Mae West

American  

noun

1. an inflatable yellow or orange life jacket for emergency use, especially by sailors or by airplane pilots in flights over water.

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mae west British  

/ meɪ /

noun

1. slang an inflatable life jacket, esp as issued to the US armed forces for emergency use

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West, Mae Cultural  

1. A twentieth-century American actress. Mae West was a blonde, busty sex symbol, whose seductiveness was usually very funny because she overstated it so greatly. The popular version of her most celebrated line is, “Why don'cha come up and see me sometime?” She appeared memorably opposite W. C. Fields in My Little Chickadee.

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Etymology

Origin of Mae West

1935–40; after Mae West, full-bosomed U.S. comic actress

Example Sentences

‘Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,” Mae West said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

Later, Hollywood's golden era saw the likes of Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe take the spotlight.

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2023

To answer your question more pointedly, yes, I grew up on, from the '30s, a lot of Mae West, Laurel and Hardy from the '20s.

From Salon • Mar. 20, 2023

Mae West showed up on Sundays and faithfully ordered the cold melon soup, while Gregory Peck and Paul Newman fancied the shrimp toast and crab puffs.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 1, 2022

Snowden was lying on his back on the floor with his legs stretched out, still burdened cumbersomely by his flak suit, his flak helmet, his parachute harness and his Mae West.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Related Words

• life preserver
• life vest