double entendre

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double entendre

(ˈdʌbəl ɑːnˈtɑːndrə; -ˈtɑːnd; French dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃drə)

1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate

2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) the type of humour that depends upon such ambiguity

[C17: from obsolete French: double meaning]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dou•ble en•ten•dre

(ˈdʌb əl ɑnˈtɑn drə, -ˈtɑnd; Fr. du blɑ̃ˈtɑ̃ dr^ə)

n., pl. dou•ble en•ten•dres (ˈdʌb əl ɑnˈtɑn drəz, -ˈtɑndz; Fr. du blɑ̃ˈtɑ̃ dr^ə)

1. a word or expression used so that it can be understood in two ways, esp. when one meaning is risqué.

2. a double meaning; ambiguity.

[1665–75; < French (now obsolete); see double, intend]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

double entendre - an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate

ambiguity - an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context

double entendre

noun double meaning, ambiguity, pun, innuendo, play on words He is a master of the double entendre.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

dvojsmysl

kaksimielisyys

doppio senso

duplo sentido

double entendre

[ˈduːblɑ̃ːnˈtɑ̃ːndr] N → equívoco m, frase f ambigua

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

double entendre

[ˈdʌblɑːnˈtɑːndrə] n → doppio senso

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

This was greeted with an irreverent laugh, and the youth blushed deeply, and tried to look as if he had meant to insinuate what knowing people called a "double entendre."

View in context

He spun the Italian theme quite loosely, giving issue to a surprisingly varied number of paintings that can be counted among his master-works to date - Love Love's Unlovable, 1994, his perverse take on "abjection" in art in the form of a twin-paneled painting whose brocaded atmosphere enshrouds the statue-heroes like a lurid Roman sunset out of late Visconti; and Begging for It, 1994, with its nasty double entendre, colors that recall Juliet of the Spirits, Fellini's 1965 Technicolor tale of an Italian bourgeois housewife sex-starved into sublimity, and that elegantly prayerful silhouette, reminiscent of Vatican-approved religious art of the '50s and '60s, perhaps by the modernist Manzu.

Cheek to chic

Mark has run the gauntlet, from cringey attempts at double entendre to just plain hilarious supposedly sexy speak, as he tries to "woo" Emily Scott.

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With clientele including such familiar faces as Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Terry Scott, innuendo and double entendre are not in short supply.

Wednesday: FILMS OF THE DAY

KATHY'S departure from Emmerdale (ITV1) moves ever closer and the double entendre competition is really hotting up among the scriptwriters.

Ian Hyland's TV week: One small thing, Kath

The show went down a storm, and not a double entendre in sight.

The Beautiful North: It's time to see Eddie in the flesh

coupled and inseparable": Celia's history of her affection for Rosalind becomes bald double entendre when the performers are men in drag.

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My Propellor is a drab non-advance on past achievements with a rather tiresome double entendre at its centre.

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Clever double entendre aside, the opening track clearly attacks the CEO of America for the war in Iraq.

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It also showed the TV viewers back home that John Motson wouldn't know a double entendre if someone gave him one, muttering fnaar, fnaaar, ooo-err missus in the process - and that Ian Wright possesses all the sophisticated humour of an 11-year-old schoolboy.

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LIKE to get to grips with a double entendre or two?

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Guests can choose from Grated Norton, described as cheeky banter; PG-rated Norton, which is innocent innuendo; or the full X-rated Norton which is "dangerous double entendre".