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smoot |
2 definitions found From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Smoot, WV Zip code(s): 24977 Smoot, WY Zip code(s): 83126 From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: smoot /smoot/ n. [MIT] A unit of length equal five feet seven inches. The length of the Harvard Bridge in Boston is famously 364.4 smoots plus or minus an ear (the ear stands for {epsilon}). This legend began with a fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of Oliver Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that distance. It is commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students repaint every few years; the tradition even survived the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge in the late 1980s. The Boston police have been known to use smoot markers to indicate accident locations on the bridge.
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