulled, a powerful spring drives a cocked plunger into a cylinder, compressing and heating the trapped air to about 2,000° F. Escaping into the firing chamber through a valve, a jet of heated air strikes and ignites the propellant, which pushes the missile through the barrel (see diagram). Because the heated air helps the propellant...
...seen a pretty but slightly misty-looking 5-ft. 4-in. blonde tumble out of a highflying airplane, crash a speedboat onto a beach at full throttle, ride a wagon hauled by galloping horses, plunge through an opening drawbridge, fall off a roof, and accidentally lean on a dynamite plunger. At the moment of greatest peril, the pixy hollered something like: "Stamp out cramped compacts!" or "Kick the dull driving habit!" or "Don't follow the leader. Drive it!" After which she miraculously escaped disaster-crying "Join the Dodge Rebellion...
When he is through speaking, the crowds engulf him, clutching at his arms, reaching over his shoulders to grasp his hand, clapping him on the back. "You're wonderful!" women cry. Men shout, "Good luck!" He is besieged for autographs. Reagan is not a compulsive crowd plunger, like Nelson Rockefeller, or an irrepressible hand grabber, like Lyndon Johnson. By nature he is almost reticent. At a factory gate, he will often wait with hands limp at his sides, nodding a .bit awkwardly at passers-by until someone recognizes him. Then, on center stage, Reagan's face lights...
...such cases the old rule of caveat emptor especially prevails. The offbeat plunger can make a big splash if he is lucky; he can also quickly go under. Bankers and investment houses usually shy away from such unusual and high-risk opportunities, but potential investors seldom have trouble hearing about them. Word travels rapidly through accountants, special brokers, newspaper advertisements, relatives or neighbors who want to let someone in on a good thing-they hope...