deep-six

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 6, 2021 is: deep-six \DEEP-SIKS\ verb

1 : to get rid of : [discard](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discard), [eliminate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eliminate)

2 slang : to throw overboard

Examples:

Citing budget concerns, the city council announced that it has deep-sixed plans to repave the city's bike trails.

"The movement impressed the Clinton White House, which began drafting an executive order mandating plain language in government—until an administration attorney deep-sixed the idea because he did not find the mission suitably '[magisterial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magisterial).'" — [Evan Halper, The Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2021](https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/articleshare.aspx?guid=2780be8c-325f-4f86-b7e9-34f1bb56d292)

Did you know?

Before the introduction of shipboard sonar, water depth was measured by hand with a [sounding line](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sounding%20line). This was generally a rope weighted at one end, with bits of leather called [marks](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mark) tied on at intervals to measure the [fathoms](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fathom). Between the marks, fathoms were estimated by [deeps](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deep#h3). The [leadsman](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leadsman) (pronounced LEDZ-mun) lowered the line into the water and called out the depth as the rope passed through his hands: "By the mark twain!" at two fathoms; "By the deep six!" at six fathoms. Perhaps due to an association with "six feet under" (dead and buried), to give something the [deep six](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deep%20six#h2) (or to deep-six it) was to throw it overboard, or, by extension, to discard it. In the mid-20th century, deep-six made landfall; since then it has been used as much by landlubbers as by old salts.