parking lot

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parking lot

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parking lot (plural parking lots)

1. (Canada, US, Philippines, Malaysia) An open area, generally paved, where automobiles may be left when not in use.

   Should we park in that parking lot, or in the garage up the street?

   • 1970, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “Big Yellow Taxi”:

     They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

2. (US, figuratively, humorous) A road blocked by stop-start traffic.

   The 101 was a parking lot again today.

3. (US, figuratively) A place in a state of complete destruction, especially one achieved through military means.
   • 1992 April 15, Dore Gold, “The U.S.-Israel Relationship: Mounting Misperceptions in Washington”, in Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs‎:

     America believed it had smashed Israel’s greatest enemy and turned Iraq into a parking lot, so now Israel could take risks it had never been able to take before.

   • 2005, John Grevstad, Red State, Blue State: Defending the Liberal Jesus and Blue State Morality from Red State Religion and Hypocrisy, →ISBN, page 182:

     I was one of the people understanding the need to turn Afghanistan into a parking lot on the way to finding Bin Laden and bringing him to justice.

   • 2018, Norman G. Finkelstein, Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom, →ISBN, page 56:

     Eager for “round two,” a member of Israel’s regional council adjoining Gaza exhorted the military that next time they should “flatten Gaza into a parking lot, destroy them.”

• car park (Britain, Ireland, Australia, Singaporean, Malaysian)
• garage
• parkade
• parking garage
• parking structure
• parking space