skunkworks
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
skunkworks/ˈskʌŋkwɜːkz/
▶plural noun [usu. treated as sing.] US informal a small experimental laboratory or department of a company or institution.
– origin 1970s: allegedly from an association with the Skonk Works, an illegal still in the Li'l Abner comic strip.
'skunkworks' also found in these Oxford entries:
