shoofly

• Sustantivo con dos significados diferentes: puede referirse a un agente de policía encubierto que investiga a otros policías, o a un columpio infantil con asiento entre dos laterales planos con forma de animal, como un cisne o un pato.

A noun with two distinct meanings: it can refer to an undercover police officer who investigates other policemen, or to a child's rocking chair with a seat built between two flat sides shaped to resemble an animal such as a swan or duck.

1. Undercover police investigatorC1informalamerican

   A police officer who works undercover to investigate the conduct of other police officers, often to detect corruption or misconduct.

   Investigador policial encubierto

   • The department sent a shoofly to monitor the precinct's activities.
   • He was rumored to be a shoofly, watching for any signs of bribery.
   • The sergeant warned the officers that a shoofly might be among them.

2. Child's rocking chairC1formalamerican

   A type of children's rocking chair where the seat is built between two flat side pieces that are shaped and painted to resemble an animal, such as a swan or a duck.

   Mecedora infantil con forma de animal

   • The toddler loved to sit in his wooden shoofly and rock back and forth.
   • Grandma bought a hand-painted shoofly shaped like a duck for the nursery.
   • The antique shoofly was a cherished family heirloom.