Bic (haircut)

[Frank Abate]

My kids play water polo and swim on a high school swim team in Connecticut.
The kids at the school use "Bic" as a verb to mean 'shave down to the skin',
as boys do to their heads (sometimes) and their body hair (the rest, except
what the suit covers) prior to the swim meet that is their biggest one of the
season.

Related is the term "shaved and tapered".  Swimmers only shave AND taper for
their biggest meets.  This includes girls, too.  "Taper" refers to the
reduction of hard, long training just prior to the big meet so that the
muscles are ready for the competition.  Both swimmers and coaches refer to
being "shaved and tapered" (or not).  One only does this once or twice a
year, for the biggest meets, as I understand it.

Also, a pool that is considered very fast (that is, in which swimmers in past
meets have set record times) is sometimes referred to as a "shave pool",
meaning that swimmers will shave (and taper) for meets in that pool in order
to set personal or other records.

This just the tip of the iceberg on swimming jargon.  There is a universe of
such, and of course, every sport has its own set.  Very little appears in
general dicts (nor should it), as it is used by a very limited community, as
with any "shop talk".  Occasionally a sports jargon word springs into the
general vocab, usually via the media.  Examples include "Big Apple" and
"roid" (as in "roid rage", aggressive behavior influenced by the use of
muscle-building steroids).  Others?

Frank Abate