ProbableNamed from the place
Arizona perfume
noun · first attested 20th century
Arizona became a slang prefix meaning the cheapest possible version of anything.
The poison gas used to execute prisoners in a gas chamber.
34.2867°N -111.6569°W · Q816
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Arizona
- In English
Arizona perfume
Green's Dictionary of Slang treats Arizona as a generic derogatory modifier and lists a run of ironic coinages under it: an Arizona cloudburst is a sandstorm, an Arizona nightingale a donkey, an Arizona strawberry a bean. Arizona perfume applies the same sarcasm to lethal gas. The state did execute prisoners with hydrogen cyanide from 1934, though no source ties the phrase directly to that.
Also pinned to Arizona
1 more from the same place
United States
All 153 entries 151 more words from United States
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