Karloff

American

[kahr-lawf, -lof] / ˈkɑr lɔf, -lɒf /

noun

Boris William Henry Pratt, 1887–1969, British actor in the U.S.

Karloff British

/ ˈkɑːlɒf /

noun

Boris , real name William Pratt 1887–1969, English film actor, famous for his roles in horror films, esp Frankenstein (1931)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Karloff

First elected as an MP in 1987, she faced cruel comments about her appearance, with one newspaper calling her "Doris Karloff" - a reference to an old Hollywood horror star.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The 1931 Boris Karloff version of the film played on the walls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

Cody’s handsome Creature was inspired less by Boris Karloff and more by “having grown up madly in love with ‘Edward Scissorhands,’” specifically Johnny Depp’s loner hero.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

Your mind may float to 1931’s “Frankenstein” starring Boris Karloff or to Mel Brooks directing his 1974 “Young Frankenstein.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

If you want to see a Boris Karloff movie, you have to rent it and watch it on a television set.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023