For example, in the 1970s TV comedy series Are You Being Served?, Mrs. Slocombe frequently referred to her pet cat as her "pussy", apparently unaware of how easily her statement could be misinterpreted, such as "It's a wonder I'm here at all, you know. n 1. a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate … In the UK, starting in the 19th century, Victorian morality disallowed sexual innuendo in the theatre as being unpleasant, particularly for the ladies in the audience. What made you want to look up double entendre? Innuendo is often used in sitcoms and other comedy where some in the audience may enjoy the humour while being oblivious to its secondary meaning. Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge! How to pronounce double entendre. In summary, a double entendre is a figure of speech that has two meanings. 12 & 35", repeats the line "Everybody must get stoned". In addition to the various poems and stories found in the book, there are also numerous riddles. It is any statement or allusion that can be understood in different ways. Mrs. Slocombe: [speaking to a truck driver on the CB … Learn more. Send us feedback. He is a master of the pun and the double entendre. In the United States, innuendo and double entendre were only lightly used in radio media until the 1980s when the Howard Stern Show began to push the envelope of what was acceptable on the radio through use of double entendre and ironies. Bessie Smith, "I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" As popular as meat may be, the sugary stuff … obsolete French, literally, double meaning. Double entendré synonyms, Double entendré pronunciation, Double entendré translation, English dictionary definition of Double entendré. In the final scene of Moonraker, while Bond is taking Dr Holly Goodhead "round the world one more time", Q says to Sir Frederick Gray, "I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir". In English, double entendre refers to a double meaning in which one meaning is usually shocking or risqué in its sexual suggestiveness. By one interpretation, the person being talked to is asked if they would be offended; by the other interpretation, they are asked if they would press their body against the person doing the talking. During the 1940s, Benny Bell recorded several "party records" that contained double entendre including "Everybody Wants My Fanny". (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate 2. ", which leads the other Cyclopes to take no action under the assumption that Polyphemus blinded himself by accident, allowing Odysseus and his men to escape. We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website, including to … Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text. noun double entendres 1 A word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent. Sourced from Reddit, Twitter, and beyond! The book was copied around AD 975. Examples of double entendre in a Sentence The song's title is a double entendre. The clichéd phrase "Said the actress to the bishop", as well as "that's what she said" can be used to remark on a sentence said by another which was not intended as a double entendre but nevertheless could be interpreted with a double meaning, one of them sexual. These phrases are created with the explicit purpose of having two meanings. Double Entendre Definition A double entendre (DUH-bull ahn-TAHN-druh) is a figure of speech that involves two different meanings or interpretations of a word, phrase, or sentence, wherein one meaning is readily apparent and the other is more risqué in nature. In 1968, the office of the Lord Chamberlain ceased to have responsibility for censoring live entertainment, after the Theatres Act 1968. Define double entendre: the definition of double entendre is a word or phrase that is open to two interpretation, one of which is oftentimes risqué or indecent. A person who is unfamiliar with the hidden or alternative meaning of a sentence may fail to detect its innuendos, aside from observing that others find it humorous for no apparent reason. Shakespeare frequently used double entendres in his plays. Another word for Opposite of Meaning of Rhymes with Sentences with Find word forms Translate from English Translate to English Words With Friends Scrabble Crossword / Codeword Words starting with Words ending with Words containing exactly Words containing letters Pronounce Find conjugations Find names Double Entendre Jokes. Round the Horne depended heavily on innuendo and double entendre, the show's name itself being a triple entendre, a play on the name of its central actor Kenneth Horne and those around him, the sailor's expression "going round the horn" (i.e. I harm no city-dweller excepting my slayer alone. Modern comedies, such as the US version of The Office, often do not hide the addition of sexual innuendos into the script; for example, main character Michael Scott often deploys the phrase "that's what she said" after another character's innocent statement, to turn it retroactively into a sexual pun. A double entendre[note 1] (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially awkward, sexually suggestive, or offensive to state directly.[2][3]. much like what it sounds like—a double meaning or interpretation for a word A triple entendre is a phrase that can be understood in any of three ways, such as in the back cover of the 1981 Rush album Moving Pictures which shows a moving company carrying paintings out of a building while people are shown being emotionally moved and a film crew makes a "moving picture" of the whole scene.[7]. Spike Milligan, writer of The Goon Show, remarked that a lot of "blue" (i.e. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. The words double entendre and pun are both about double meanings. Because double-entendres are words or phrases that can be interpreted in two ways, they aren't always sexual in nature and sometimes they are not even intentional. This garnered so much attention it spawned an entire genre of Radio called "Shock jock radio" where DJs will push the limits of what is an "acceptable" double entendre to use on over the air as the FCC has been known to hand out large fines for the use of double entendre on radio if they deem it to be in violation of their standards. Another word for double entendre. No exact equivalent exists in French, whose similar expressions (mot/expression à) double entente and (mot/expression à) double sens don't have the suggestiveness of the English expression.[5]. Learn definitions, uses, and phrases with entendre. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'double entendre.' double entendre (double entendres plural) A double entendre is a word or phrase that has two meanings, one of which is rude and often sexual. It was the job of the Lord Chamberlain to examine the scripts of all plays for indecency. When Odysseus attacks the Cyclops later that night and stabs him in the eye, the Cyclops runs out of his cave, yelling to the other Cyclopes that "No-one has hurt me! Double entendre, in fact, originated in an obsolete expression in French, which means “double meaning.” The origins of pun are less certain, but it likely traces to the Italian word puntiglio meaning “fine point, quibble.” We'd give you an example, but this is a family site. A double entendre is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué. New obesity study looks for larger test group 4. At the end of the episode the line "It's a cookbook!" When three or more meanings have been constructed, this is known as a "triple entendre", etc. How to say double entendre. Examples of sexual innuendo and double-entendre occur in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (14th century), in which the Wife of Bath's Tale is laden with double entendres. Entendre is contained in 1 match in Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The double entendres of the Bond films were parodied in the Austin Powers series. n-var He is … Double entendres can arise in the replies to inquiries. Marie Lloyd's song "She Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas" is an example of this. Another word for double-entendre. sexual) innuendo came from servicemen's jokes, which most of the cast understood (they all had been soldiers) and many of the audience understood, but which passed over the heads of most of the Senior BBC producers and directors, most of whom were "Officer class". a term or phrase that has more than one definition with one of them being indecent. A double entendre is a word or remark that has a hidden (or not so hidden) naughty meaning. Double entendres are very common in the titles and lyrics of pop songs, such as "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me" by The Bellamy Brothers. A double entendre is a word or phrase that has two meanings, one of which is rude and often sexual. A double entendre is a literary device, phrase, and/or figure of speech that has multiple meanings or interpretations. double entendre definition: 1. a word or phrase that might be understood in two ways, one of which is usually sexual 2. a word…. In the early 20th century restrictions were placed on lewdness in performances, including some prosecutions. If they chose the blue book, he could blame the audience for the lewdness to follow (in the UK, "blue" colloquially refers to sexual content, as in "blue jokes", "blue movies" etc.). My pussy got soakin' wet. Children make nutritious snacks 5. Also called innuendo. A double entendre may exploit puns or word play to convey the second meaning. 14 of them, in fact! 1812, A treatise on politeness, tr. double entendre definition in English dictionary, double entendre meaning, synonyms, see also 'double agent',double back',double bar',double boiler'. One of these two meanings is obvious while the other is less so. For example, the character Charley Bates from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist is frequently referred to as Master Bates. ambiguity, double meaning, suggested meaning, suggestiveness, innuendo, play on words, wordplay, pun View synonyms 1.1 mass noun Humour that uses double entendres. Examples of Double Entendre in a sentence. Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). Particularly significant in this respect were the Carry On series of films and the BBC radio series Round the Horne; although some of Round the Horne appeared to be nonsense language, the protagonists were sometimes having "rude" conversations in Polari (gay slang). Double entendres generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. See the full definition for double entendre in the English Language Learners Dictionary. [14], Wording that is devised to be understood in two ways, Learn how and when to remove this template message, If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me, "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English online", "The Rush Frequently Asked Questions on the Internet File", "Utopia – Definition of utopia by Merriam-Webster", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Double_entendre&oldid=999469223, Articles needing additional references from July 2008, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from March 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 10:02. Max Miller had two books of jokes, a white book and a blue book, and would ask his audience which book they wanted to hear stories from. Some of the earliest double entendres are found in the Exeter Book, or Codex exoniensis, at Exeter Cathedral in England. Learn a new word every day. 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