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Double Entendre

A double entendre is a word or phrase that can be understood to mean more than one thing with one of the meanings often of a sexual nature. The James Bond films are famous for use of double entendres for character names such as "Pussy Galore" from "Goldfinger" (1964).

How It's Used

“Kaufman was once heard to say to a playwright whose work was anything but subtle: ‘I hear your play is full of single entendres.’”

“Well, there are many twists down the road, some of them good ones. The script, by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake, is a well-crafted deconstruction, packed with drolly stylized comebacks and double-entendres; and there are clever (if obvious) split-screen gags and riffs on the accoutrements of a 'swingin' bachelor's pad' (buttons that dim the lights, start the mood music, or turn the sofa into a bed).”

“Thus we have the soaplike story lines involving Ross’s pregnant wife leaving him for her lesbian lover; Phoebe acting as a surrogate mom for her half-brother’s triplets; Rachel’s Murphy Brown-like single motherhood; and Chandler’s being taken for gay. Not to mention a host of other double- (and frequently more direct) entendres.”

“Shakespeare, however, does [use puns]. Many are bawdy: puns operate, after all, on double entendre.”

"'Some athletes borrow to fund their training, others depend on supportive families. Logan Campbell has opened a brothel,' Anne Barrowclough reports in the Times of London. 'Mr Campbell, 23 … turned pimp after funding dried up and he feared he was in danger of missing the Games in 2012.' Prostitution is legal in New Zealand. The single-entendre wordplay on display in pretty much all the coverage of this story should not be."

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