howler
English
Etymology
howl + -er. Some senses are derivatives of the intensifier "howling",[1] as in "howling wilderness", (Deuteronomy 32:10)[2]
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 239: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈhaʊlɚ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 239: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈhaʊlə/
Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -aʊlə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: howl‧er
Noun
howler (plural howlers)
- That which howls, especially an animal such as a wolf or a howler monkey.
- (historical) A person hired to howl at a funeral.
- (slang) A painfully obvious mistake.
- 2009, Tom Burton, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 78:
- A howler is a glaring mistake, a mistake that cries out to be noticed.
- 2009, Tom Burton, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 78:
- (slang) A hilarious joke.
- (slang) A bitterly cold day.
- (sometimes figurative) A heavy fall.
- (slang) A serious accident (especially to come a howler or go a howler, e.g. "Our hansom came a howler"; compare: come a cropper).
- (slang) A tremendous lie; a whopper.
- (slang, dated) A fashionably but extravagantly overdressed man, a "howling swell".
- (historical) A 32-ounce ceramic, plastic, or stainless steel jug used to transport draft beer.
Derived terms
Translations
animal
mistake
joke
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References
- ^ Beale, Paul; Partridge, Eric (1984). A dictionary of slang and unconventional English: colloquialisms and catch-phrases, solecisms and catachreses, nicknames, and vulgarisms. New York: Macmillan. →ISBN
- ^ Holy Bible: King James Version, The Scofield Study Bible III, Duradera Zipper Black. Oxford University Press, USA. 2005. →ISBN.