double-nickel
English
Etymology
From trucker slang in the 1970s referring to the national 55 mph speed limit, based on nickel (“five-cent coin”).
Noun
double-nickel (plural double-nickels)
- (US slang) The national speed limit of 55 miles per hour introduced in the USA in 1974.
- 2015 February 17, Howard Fischer, “Bill takes teeth out of state speed limits”, in Arizona Daily Star:
- But in 1982 they found a loophole: Keep the double-nickel speed limit, but effectively allow motorists to drive up to 65 by designating that speed a “waste of a finite resource” and setting the fine at $15.
- 2015 August 20, Michael Barrett, “Damn the Double Nickel: "Convoy" Shows a Great Director Slumming”, in Pop Matters:
- Peckinpah is just as interested in the old golf-cart codger who says “Damn the double-nickel!” (in reference to the 55mph speed limit) as he is in Duck or Lyle, and much more so than in Ali MacGraw’s character, along for the ride and marquee value.
- (US slang) The number 55 (by extension).
- 2009 February 3, Craig Kwasniewski, “61 Is Impressive but Remember the Double Nickel "Kobe Bryant's 61-point outburst at MSG surpasses Michael Jordan's infamous double-nickel from 1995.”, in The Association:
- 2015 January 29, Matt Moore, “Five-Star Review: Kyrie Irving's double-nickel night”, in CBSSports:
- This night was insane. Knicks win, Sixers win, Wolves win. Kyrie drops a double-nickel.
Verb
double-nickel (third-person singular simple present double-nickels, present participle double-nickeling, simple past and past participle double-nickeled)
- (with dummy it) To travel at 55 miles per hour.
- 2013, Stephen King, Doctor Sleep[1], New York: Scribner, →ISBN, chapter 2, section 3, page 91:
- Rose’s EarthCruiser – seven hundred thousand dollars’ worth of imported rolling steel, the best RV money could buy – led the parade. But slowly, just double-nickeling it.