word of the day: jaywalk

jaywalk (JAY-wok) verb intr.

To cross a street in a reckless manner, disregarding traffic rules.

[As with other birds, the name jaybird denotes a naive person or
simpleton.
Early last century, country folks visiting big cities were often
oblivious
of any approaching traffic when they were crossing streets. Eventually
their nickname, jays, became associated with crossing a street
illegally.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus:
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=jaywalk