Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1961
Skyjack
sky hijack
- Meaning
- To seize control of an aircraft in flight.
- Source words
- sky + hijack
- Coined by
- unknown (US press)
- Year
- 1961
Background
Coined in US newspapers during the early wave of Cold War-era hijackings to Cuba. The form mirrors *carjack*, which came thirty years later; *hijack* itself is Prohibition-era American slang.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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