The machine used by Mr. Peabody to take himself and his young pupil Sherman back in time - a time machine. Sherman and Peabody (who was a dog, actually) were characters in "Peabody's Improbable History", a segment of Rocky and His Friends, and, later, The Bullwinkle Show. Maybe I should mention that this was another Jay Ward cartoon. I've yet to meet a professorial talking dog.

It's also a term I use for certain nodes of mine, the long, interminable ones that feature bloated, inelegant prose, reminiscing about things like that day when Andy gave me the rest of his hash, saying "There's something weird about this shit, man", and I...