double entendre
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French double (“double”) + entendre (“to mean, to understand”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA: /dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃ːdɹ/,[1] X-SAMPA: /dubl A~tA~:dr\/
- (UK, Anglicised) IPA: /dʌb.əl ɒnˈtɒndɹə/, X-SAMPA: /dVb.@l Qn"tQndtr\@/
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Audio (US) (file)
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A woman walks into a bar and asks the barman for a double entendre and he gives it to her. |
Noun[edit]
double entendre (plural double entendres)
- (idiomatic) A phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.
- (nonstandard) Plural form of double entendre
- 1812, A treatise on politeness, tr. from the French by a lady, page 172
- Avoid all equivocal expressions, usually denominated double entendre; they are certain proofs of a mean and indelicate mind.
- 1891, Paulist Fathers, Catholic World, page 785
- It is a momentous crusade without the cross; and an insidious one, for the calumnies and double entendre against the church are well wrapped up and keenly distributed.
- 2000, James P. Lantolf, Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, page 126
- It is not only the teacher's play with single words, phrases, and double entendre that are common in my classroom data.
- 1812, A treatise on politeness, tr. from the French by a lady, page 172
Synonyms[edit]
- (phrase with two meanings): double entente
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
phrase with two meanings
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References[edit]
- ^ “‖double entendre” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
