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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Laurel and Hardy en · PROPN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈlɔːɹ.əl ænd ˈhɑː.di/ (UK)
  • /ˈlɒɹ.əl ænd ˈhɑː.di/ (UK)
  • /ˈlɔɹ.əl ænd ˈhɑɹ.di/ (US)

Etymology

From the name of a famous American comedy duo from the 1920s and 1930s.

Meanings

  1. Any duo who are so inept at practical tasks as to be humorous.
    • When he got up to answer, I noticed the boy at the other end of the desk was partially standing. This happened every time. So I quietly walked around and noticed that the long bench they were sitting ^([sic]) had a leg missing at the end. Sensing a Laurel-and-Hardy situation, I could not resist the temptation. 2014, Paul "Monty" Choy, The Flying Dragon, page 45:
    • She was heavy: not fat, but solid, and it looked good on her; still, we must have seemed a Laurel and Hardy match, the two times we would have been observed together in public, me being whichever comedy star was the lanky one. 2013, David Hale Smith, Dallas Noir, page 211:
    • […] when someone has a Laurel and Hardy moment where they slip on a banana skin […] 2012, The Black & White Photography Book:
    • Variety (February 22)reported, “Ward and Scott have sketched out plans for the production of Green Hopper, a 30 minute show revolving around a frog, wolf and bear; Simpson and Delaney—a Laurel and Hardy animated duo, and Super Chicken. 2014, Keith Scott, The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose:
    • We put a Laurel and Hardy thing together. With ordinary actors I've tried this, and it's like playing music without an instrument, but these guys could do anything. 2000, Patrick McGilligan, Film Crazy: Interviews with Hollywood Legends, page 89:
    • Then about a hundred yards ahead, two men, one rotund the other thin and spare, leaped over a gate onto the road. They had the appearance of a Laurel and Hardy duo. 2012, Patrick C. Reidy, A Cocktail of Tales, page 14:
    • The session quickly devolved into a Laurel-and-Hardy skit, as an NRC bureaucrat named Lawrence Kokajko was grilled by the commissioners, particularly Hamilton, a man used to having bureaucrats tremble before him. 2012, Richard Martin, SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future, page 180:

Translations (3)

hu Hacsek és Sajó (any humorous duo) · pl Flip i Flap (any humorous duo) · fi Majakka ja Perävaunu (any humorous duo)