Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The brother of one's mother or father.
- n. The husband of one's aunt.
- n. Used as a form of address for an older man, especially by children.
- n. A kindly counselor.
- n. Slang A pawnbroker.
- n. Uncle Sam.
- idiom. cry Informal To indicate a willingness to give up a fight or surrender: tickled my brother until he cried uncle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The brother of one's father or mother; also, the husband of one's aunt: correlative to aunt.
- n. A familiar title of address to an old man: used especially in the southern United States as a kindly title for a worthy old negro: as, “Uncle Tom's Cabin”; correlative to aunt or aunty in similar use.
- n. A pawnbroker: so called in humorous allusion to the financial favors often expected and sometimes received from rich uncles.
- n. A termination of some diminutive words of Latin origin, as homuncle (also homuncule), oratiuncle, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. A brother or
brother-in-law of someone’s parent. - n. A companion to your (usually unmarried)mother.
- n. A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
- n. A pawnbroker.
- n. A close male friend of the parents of a family.
- n. an older male African-American person
- n. An affectionate name for an older man.
- n. en.
- interj. A cry used to indicate surrender.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of
aunt in sex, and ofnephew andniece in relationship. - n. A pawnbroker.
- n. An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro.”
WordNet 3.0
- n. the brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt
- n. a source of help and advice and encouragement
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin avunculus, maternal uncle; see awo- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“For a moment, Anduin thought it related to the term uncle, but realized at once it was another term of affection that Magni Bronzebeard was missing: Father.”
“If you're a cop and your uncle is a con artist, it's safe to wager that your big family functions are going to be, well, at least a little awkward if you both show up.”
“The center has been in the works for years at the notoriously Israel-connected university (full disclosure: my uncle is a co-director of the center).”
“Ugh … my uncle is the same way … I do not envy anyone who has to put up with this Fox BS in their own homes.”
Think Progress » CBO estimates that stimulus package has employed up to 2.1 million workers.
“At the end of the narrative, Cheryl mentions that one of the victims of her uncle is her sister, and I wondered why her complaint against her uncle was not given more credibility than that of a child.”
“But if it was as vivid as in the US, Tanya and her family (her uncle is a doctor, her mother is a famous scholar) would have belonged to the upper-middle class.”
“Its publication came at a time when Wagner was also under pressure from Wieland's daughter, Nike Wagner, who criticized what she called her uncle's "monarchic" leadership style.”
“If his uncle is anything like the veterans my grandpa played cards with tall tales are expected and nobody questions them.”
“And you'll be positively delighted to learn that I'm also in consultations with the Vatican (my uncle is the retired head of the Vatican Archives no less, believe it or not, so I have an 'in' there) about reconstituting the Spanish Inquisition, those renowned extirpators of heretical depravity.”
“My uncle also knows Jensen really well cause Jensen was on Smallville on my uncle is the director of photography for that show so i have been on Smallville to.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘uncle’.
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Pickle and such
Words that end like pickle. Listed here because they're funny (because they end like pickle).
pickle, sparkle, yokel, tinkle, fickle, prickle, trickle, circle, snorkel, ensnorkel, chuckle, buckle and 137 more...
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Uncle! Uncle!
Uncles, words or phrases with the letters u-n-c-l-e (in that order), and anything avuncular.
uncle, avuncular, Uncle Sam, The Man From U.N...., peduncle, avunculus, say uncle, avunculate, avunculism, patruus, avunculocal, nuncle and 22 more...
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Hey Hey It's My Monkey!
I don't have a monkey. But if I did, he/she would be named ...
hanuman, shock, 500, rhesus, wrench, spank, puzzle, davy jones, funky, grip, swinger, chunky and 27 more...
ruzuzu "4. A termination of some diminutive words of Latin origin, as homuncle (also homuncule), oratiuncle, etc."
--Century Dictionary Mar 8, 2011