double entendre
[duhb-uh l ahn-tahn-druh, -tahnd; French doo-blahn-tahn-druh]
- a double meaning.
- a word or expression used in a given context so that it can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué.
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Origin of double entendre
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
double entendre
- a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate
- the type of humour that depends upon such ambiguity
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Word Origin
C17: from obsolete French: double meaning
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for double entendre
also double-entendre, 1670s, from French (where it was rare and is now obsolete), literally "a twofold meaning," from entendre (now entente) "to hear, to understand, to mean." The proper Modern French phrase would be double entente, but the phrase has become established in English in its old form.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper