double entendre

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  1. A word or phrase with two meanings, or admitting of two interpretations, one of which is usually obscure or indelicate. The French know no such expression as double entendre, the nearest approach to it being double entente, a double meaning: which is, however, wholly devoid of the ulterior significance attached to double entendre. Saturday Rev. Double entendre, whether right or wrong, has been naturalized in English, and will be found in many of the best dictionaries. Had I been writing in French, I should have used double entente. N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 87.

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  1. French double, double, and entendre, to understand, used in the sense of entente, meaning, sense. The French has no such phrase; its nearest equivalent is mot à double entente, a word or phrase of double sense, for which the English phrase seems a blundering substitute, with modified meaning.
 

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