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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

single entendre en · NOUN

Etymology

Pseudo-Gallicism. Based on double entendre.

Meanings

  1. (humorous, rhetoric) A phrase that has a single, often bawdy, meaning and is lacking in subtlety or cleverness.
    • "[…]She is the best kisser I've ever had in my life and I've had plenty, if ya know what I mean...." Scooby had definitely mastered the single entendre. 2005, Kieran Scott, Jingle Boy, page 74:
    • I told him once he's so shallow that the best he can manage is a single entendre. The funny thing is, he liked it. 2004, Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram, page 58:
    • She unintentionally wrote single entendre: a lyric about a dinner menu. 1985, Sheila Davis, The Craft of Lyric Writing, page 273:
    • In truth Mae West didn't utter many double entendres; her specialty was the single entendre, the blunt come-on and right-between-the-eyes proposition. 1999, Thomas Patrick Doherty, Pre-code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, page 182:
    • Larry: Man, Oz, I would love to get me some of that Buffy and Willow action, if you know what I mean. Oz: Good job, Larry. You've really mastered the single entendre. 1998, Rob Des Hotel, Dean Batali, “Phases”, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
single entendres Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

double entendre · triple entendre · monosemous